African futures
all Around
all Around
Program 30.5. – 11.6. 2023
From May 30 to June 11, 2023, under the motto “African Futures,” visions of the future were drafted and challenges were addressed, and the complexity, multi-layeredness and creativity of modern Africa and the African diaspora were presented in Cologne. The varied and diverse program at various locations in Cologne offered concerts, film and theater performances, as well as readings, discussions and other formats.
Monthly Weekly Daily List
May 2023
b/or/der st/or/ies – Intervention in the permanent exhibition of the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum
b/or/der st/or/ies takes place as an intervention in the permanent exhibition of the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, and deals with the question of "or": because people...
Alter Voices – Covid Stories: A podcast series of the research unit “Communication during and after COVID-19: (re)producing social inequalities and/or opportunities among African migrants in the United Arab Emirates and China”.
Learn about research for listening - with our podcast series "Alter Voices - Covid Stories," on display at the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum starting May 31.
Round table discussion: African Energy Futures – Navigating sustainability, electrification and export opportunities
African energy futures face multiple challenges. While there is consensus that electricity generation needs to be expanded to reach 100% electrification and SDG7, it is...
Exhibition Opening: L’Océan Noir – An Afro-American View on Atlantic History: Exhibition by William Adjété Wilson
Appliqué" is the name of the elaborately crafted tapestries made of fabric in Benin, with which important events were already recorded at the court of the kingdom of Dahomey. This...
L’Océan Noir – An Afro-American View of Atlantic History: Exhibition by William Adjété Wilson
Appliqué" is the name of the elaborately crafted tapestries made of fabric in Benin, with which important events were already recorded at the court of the kingdom of Dahomey. This...
re|despair – Painful encounters in German museums
Co-laboration and repair, restitution and healing have become commonplace phrases in German museum discourse on how to deal with colonial collections and the colonial past.
Exhibition: Shall you Return Everything, but the Burden – Give everything back – except the burden
The starting point of Lebohang Kganye's exhibition project is a collection of photographs and drawings by the German painter and photographer Marie Pauline Thorbecke, who from 1911 to 1913, together with her husband...
Is there a future for African Studies in Europe? Opening Roundtable ECAS
It seems contradictory, certainly at first sight. Can a European Conference on African Studies wiggle itself loose from the colonial past? Can one claim to offer spaces for encounters, knowledge....
Where do we go from here? Innovative, transcultural music from Nigeria, Ghana, Italy and Inner Mongolia – concert in the framework of the OLUZAYO Music Festival
Four compositions, four world premieres and four perspectives on the musical traditions of Africa - the opening concert of the OLUZAYO Festival presents extraordinary works from Nigeria, Ghana, Italy and Inner Mongolia
The Counter Museum – Masello Motana’s The Vocal Museum (Live Performance with Band)
South African singer, actress and performance artist Masello Motana's performance and sound documentary takes a foray into South African...
June 2023
L’Océan Noir – An Afro-American View of Atlantic History: Exhibition by William Adjété Wilson
Appliqué" is the name of the elaborately crafted tapestries made of fabric in Benin, with which important events were already recorded at the court of the kingdom of Dahomey. This...
We have always been here: Unearthing Hidden Histories – Prof. Joseph Major Nyasani at the UoC – Lecture & Discussion
"Humans, not places, make memories". Ama Ata Aidoo
We cannot be able to talk about African Futures if we do not speak about the African past and the achievements of those who came before us and set a footprint.
Exhibition opening: My Life Began Several Centuries Ago. An Ecosystem of Circulating Images – With Raphaël Grisey and Bouba Touré
For centuries, the relationship between Africa and Europe has been determined by a hegemonic system of exploitation in the sense of a Western-influenced capitalist plantation logic.
re|despair: Painful encounters in German museums – Livespeaker event
Co-laboration and repair, restitution and healing have become commonplace phrases in German museum discourse on how to deal with colonial collections and the colonial past. A student group....
African Futures – All Around: Opening Event
With Lord Mayor Henriette Reker. Rector of the University of Cologne Dr. h.c. Axel Freimuth, actors of the regional Afro-diasporic communities. Author Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
African Futures - All Around offers a...
Ancient Voices, Sibusile Xaba, Ocen James & Rian Treanor – Experimental Songwriting, Traditional Xhosa Music, Transcultural Avantgarde Improvisation
KIndigenous traditions and experimental approaches to songwriting, composition and avant-garde electronics. Sibusile Xaba, a charismatic and highly original experimental guitarist and singer combines ....
Opening africologneFESTIVAL & afterwards. Presentation SAMSON
In times of intolerance and polarization, Samson, a young man with a hero's mission, channels the rage of his oppressed population and wreaks terror on those he considers...
L’Océan Noir – An Afro-American View of Atlantic History: Exhibition by William Adjété Wilson
Appliqué" is the name of the elaborately crafted tapestries made of fabric in Benin, with which important events were already recorded at the court of the kingdom of Dahomey. This...
Business Forum: A day all about startups and companies
Various facets of successful African-German economic cooperation are discussed.
Business Forum: Two Continents – One Team: Intercontinental Cooperation in the African-European Startup Ecosystem.
We are pleased to invite you to our panel discussion on successful teamwork and collaborations in African-European startups and intercontinental startup ecosystems.
My Life Began Several Centuries Ago. An Ecosystem of Circulating Images – Exhibition
For centuries, the relationship between Africa and Europe has been determined by a hegemonic system of exploitation in the sense of a Western-influenced capitalist plantation logic.
Curator’s tour: Shall you Return Everything, but the Burden?
The starting point of Lebohang Kganye's exhibition project is a collection of photographs and drawings by the German painter and photographer Marie Pauline Thorbecke, who from 1911 to 1913, together with her husband...
Black and Queer – Empowerment for Black people who identify as lsbtiaq*.
Queer Black people are underrepresented in Afro-diasporic communities. With this offer we would like to create a space where we can work with all our...
TWM Library Children’s Program at the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Shaping the African Future (02.06.23)
TWM Library places a special emphasis on empowering our children, African Future, and all children in general.
African Futures – Together on the Way (Program at RJM on 02.06.23)
The program within the framework of African Futures in the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum and in the FORUM Volkshochschule offers two days of information and entertainment on various sections and topics of "African Futures
Music Program – African Futures – Together on the Way 2/3.6. at the RJM
Opening Ceremony of African Futures - On the Road Together on 6/2, at 3pm / 6/3. at 1:30 pm and 5:30 pm
Decolonizing Approaches on Black Health: Black Voices – A panel discussion between Black medical professionals.
This means that every person, regardless of origin, gender, social status, religion, sexual orientation, etc., should have equal access to equal health care.
International Crisis – Intersectional Solutions
The climate crisis is everywhere and on everyone's lips. However, their effects are anything but equally distributed. Those who have contributed the least to the global emissions debacle are suffering the most from the consequences of the climate catastrophe, which is already well advanced...
My Tanzania – acrobatics and dance with young artists from the Kigamboni Community Centre (KCC)
The play shows everyday life in Tanzania, the challenges many people face and how they overcome them.
Mainly it is about difficulties...
(Post)Colonial Expert Panel meets UNITED NATIONS
The "Decade for People of African Descent" (2015 - 2024) proclaimed by the United Nations commits all member states to promote the rights and recognition of people of African descent and to combat discrimination and racism. Cologne is participating in the implementation and has set itself the goal of coming to terms with the city's (post)colonial heritage
Xaraasi Xanne (Crossing Voices) – Film Screening and Talk
Using rare film, photo and sound archives, Xaraasi Xanne (Crossing Voices) recounts the adventure of Somankidi Coura, an agricultural cooperative founded in 1977 by West African migrant workers in Paris to ...
Diaspora remittance: curse or blessing
Curse or BlessingForms and Strategies of Sustainable Support for the Country of Origin by the Diaspora
Music as a socio-political mouthpiece – Artist Talk and concert with the Cape Verdean band “Grupo Pilon
"Music expresses what cannot be said and what is impossible to be silent about." (Victor Hugo). Grupo Pilon" is a band with Cape Verdean roots, which lives in the second generation in Europe's diaspora.
Presentation of SAMSON
In times of intolerance and polarization, Samson, a young man with a hero's mission, channels the rage of his oppressed population and wreaks terror on those he considers...
Roundtable: Biodiversity and Food Security
Our Roundtable's discussion is set against the backdrop of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP 15) agreement of putting 30 per cent of the planet and ...
The Transforming Museum And Its Publics – Roundtable on museums in post/colonial societies
In the past, in Europe as much as in Africa, many museums and their exhibitions were catering to white European publics. In the globalized and postmigrant societies...
BIKUTSI 3000 – Dance performance/ European premiere of the pan-African version
In Blick Bassy's Afrofuturistic narrative, the Queen of Nkolmesseng in present-day Cameroon leads a resistance through the centuries to bring the continent...
Aftershow Party “Milieu Tropicale” with DJ Marcus Kwa
"Music expresses what cannot be said and what is impossible to be silent about." (Victor Hugo). Grupo Pilon" is a band with Cape Verdean roots, which lives in the second generation in Europe's diaspora.
OLUZAYO Clubnight – Catu Diosis, Jay Mitta & Kadilida, Hibotep, Dope Gal Soundsystem
The OLUZAYO club night, co-hosted by Cologne's nascent international Dope Gal soundsystem, features female artists, MCs and dancers from Africa and the African diaspora.
L’Océan Noir – An Afro-American View of Atlantic History: Exhibition by William Adjété Wilson
Appliqué" is the name of the elaborately crafted tapestries made of fabric in Benin, with which important events were already recorded at the court of the kingdom of Dahomey. This...
B/OR/DER ST/OR/IES – Guided tour of the exhibition
Borderstories takes place as an intervention in the permanent exhibition of the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, and deals with the question of "or": because people are affected very differently by borders depending on their origin.
African Futures – Together on the Way (Program at RJM on 03.06.23)
The program within the framework of African Futures in the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum and in the FORUM Volkshochschule offers two days of information and entertainment on various sections and topics of "African Futures
Collective Spaces of Mourning? A Round Tables Experiment
This collective round table experiment on mourning emphasis lays on the possibilities to integrate artisticpractices as tools for decolonization and reconciliation.
From Cologne to Madagascar: Craftsmen from the Repair Café in the Clouth Quarter support a crafts initiative in Madagascar
The craftsmen of the Repair Café in the Clouth neighborhood support a craftsmen's initiative in Madagascar both financially and by providing tools.
TWM Library Children’s Program at the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Shaping the African Future (03.06.23)
TWM Library places a special emphasis on empowering our children, African Future, and all children in general.
Music Program – African Futures – Together on the Way 2/3.6. at the RJM
Opening Ceremony of African Futures - On the Road Together on 6/2, at 3pm / 6/3. at 1:30 pm and 5:30 pm
FAIR-TOWN and the SDG’S – An Expert Discourse on the Urban Sustainability Concept “FAIR TOWN” in the Context of a Metropolitan Dialogue between Cologne and Dakar
The aim of the event is to develop future perspectives in the North-South Metropolitan Dialogue in line with Goal 17 of the UN Sustainable Development...
The Future of Community Organizing and Activism – A Panel Discussion Among Black Activists
Community Organizing and Activism - Progress and Challenges. What works? What does not work? In this panel discussion, we would like to ...
Business Forum: Opportunities in West Africa – A Day Around Start-Ups and Businesses in West Africa.
Together with the University of Cologne, the Jama Nyeta association invites two business experts from West Africa.large-scale entrepreneurship expert Dr. Youssouf Diawara and Abdoulaye Yaro, expert in start-up founding.
My Life Began Several Centuries Ago. An Ecosystem of Circulating Images – Exhibition
For centuries, the relationship between Africa and Europe has been determined by a hegemonic system of exploitation in the sense of a Western-influenced capitalist plantation logic.
Workshop: Awareness and Empowerment in Education
Racism and discrimination are a constant reality in Germany. Especially the sometimes direct, sometimes subliminal everyday racism and the manifold discriminations in institutional spheres
africologneDIALOGFORUM @ ECAS 2023 – Recognize, Restitute and Repair
For the first time, the africologneDIALOGFORUM will take place within the framework of the European Conference on African Studies (ECAS), which will be hosted by the Global South Studies Center (GSSC) of the University of Cologne in 2023.
Companion: The Decolonization of Thought
The performance "Weggefährtin/ Die Dekolonisierung des Denkens" (Companion/ The Decolonization of Thought) by the artist Lysania is about the journey of a figure who explores the facets of his own being through the confrontation with language, the word.
Europe-African b/or/ders – back to the future Roundtable discussion
This round table accompanies the exhibition "b/or/der st/or/ies" (25.05.-25.08.2023 in Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum). It acts as an interface between science...
What does it actually mean to be African? Reading & Fishbowl Discussion
The literature and education series stimmen afrikas presents the essay by author and journalist Afua Hirsch What does it actually mean to be African? before...
Story, Desire, Belonging, Future: Towards Pluriafricanism? Reading and discussion with Kenyan author Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
"Story, Desire, Belonging, Future: Towards Pluri-Africanism?" with Kenyan author and keynote speaker of the ECAS event, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor. The author had written this text for and has copyrighted it to Sonnenblumen Community Development Group e.V. in 2021.
BIKUTSI 3000 – Dance performance/ European premiere of the pan-African version
In Blick Bassy's Afrofuturistic narrative, the Queen of Nkolmesseng in present-day Cameroon leads a resistance through the centuries to bring the continent...
ResisDancing – solo dance piece by Dessa Ganda
The solo dance project ResisTanzen by Dessa Ganda deals with forms and expressions of resistance.
African Music Futures – Aurelie Nyirabikali Lierman “Maria, Mariza, and maybe Marianna” & Victor Gama w/ Salomé Pais Matos “tectonik: TOMBWA”
"tectonik: Tombwa" by Victor Gama is a multimedia show featuring pieces for Acrux and Toha, instruments from his INSTRMNTS series, and visuals from his field recording project in the Namibe Desert.
Swap Families – A multidisciplinary performance installation (Preview)
To swap, English for exchange, swap, trade: the Ghanaian-German project Swap Families transfers these practices to the microcosm of the family.
African Futures – Let’s Celebrate!
Celebrating African Futures with a night of modern African music.
L’Océan Noir – An Afro-American View of Atlantic History: Exhibition by William Adjété Wilson
Appliqué" is the name of the elaborately crafted tapestries made of fabric in Benin, with which important events were already recorded at the court of the kingdom of Dahomey. This...
BAAMUM NAFI (NAFI’S FATHER) – Film by Mamadou Dia
In the Senegalese village of Yonti, Iman Tierno holds his community together by providing spiritual cohesion.
My Life Began Several Centuries Ago. An Ecosystem of Circulating Images – Exhibition
For centuries, the relationship between Africa and Europe has been determined by a hegemonic system of exploitation in the sense of a Western-influenced capitalist plantation logic.
On Desiring to be Desired by Josephine Papke – Talk and Reading
"For a long time I thought it hurt me that I didn't fit the ideals. Then I understood: the norms of this violent society were not made for me.
Suite for Burkina Electric and Orchestra – concert
Overcoming cultural differences and combining musical languages - this was the idea and challenge that inspired Lukas Ligeti to write his "Suite for Burkina Electric and Orchestra".
africologneCONCERT: Reinel Bakole
She is already considered by many to be a rising star of the international avant-garde neo-soul scene. Reinel Bakole is a Belgian-Congolese singer, expressionist, composer, dancer and performer.
Critical Whiteness – What does racism actually have to do with me?
In our online workshop "Critical Whiteness", we address racism as a system of power in society as a whole, in which Black people and people of color* experience structural disadvantage.
Violence and Resistance in the Sahel – Talk/Reading
L'Ingérence tells the true story of Jörg Lange, a civil engineer and development aid worker in Burkina Faso, who, after interfering in the affairs of state of former president Blaise Compaoré in 2005
Terre Ceinte – Banished Land – Play
In Kalep, a town in Sumal controlled by the brutal power of the Islamists, two young adults are executed for entering into a love affair. Resistance fighters:inside try...
Discussion: Violence and resistance
Terrorist as well as state violence shape societies in their daily struggle for survival and dignity. For many artists invited to africologne, theater is a resistant and political practice.
L’Art-Matrice: Acting, Body, Voice – Workshop 1/2
The performative training focuses on the creative state as well as the inner focus; among others through bodywork, circle singing, concentration and action.
Critical Whiteness – What does racism actually have to do with me?
In our online workshop "Critical Whiteness", we address racism as a system of power in society as a whole, in which Black people and people of color* experience structural disadvantage.
Terre Ceinte – Banished Land – Play
In Kalep, a town in Sumal controlled by the brutal power of the Islamists, two young adults are executed for entering into a love affair. Resistance fighters:inside try...
For my negativity – theater performance
What makes this poet so sad, pessimistic, sarcastic, angry and unhappy? What is he protesting against?
L’Art-Matrice: Acting, Body, Voice – Workshop 2/2
The performative training focuses on the creative state as well as the inner focus; among others through bodywork, circle singing, concentration and action.
Opéra du villageois – Dance performance
With the dance performance Opéra du villageois, Zora Snake invites us to discover another world. Around the major debates on the return of cultural property, he lets within the "mask"...
ONE MOTHER / UNE MÈRE – Film
When director Mickaël Bandela was six months old, his biological mother Gisèle, who lived in France, handed him over to the care of foster mother Marie-Thérèse, who took care of him for almost twenty...
For my negativity – theater performance
What makes this poet so sad, pessimistic, sarcastic, angry and unhappy? What is he protesting against?
DIALAW PROJECT – Theater
In DIALAW-PROJECT, local residents defend themselves against a mega-neoliberal port construction project near Dakar. In the future, a large part of the....
Opéra du villageois – Dance performance
With the dance performance Opéra du villageois, Zora Snake invites us to discover another world. Around the major debates on the return of cultural property, he lets within the "mask"...
Opéra du villageois – Dance performance
With the dance performance Opéra du villageois, Zora Snake invites us to discover another world. Around the major debates on the return of cultural property, he lets within the "mask"...
DIALAW-PROJECT – dance theater performance
In DIALAW-PROJECT, local residents defend themselves against a mega-neoliberal port construction project near Dakar. In the future, a large part of the....
Afrofuturism – More than Science Fiction: Looking Forward, keynote lecture and panel discussion, followed by. Film screening SUN RA – SPACE IS THE PLACE
Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic that incorporates science fiction, history, and fantasy.
combined to represent the diasporic experience and serves as inspiration for a more diverse future.
Swap Families – A multidisciplinary performance installation (world premiere)
To swap, English for exchange, swap, trade: the Ghanaian-German project Swap Families transfers these practices to the microcosm of the family.
Swap Families – A multidisciplinary performance installation
To swap, English for exchange, swap, trade: the Ghanaian-German project Swap Families transfers these practices to the microcosm of the family.
My Life Began Several Centuries Ago. An Ecosystem of Circulating Images – Exhibition
For centuries, the relationship between Africa and Europe has been determined by a hegemonic system of exploitation in the sense of a Western-influenced capitalist plantation logic.
Tigrinya for beginners – introductory course
Kemey wʕilka! Tigrinya is a Semitic language that is the official language of Eritrea and the mother tongue of a large part of the population in Ethiopia....
Bambara for beginners – introductory course
Aw ni tile.
Bambara is the largest lingua franca of Mali and is also spoken in eastern Senegal, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Gambia.
In Germany, Bambara is mainly...
Twi for beginners – introductory course
Maaha! Twi is one of the official languages in Ghana. Ghanaians form the largest African minority in Germany, soTwi is also spoken in Germany.
(Ki)swahili for beginners – introductory course
Karibuni sana! With more than 200 million speakers, (Ki)swahili is one of the ten most widely spoken languages in the world and the most widely spoken language in Africa.
Theater: Et nous devînmes infranchissables – And we became insurmountable!
In this autofiction, an individual fate becomes a universal fable.In an introspective and emotional journey, author and performer Valentine Cohen takes elements from her personal story as the basis for...
“Sound of Spring” by Benjamin Chardey – Reading of the German Version
What kind of society do we want to live in? What is just and how can we achieve more justice? These are questions that supporters of universalism address as well as supporters of identity politics.
The Ghosts are Returning – Music – Theater
In The Ghosts are Returning, GROUP50:50, a collective of artists from Congo, Switzerland and Germany, tells the story of seven so-called 'pygmy' skeletons found by a Swiss doctor in...
Tigrinya for beginners – introductory course
Kemey wʕilka! Tigrinya is a Semitic language that is the official language of Eritrea and the mother tongue of a large part of the population in Ethiopia....
Bambara for beginners – introductory course
Aw ni tile.
Bambara is the largest lingua franca of Mali and is also spoken in eastern Senegal, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Gambia.
In Germany, Bambara is mainly...
Twi for beginners – introductory course
Maaha! Twi is one of the official languages in Ghana. Ghanaians form the largest African minority in Germany, soTwi is also spoken in Germany.
(Ki)swahili for beginners – introductory course
Karibuni sana! With more than 200 million speakers, (Ki)swahili is one of the ten most widely spoken languages in the world and the most widely spoken language in Africa.
My Life Began Several Centuries Ago. An Ecosystem of Circulating Images – Exhibition
For centuries, the relationship between Africa and Europe has been determined by a hegemonic system of exploitation in the sense of a Western-influenced capitalist plantation logic.
Swap Families – A multidisciplinary performance installation
To swap, English for exchange, swap, trade: the Ghanaian-German project Swap Families transfers these practices to the microcosm of the family.
SANKARA – film screening
SANKARA - Director: Yohan Malka; France 2021; OmeU; 62 min.
SANKARA is often referred to as the Che Guevara of Africa. Still not well-known enough in this country, he plays...
The Ghosts are Returning – Music – Theater
In The Ghosts are Returning, GROUP50:50, a collective of artists from Congo, Switzerland and Germany, tells the story of seven so-called 'pygmy' skeletons found by a Swiss doctor in...
The Remix – World Premiere! Dance
You can snatch everything from a person except his dream, his imagination, his mirage. Stories are subject to all kinds of change over time. But how can we remix body, memory, or an opinion?
Tigrinya for beginners – introductory course
Kemey wʕilka! Tigrinya is a Semitic language that is the official language of Eritrea and the mother tongue of a large part of the population in Ethiopia....
Bambara for beginners – introductory course
Aw ni tile.
Bambara is the largest lingua franca of Mali and is also spoken in eastern Senegal, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Gambia.
In Germany, Bambara is mainly...
Twi for beginners – introductory course
Maaha! Twi is one of the official languages in Ghana. Ghanaians form the largest African minority in Germany, soTwi is also spoken in Germany.
(Ki)swahili for beginners – introductory course
Karibuni sana! With more than 200 million speakers, (Ki)swahili is one of the ten most widely spoken languages in the world and the most widely spoken language in Africa.
Workshop: The legacy of colonialism and slavery
The legacy of colonialism and slavery - Which aspects are still relevant today? And what implications can be derived from this? In the interactive and participatory workshop we want to deal with the legacy of colonialism and slavery
Universalism and identity politics – really a contradiction? Dr. Jörg Scheller and Elisabeth Kaneza in conversation
What kind of society do we want to live in? What is just and how can we achieve more justice? These are questions that supporters of universalism address as well as supporters of identity politics.
My Life Began Several Centuries Ago. An Ecosystem of Circulating Images – Exhibition
For centuries, the relationship between Africa and Europe has been determined by a hegemonic system of exploitation in the sense of a Western-influenced capitalist plantation logic.
The Remix – World Premiere! Dance
You can snatch everything from a person except his dream, his imagination, his mirage. Stories are subject to all kinds of change over time. But how can we remix body, memory, or an opinion?
Swap Families – A multidisciplinary performance installation
To swap, English for exchange, swap, trade: the Ghanaian-German project Swap Families transfers these practices to the microcosm of the family.
No event found!