REHEMA CHACHAGE: Kwa niaba yako, I shredded them

The process of applying for funding is a tenuous and at times debilitating negotiation, between the self and the/an institution. One must ground themselves not only in their practice, but in their ability to market their practice to an often faceless panel. We bend our words to fit into a summary of a proposal that is supposedly meant to inspire creativity; or present decolonial theories; or build new worlds; yet the system of choice and voice that leads the process is anything but creative or decolonized. In the face of constantly moulding oneself to assimilate to an artistic type/form/agenda, what can be said about being rejected – receiving the “unfortunately...” or “we are sorry to inform you...” template email after what is usually months of pensive speculation? Kwa niaba yako, I shredded them is a spatial intervention which begins with the process of shredding and recycling old (as well as newly) rejected proposals into material for creating paper planes. By eliminating the text that forms the foundation of the proposal (through the shredding, and immersion into water) the intervention aims to acknowledge the absence of sincerity in words, or rather, the lack of access to them outlined by the specificities of proposal writing jargon.

REHEMA CHACHAGE (artist, Dar es Salaam/Tanzania and Vienna/Austria) is a visual artist whose work can be described as performative archiving. She collects and transforms stories, rituals and oral traditions using different media (performance, photography, video, text and physical installations). Her tracing work focuses particularly on women's history(s) in the Swahili region. She holds a BA in Fine Art (2009) from the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town and an MA in Contemporary Art Theory (2018) from Goldsmiths University of London. She is currently working on her PhD in Practice at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Her work has been shown in Africa, Europe, Asia and South America.

Concept, Installation Rehema Chachage Technical Support Valerie Asiimwe Amani

ADEREMI ADEGBITE: Tutùolà Institute

The project White Money centers on addressing the complex issues relating to the administration of funds and the power-play phenomenon between institutions and cultural operators in the Global North and Global South. As a response to the dichotomy, Aderemi Adegbite has decided to set up a cultural institute within the scope of White Money. Tutùọlà Institute is a legal non-profit organization conceived as an alternative artistic platform for critical reflection and practices in our postcolonial world. The institute will promote Yoruba language, cultures in different countries and foster international cooperation as well as collaboration with private, governmental cultural institutions, artists, and creatives. For its inauguration at Sophiensæle Tutùọlà Institute will present an exhibition with video installations.

Aderemi Adegbite is an artist-curator and an interdisciplinary artist. His current artistic focus questions individual realities and truth(s) that stretch across the societal fabric as constants for an elastic socio-system. He is interested in how past experiences (agonies, joys, businesses, travels and religious beliefs) of being part of a family reshape individual’s present conditions and serve as catalysts for “the” surrealistic future. The psychological effect of the idea “one for all, all for one,” is at the centre of his new interventions. Aderemi has participated in some residencies/workshops: AiR at Bayreuth International Graduate Student of African Studies (BIGSAS), AiR with Jogjakarta Biennale, Photography Masterclass with Akinbode Akinbiyi, Goethe-Institut’s Photography Masterclass and The Nlele Institute’s Photography workshops.

Conceived by Aderemi Adegbite Artists Candice Breitz, Mario Pfeifer, Aline Motta, Rehema Chachage TranslatoR Kolade Igbasan