Intro

18.3. – 24.6.2016

in the ACADEMYSPACE at Herwarthstraße 3 in Cologne

The PLURIVERSALE is a three-month long series of interdisciplinary events. Find the full program here: www.academycologne.org

A growing awareness of Cologne’s own colonial history provides the point of departure for the exhibition Afrikahafenfest by locally based artists PETER GÜLLENSTERN and JÜRGEN STOLLHANS, whose associative, deliciously paranoid artistic investigation looks at the intertwining of modernization and colonial representation on the Rhine embankment.

Filmmaker and artist PASCALE OBOLO presents her work-in-progress on the uncannily romantic Castle Puttkamer, a former German governor’s residence in Cameroon.

Artist PHILIP METZ joins JOSHUA KWESI AIKINS and CHRISTOPH BIERMANN to discuss his recent work using football to reflect upon surrogate warfare between colonial empires.

The production of knowledge itself is in need of decolonization, as GRADA KILOMBA suggests in her performance lecture, followed by a concert with post-world music band GALA DROP.

What is the outcome of the so-called “refugee crisis?” Where is Europe headed? What will happen after the attacks at Cologne’s Central Station? A new non-hierarchical OPEN FORUM without panelists or keynote speakers tackles these questions and more.

The sexual violence of New Year’s Eve and its implications are the topic of a two-day symposium with NORA AMIN, KÜBRA GÜMÜŞAY, NOAH SOW, ANNE WIZOREK and others.

CHRISTOPHER KIRKLEY shows how he collaborated with a Tuareg guitar hero to produce a crowd-funded remake of Prince’s Purple Rain.

Academy member and composer LIZA LIM premieres her new opera, based on the texts of Polish writer Bruno Schulz.

Is it possible to avert a neo-colonial future of the kind imagined by NATURE THEATER OF OKLAHOMA at the end of PLURIVERSALE IV, when it invites the audience to a participatory filmed performance imagining Cologne in the year 2071, where extraterrestrials who look like humans are imported for their tasty meat? To do that, we need the kind of biting humor offered by FOKN BOIS, whose concert concludes this PLURIVERSALE.

The PLURIVERSALE IV is curated by Ekaterina Degot and David Riff, with assistance from Léa Genoud and Nora Wiedenhöft.