Still from 'Un-Documented - Unlearning Imperial Plunder' (2021) directed by Ariella Aïsha Azoulay. 7 Dec 2021
18:30 - 20:30
Decolonial Futures: Workshop with Ariella Aïsha Azoulay
The third workshop of Decolonial Futures 2021-2022 invites Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, a curator, documentary film maker and professor of Comparative Literature and Modern art Culture and Media at Brown University.
Notice: Due to the new Corona Regulations introduced on 28 Nov, this event has been moved online. To attend the session on please RSVP (information below). For any questions, please do contact us at: info@decolonialfutures.org or evie@framerframed.nl
Third session
In this third session of Decolonial Futures we will discuss two films: Statues Also Die (1953) by Chris Marker & Alain Resnais and Un-Documented – Unlearning imperial Plunder (2021) by Ariella Aïsha Azoulay.
Shot nearly seventy years apart, and yet witnessing petrifying evidences, the two films orbit around dislocated histories encompassed in the presence of African art and artefacts in European museums. Although different in intent and positionality, the filmmakers invite us to rethink the continuation of imperial violence against claims to humanity and rights of movement and to decipher the political apparatus allowing for their continuation as well as our collective responsibility towards the status quo.
Both documentaries highlight the museum’s claims to the apolitical, arguments which are poetically woven to reveal their active roles in framing and negotiating histories and their social manifestations. The points of contention are juxtaposed with the seeds of imagination out of which colonial mechanisms that are re-enacted hold the potential to be disentangled.
Additionally we recommend the documentary Totem and Taboos. In Brussels, the Africa Museum must remodel to reflect the brutal past of Belgium’s colonial legacy. It’s under pressure with the ghost of King Leopold still haunting Belgium’s former African colonies who say the colonial power never accepted the terrible crimes they oversaw. This documentary explores the legacy on the ground and the renovation of a revered institution to more accurately reflect history.
In preparation
In order to spend more time in discussion and reflection, please watch Ariella’s film and familiarise yourself with her suggested reading. All the relevant links can be found below.
Article 2: The Captive Photograph
Un-Documented – Unlearning imperial Plunder (2021) dir. Ariella Aïsha Azoulay
How to Register
This educational programme is open to students of the Sandberg Institute and the Rietveld Academy, cultural practitioners, and anyone willing decolonise their perspective, research and practice.
Unfortunately, due to the new Corona Regulations introduced on 28 Nov, this event has been moved online. To attend the session on Zoom please RSVP by filling in this form. For any questions, please do contact us at: info@decolonialfutures.org
This event is FREE and in ENGLISH.
More about the programme
Azoulay’s workshop is part of Decolonial Futures, an exchange programme organised between the Sandberg Instituut, the Rietveld Academie and Framer Framed in Amsterdam, as well as Funda Community College in Soweto, South Africa. The programme centres around questions of decolonisation in the context of art and education. Participants will work towards the making of a documentary whose format and content will be informed by guest filmmakers, writers and artists such as Ariella Aïsha Azoulay.
The programme was inspired by the desire to work collectively towards a decolonial future through an equal exchange of knowledges and perspectives from students working across the disciplines of art and design. The focuses of the first term explore:
- What are the ways in which the colonial affect you/your environment in day to day life?
- How could you capture that feeling/observation/relation?
- How does documentary, as a medium, participate in de/colonial practices of making, representing and looking? How can the medium become a tool for empowerment?
- What methodology can you think of/do you want to apply in the making of a documentary?
Classes take place at Framer Framed in Amsterdam, where we will host a series of screenings, talks and workshops by individuals whose practices engage with narratives of de/coloniality, their histories and their current unfolding. In parallel, participants at Funda Community College in Soweto will work on archival material accumulated over the years of Decolonial Futures since the inception of the programme and will reflect on their experience, the feasibility and limitations of decolonial educational endeavours and the cross cultural exchange that attempted to address it. Missed the first session? Read about the previous workshop by Sara Blokland here!
Term 2021-2022
9 November with Sara Blokland
23 November with Aditi Jaganathan
7 December with Ariella Aïsha Azoulay (online)
from 18:30 – 20:30
Term 2020-2021
Last year’s Decolonial Futures was divided into two terms, the first term establishing the local and global historical context of Soweto, South Africa, whilst the second term was part of sonsbeek20→24’s curatorial framework of ‘labour and the sonic’.
Read more about the first sessions in 2020-2021 here.
Read more about the second sessions here.
Organisational Team
The organisational team consist of Dorine van Meel and Ibrahim Cissé (Sandberg Institute / Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam), Simangaliso Sibiya and Phumzile Nombuso Twala (Funda Community College, Soweto), Evie Evans (Framer Framed).
- Article: The Captive Photograph by Ariella Azoulay
- Article: Understanding the Migrant Caravan in the Context of Imperial Plunder and Dispossession by Ariella Azoulay
- Film: Un-Documented - Unlearning imperial Plunder (2021) dir. Ariella Aïsha Azoulay
- Funda Community College - Soweto
Links
- Market Transactions Cannot Abolish Decades of Plunder by Ariella Azoulay
- Publication: Decolonising Museums
Attachments
Museology / Community & Learning / Shared Heritage / Colonial history / South Africa /
Agenda
Decolonial Futures: Workshop with Aditi Jaganathan
First term of the Decolonial Futures programme 2021-2022 with selected Artist Talks
Decolonial Futures: Workshop with Sara Blokland
First term of Decolonial Futures programme 2021-2022
Network
Ariella Aïsha Azoulay
Curator, writer, filmmaker, and professor
Simangaliso Sibiya
Artist, curator and educator
Dorine van Meel
Artist, Writer, Educator
Ibrahim Cissé
Artist, Researcher and Educator
Magazine
Community & Learning / Shared Heritage / Colonial history / Museology /
Action Research / Shared Heritage / Colonial history / South Africa /
Report: Decolonial Futures with Aditi Jaganathan
Shared Heritage / Community & Learning / Colonial history / Art and Activism / South Africa /