Bridging the Gaps. Connecting the Dots

Exhibition of artistic works of the project Deconfining

As part of the residencies and collaborations during Deconfining, a series of short films, essays, podcasts, dramatic texts and studies have been produced. These explore the blurring and manifestation of boundaries between Africa and Europe as well as perspectives on the proximity and distance between the continents. Insights offers a glimpse into these works. They will be on view daily from 9:30 am during the conference at Hartmannfabrik.

Dr. Juliane Zellner (ITI Germany), Dr. Antonia Blau (Goethe Institute Madrid), Malin Nagel (ITI Germany)

Faye Kabali-Kagwa and Ndèye Mané Touré

For the first time in the history of THEATER DER WELT, a nine-member international team of curators is sharing the artistic festival direction. The program brings together works created under very different cultural and political conditions in various regions of the world—yet all address common global themes. Questions of identity, origin, power dynamics, and visibility run through many of the productions. On behalf of the curational team, the curators Ndèye Mané Touré (Senegal) and Faye Kabali-Kagwa (South Africa) will welcome the guests of the conference to the festival and give a glimpse into the collective process of curation across time-zones, continents, and realities.

Presentation of the studies of On the Move (Marie le Sourd), Culture Funding Watch (Ouafa Belgacem) and the Czech Culture Institute (Barbora Novotna)

This session is spotlighting valuable research and outcomes from the Deconfining project, exploring how cultural mobility and cooperation can be reimagined across regions and borders. The session will feature brief presentations of the following publications:

• Schengen Visa Code and Cultural Mobility (On the Move)

• Movements of Translation and Return: Art Mobility and the Diaspora (On the Move)

• Rethinking Cultural Mobility: Lessons from Morocco (Culture Funding Watch)

• Cultural Cooperation between the African Continent and the States of Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Culture Institute)

These four conversations will take place in parallel and bring together experts, partners, and invited guests to reflect on key questions shaping contemporary cultural collaboration. Four central themes will be discussed in the rounds: sustainable models for cultural cooperation, the freedom of artistic expression, strategies for dealing with unforeseen risks in transcontinental collaboration, and the vision of an Artist Visa. Moving between different perspectives and concrete challenges, these sessions open a space for dialogue, exchange, and critical insight. Altogether they invite participants to rethink the conditions, responsibilities, and future possibilities of working across borders in the arts and cultural field. 

1) Sustainable models for cultural cooperation 
Rodrigo González Alvarado (curator of Theater der Welt) & Pavla Hivert (Czech Culture Institute)

2) Freedom of (artistic) speech 
Sara Amini & Alex Díaz Loo (Mentors of the ITI Academy)

3) Dealing with unforeseen risks in trans-continental cooperation
Thomas Engel (ITI Germany) & Rūta Malaškevičienė (National Kaunas Drama Theatre)  

4) The vision of an Artist Visa 
Samba Yonga (Women's History Museum, Zambia & Ku-Atenga) & Sebastian Hoffmann (ITI Germany/ Touring Artists)

These four conversations will take place in parallel and bring together experts, partners, and invited guests to reflect on key questions shaping contemporary cultural collaboration. Four central themes will be discussed in the rounds: sustainable models for cultural cooperation, the freedom of artistic expression, strategies for dealing with unforeseen risks in transcontinental collaboration, and the vision of an Artist Visa. Moving between different perspectives and concrete challenges, these sessions open a space for dialogue, exchange, and critical insight. Altogether they invite participants to rethink the conditions, responsibilities, and future possibilities of working across borders in the arts and cultural field. 

1) Sustainable models for cultural cooperation 
Rodrigo González Alvarado (curator of Theater der Welt) & Pavla Hivert (Czech Culture Institute)

2) Freedom of (artistic) speech 
Sara Amini & Alex Díaz Loo (Mentors of the ITI Academy)

3) Dealing with unforeseen risks in trans-continental cooperation
Thomas Engel (ITI Germany) & Rūta Malaškevičienė (National Kaunas Drama Theatre)  

4) The vision of an Artist Visa 
Samba Yonga (Women's History Museum, Zambia & Ku-Atenga) & Sebastian Hoffmann (ITI Germany/ Touring Artists)

Ukhona Ntsali Mlandu, gefolgt von einer Fragerunde mit Marie le Sourd

Im Jahr 2023 verfasste Ukhona Mlandu den Manifesttext Eine Einladung, Ihre Sichtweise auf die Ethik der kulturellen Mobilität aus afrikanischer Perspektive zu transformieren. Diese Arbeit zielte darauf ab, das kritische und oft fehlende und/oder umgangene Element des Menschlichen im Diskurs über kulturelle Mobilität stärker in den Vordergrund zu rücken. Diese narrative Gerechtigkeit darüber, was kulturelle Mobilität und Mobilitätsgerechtigkeit ethisch für ein transformatives Engagement als sich überschneidende Säule des Ökosystems der sozialen Gerechtigkeit erfordern. Die Betonung der menschlichen und (un)menschlichen Elemente war eine Form der Katharsis, des Protests und des Aufrufs zum Handeln: eine Einladung, die Wunden der Geschädigten und Marginalisierten zu bezeugen. Ein Gegenmittel der heilenden Gerechtigkeit. Die Keynote greift einige der Provokationen und Einladungen wieder auf, reflektiert den Einfluss, die Auswirkungen und die Veränderungen und würdigt damit verbundene Bemühungen. Und schließlich wird im Kontext wachsender internationaler polarisierender Spannungen in den geopolitischen Landschaften eine weitere Einladung ausgesprochen. Die Einladung, noch ein wenig länger zu bleiben – aus der Perspektive von Kosmologien des Bewegungsaufbaus und afrikanischer Gastfreundschaft zu verweilen. Um die Rolle von Dynamik, Kühnheit, Trotz, kollektiver Fürsorge und Solidarität in wachsenden Ökosystemen zu verstehen und zu nutzen, die Relationalität als kollektives Überleben und regenerative Bestandteile für den Aufbau einer alternativen Welt und emanzipatorische Zukünfte begreifen. 

with Elgas (online), Ana Lessing Menjibar (online), and Lilian Hipolyte, moderated by Antonia Blau
organised by Goethe-Institut Madrid

Artistic residencies form a key part of the Deconfining project. Adopting a participatory and egalitarian approach, the project has promoted collaboration and co-creation between European and African artists through residencies. As Deconfining comes to a close, we will invite artists and cultural facilitators who contributed to it to share their experiences of intercontinental artistic cooperation over the past four years. The roundtable will explore residencies as a form of collaboration between different continents, focusing on the associated challenges and potential best practices. Providing an overview of international artistic collaboration, it will examine how it has worked and evolved over time.

Exhibition of artistic works of the project Deconfining

As part of the residencies and collaborations during Deconfining, a series of short films, essays, podcasts, dramatic texts and studies have been produced. These explore the blurring and manifestation of boundaries between Africa and Europe as well as perspectives on the proximity and distance between the continents. Insights offers a glimpse into these works. They will be on view daily from 9:30 am during the conference at Hartmannfabrik.

Dr. Juliane Zellner (ITI Germany), Dr. Antonia Blau (Goethe Institute Madrid), Malin Nagel (ITI Germany)

with: Lillian Hipolyte, Thobile Maphanga, Joshua Alabi, Milena Gehrt, Felix Sodemann, Joseph Wabwire, Beatrice Waruinge, Emma Beverley

Within the Deconfining project, Shaping Crossroads is a fellowship program bringing together eight experts on intercontinental mobility, who have been collaborating on different aspects of artistic mobility. Based on their research, the group has developed several formats to explore new perspectives on this urgent topic. One of them, the workshop Creating Spaces of Reflection, will take place during the conference.

Through interpersonal activations, participants will reflect on their own experiences of mobility and how these relate to their encounters with art. These reflections will be connected to the fellows’ research and discussions, with the aim of gaining new insights. The workshop also addresses how art institutions and venues can better highlight issues of mobility. More broadly, it seeks to connect artistic and research-based practices and to explore how questions of artist mobility relate to wider challenges that shape everyday life.

Panel discussion with Vydia Tamby, Samba Yonga and Sylvia Amann, moderated by Antonia Blau; organized by Goethe-Institut Madrid

From the outset, the Deconfining project has sought to promote 'decolonised, fair and sustainable intercontinental cultural cooperation'. After four years of implementation, three experts who have worked together on the project will discuss what has worked well, the challenges they have faced, and the valuable lessons they have learned. The conversation will focus on the project's practical aspects, providing a final evaluation from both continents.  

During the roundtable, the experts will also present two significant contributions that were developed during the Deconfining project: The Intercontinental Governance Model and the Arnie-Toolkit. The former proposes shifting the focus from 'inclusion' (inviting Africans into European spaces) to 'sovereignty' (empowering African ecosystems) and 'common construction'. The toolkit has been designed to foster better relations between Africa and Europe by supporting local stakeholders and providing arguments, priorities and practical advice.