Severen Series II

We insist, we are determined, we fall, we get up, we move on, we are stubborn, we are frustrated, but we are ambitious, we are driven, by curiosity, by pain, or both, until something gives, something breaks, something emerges, something reveals itself, maybe, hopefully, for the better, for us, for an improvement, a desired change. Call it success, call it progress, call it development, call it evolution, call it recovery, call it the next step.
We sever the bond to the before, the has-been, maybe the norm, maybe that which we always refused and we questioned, and we build new bridges in order to relate, to synthesize, to become, to fully integrate, into ourselves, into our contexts.
Sometimes you have to separate to re-formulate. Sometimes you have to invent to re-formulate.
Cut and paste, chop and change, many new iterations of self, of History, of one’s own history.
Sometimes an entirely new vocabulary is needed. Mumblings are uttered, shameful stutters of a future, unintelligible syllables spat into the void that should, hopefully, become some form of communicating the unspeakable.
PERFORMANCES RUNNING ORDER:

Saturday, 29 April 2023
5.30pm doors open
6pm « Tracing Memories in the shadows » – Performance by Jere Ikongio
7pm « Are you afraid of the void? » – Performance by Lea Pischke
8pm « Re-Titled Project About Something Still Disturbing » – Performance by Vladimir Dziomba
9.30pm « Slicing Silence » – Concert by Yeve
Gallery closing: 11pm

Sunday, 30 April 2023
4.30pm doors open
5pm « Are you afraid of the void? » – Performance by Lea Pischke
6pm « i am spoken » – Performance by Vladimir Dziomba
7pm « Tracing Memories in the shadows » – Performance by Jere Ikongio
8pm « Re-Titled Project About Something Still Disturbing » – Performance by Vladimir Dziomba
8.30pm DJ set by J-NOK
Gallery closing: 11pm


INFORMATION ABOUT THE EXHIBITS AND PERFORMANCES:

WHAT IF
Video work by Ojudun Taiwo Jacob

An experimental film collage and live performance work based on a decidedly African perspective of the Berlin Conference (1884-1885) and the exploration of their own continuous narrative of colonialist mentality. (Film: Viki Simone; Music: Pete Nattrass and Blue Saloon; Image: Sebastian Loerscher, Performance: Illuminatetheatre Productions)
More information about Ojudun Taiwo Jacob

Tracing Memories in the shadows, 2023
Performance, Movement, Sound and Installation Art by Jere Ikongio and Ojudun Taiwo Jacob

Overview: Tracing Memories is a mobile performance art happening that explores the intersection of memory, bodies, migration, nature and e-waste. The performers will embody these themes by using their bodies as a canvas to create living sculptures and performative acts. The performance art happening aims to create an immersive experience for the audience using a holistic approach in trying to understand and addressing these intersections that considers the historical and ongoing impacts of exploitation, capitalism, and environmental degradation.
The project is inspired by the idea that memory is not only personal but also collective. It is influenced by the migration stories of BIPoC communities, their relationship with nature, and the impact of electronic waste on the environment.The intersections of memory, bodies, migration, nature, and electronic waste are complex and multifaceted, particularly for individuals from Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC) communities. These intersections are often informed by historical and ongoing colonialism, classism and capitalism. Electronic waste, which is often exported from wealthier countries to poorer countries, can have devastating effects on both the environment and human health. Many BIPoC communities are disproportionately impacted by this waste, as they are often the ones working in e-waste recycling facilities and living in the surrounding areas.
The project consists of three parts: the performance, the procession, and the installation. The procession is a movement between the locations, led by the performers and accompanied by music. The installation is a collection of living and dead plants and electronic waste sculptures that will be displayed at the final location.
More information about Ojudun Taiwo Jacob
More information about Jere Ikongio

DJ SET – Sunday, 30 April from 9pm
Sounds from the South – An african electronic music dj performance J-NOK, Artist

The set will transport you on a journey through the diverse and vibrant rhythms of Africa. Drawing on influences from the south and west of the continent, taking you on a musical adventure that explores the intersections of spirituality, hyper-identity, fusion, and African rhythm. Weaving together the pulsing energy of African electronic house and dance with the rich rhythms of African drums and percussion in a seamless fusion of sound. A powerful expression of identity, culture, history, the present and the future taking you on a journey through the heart and soul of Africa.
More information about J-NOK

Ego, 2023
Video – Catri Foot
A collaborative piece on human existence and what it means to be collectively human.
Improvisation meets documentary
Created as part of the filmmaking sprint with Filmmakers & Movie Nerds
In collaboration with Teodora Atanasova, Mike Franke, Maxim Kremer (who also edited)
Thanks to Martin Klefeldt & Bembo Davies

Nemesis, 2023
Video – Catri Foot
Navigating gender and sexuality post childhood.
How paths are built: how our environment challenges us or changes us.
Trusting. Letting go. Being vulnerable.
Finding strength.

In collaboration with:
Rocío Tenaglia: Camera
Rachel Sidiropolou: Actress
Luna Mareen: Sound Design
João Carvalho: Audio/Camera
Yuya Sunazawa: Editing/Sound Design

More information about Catri Foot

Re-Titled Project About Something Still Disturbing, 2015-2023
Live exhibition – Vladimir Dziomba

“In the first place, I suspect that the reader has the impression that our discussions on the sense of guilt disrupt the framework of this essay: that they take up too much space, so that the rest of its subject-matter, with which they are not always closely connected, is pushed to one side. This may have spoilt the structure of my paper; but it corresponds faithfully to my intention to represent the sense of guilt as the most important problem in the development of civilization and to show that the price we pay for our advance in civilization is a loss of happiness through the heightening of the sense of guilt. Anything that still sounds strange about that statement, which is the final conclusion of our investigation, can probably be traced to the quite peculiar relationship — as yet completely unexplained — which the sense of guilt has to our consciousness”.
Sigmund Freud, Das Unbehagen in der Kultur.

i am spoken, 2023
Performance and video installation by Vladimir Dziomba

i am spoken is a thirty minutes solo which explores the missing link between dancing and performing, seeing and watching, exposing and discoursing.
Direction and intention. Through an apparent lack of correlation between the different scenographic elements, the piece suggests the recollection of the un-matching objects disposed on stage: the danced, the said, the shown.
From our ontological need to make it all fit, rise ungraspable bits of unexpected, of un-worded, which may suddenly burst between two words, two notes, two gestures. Those little instants of meaningful unspeakable nothingness, of unknown, and yet which link together the reliable, thus seizing the very essence of the human condition: would that make sense, if they were called “art”?
More information about Vladimir Dziomba

Are you afraid of the void, 2023
Performance by Lea Pischke

In the solo « Are you afraid of the void » the artist Lea Pischke explores spaces that open up inside and outside the human body when the in- and outflow of oxygen and carbon dioxide is disturbed and tampered with. The person « Lea Pischke » is the performer « Lea Pischke ». They are not the same. It’s her breath, and it’s everyone’s air. It’s a performance where her body performs, yet it’s not her performance.
You will be the audience. You will witness her do, something. Why is she doing it? What for? And why are you witnessing? It might be a hoax, it might be pretence. She might not do it. Who can tell? And if she didn’t do it, would you want your money back?

Performance: Lea Pischke
Sound Design & Recordings: Lea Pischke
Music: Excerpts from « Mouvements » (2004) by Hervé Boghossian, Label: Raster-Noton
The research was made possible thanks to a Dis-Tanz Solo scholarship which is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media within the framework of the initiative NEUSTART KULTUR, aid programm DIS-TANZEN by the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland

More information about Lea Pischke

Slicing Silence
Concert by Yeve – Saturday, 29 April 2022, 9.30pm

In Slicing Silence, life’s rhythm ebbs and flows, embracing change. Music, ever dynamic, honors its silent origins. Experience the essence of rhythm in this live performance by Yeve, a non-binary artist resident of Berlin.
More information about Yeve

Venue: Kunstquartier Bethanien, Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin / Studio 1, first floor
Dates: Saturday, 29th of April: 5.30pm (doors open), 6pm (performances)
Sunday, 30th of April: 4.30pm (doors open), 5pm (performances)
Entry: Sliding scale: 5 – 10 EUR
Enquiries: conversation /at/ codices-discendi /dot/ de