For the Phoenix to find its form in us. On Restitution, Rehabilitation, and Reparation is a research, exhibition, invocations and publications programme presented by SAVVY Contemporary and developed in collaboration with Jameel Arts Centre and ifa-Gallery Berlin with the exhibition spread across Savvy Contemporary and ifa-Gallery Berlin.
The exhibition For the Phoenix to find its form in us, reflects upon the questions of restitution, rehabilitation and reparation, to further complicate the discourse on the dispossession of material heritage. Taking it further from the discourse and gestures of the return of objects and artefacts, to consider the immaterial traces of loss of such cultural and often spiritual dispossession, as well as the present social conditions of the affected communities under which any restorative and rehabilitative work must take place.
For more information on the exhibition, please visit the Savvy Contemporary website here.
The exhibition features works by Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Rand Abdul Jabbar, Tanya Aguiñiga, Nora Al-Badri, Daniela Zambrano Almidón & Pablo Santacana López, Memory Biwa, Benji Boyadgian, Hamze Bytyci, Nora Chipaumire, Julien Creuzet, Ndidi Dike, Gladys Kalichini, Maurice Mboa, Senzeni Mthwakazi Marasela, Noara Quintana, Michael Rackowitz, Gabriel Rossel Santillán and Akram Zaatari hosted at Savvy Contemporary; with ifa Gallery Berlin showing works of artists Pio Abad, Samia Henni, Jumana Manna, Oumar Mbengue Atakosso, Bhavisha Panchia and Michael Rackowitz.
Event: INVOCATIONS| For the Phoenix to find its form in us
A three-day event designed to deepen and complexify the notions of restitution, rehabilitation and repair through dance and talks, music and films, activism and performances taking place at Savvy Contemporary and online through live streaming.
Moderated by Art Jameel’s Head of Exhibitions, Nora Razian, INVOCATIONS weaves together words, notes, bodily expressions and moving images to contemplate the ways in which the Phoenix Finds Its Form In Us, speculating collectively and pondering the legal, socio-cultural, financial, and political entanglements of restitution. Invoking the (im)possibilities of repair, artists, activists, and scholars carry on together, in polyvocality, the struggle for the reparation of dignity, imagining paths of reparations and forms of accountability, and embodying a rehabilitation of violated epistemologies.
Together, we ask: What are possible formats of reparations?
The full three-day programme is available below and will take place in-person at Savvy Contemporary and online on their Facebook page here.
Friday August 20, 2021
ONLINE
| 2 PM | Welcome and introduction by the artistic director and curators of FOR THE PHOENIX TO FIND ITS FORM IN US. ON RESTITUTION, REPARATION, AND REHABILITATION |
| 2:30 PM |
Marian Pastor Roces and Pio Abad Digital Restitution, Exposure of States TALK |
| 3 PM |
Benji Boyadgian The Cabinet of Curiosities: Histories, Times and Memories of Endless Minorization LECTURE |
| 3:30 PM | Michael Rakowitz (G)hosting SCREENING |
AT SAVVY CONTEMPORARY
| 4:30 PM | Welcome to the space and introduction by the artistic director and curators of FOR THE PHOENIX TO FIND ITS FORM IN US. ON RESTITUTION, REPARATION, AND REHABILITATION |
| 5 PM | Manuela Garcia Aldana sonic passage DJ-SET /SONIC INTERVENTION |
| 5:15 PM | Hamze Bytyci Restitution of Porajmos, Continuous Threat for Roma (Berlin) LECTURE |
| 6 PM |
Die Jugendgruppe WIR SIND HIER! WE ARE HERE/ WIR SIND HIER!, Kuringa: Theater der Unterdrückten PERFORMANCE & INTERACTION (at Nettelbeckplatz) |
| 19:00 | Manuela Garcia Aldana sonic passage DJ-SET /SONIC INTERVENTION |
| 7:30 PM | Noah Angell Museums Breed Ghosts LECTURE PERFORMANCE |
| 8 PM | BREAK |
| 8:30 PM | Damien Rwegera On Rwandese Cultural Restitution LECTURE |
| 9:30 PM | Zaratiana Randrianantenaina Pieces of Memory DANCE PERFORMANCE (KEYNOTE) |
| 10:15 PM | Linda-Philomène Tsoungui PERFORMATIVE KEYNOTE |
| 10:40 PM | Manuela Garcia Aldana sonic passage DJ-SET /SONIC INTERVENTION (ENDNOTES) |
Saturday August 21, 2021
ONLINE
| 2 PM | Welcome and introduction by the artistic director and curators of FOR THE PHOENIX TO FIND ITS FORM IN US. ON RESTITUTION, REPARATION, AND REHABILITATION |
| 2:15 PM | Molemo Moiloa and Chao Tayiana Maina Open Restitution Africa TALK |
| 3 PM | Trixie Munyama Once Again, We Find Ourselves in Mourning PERFORMANCE |
AT SAVVY CONTEMPORARY
| 4 PM | Manuela Garcia Aldana sonic passage DJ-SET /SONIC INTERVENTION |
| 4:15 PM | Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme May Amnesia Never Kiss Us On The Mouth FILM SCREENING |
| 4:45 PM | Simon INOU and Daniel Romuald BITOUH (AFRIEUROTEXT) PROJEKT 3RRR – RESTITUTION/REHABILITATION/RECONCILIATION Performative Lecture |
| 5:30 PM | Samia Henni Archives: Secret Défense? LECTURE |
| 6:15 PM | Manuela Garcia Aldana sonic passage DJ-SET /SONIC INTERVENTION |
| 6:45 PM | Mnyaka Sururu Mboro The Humboldt Forum: The Palace of German Colonial Rulers LECTURE |
| 7:30 PM | BREAK |
| 8 PM | Mwazulu Dyabanza PERFORMATIVE KEYNOTE |
| 9 PM | Nora Chipaumire (flyshit) lo fi wifm ZiFM radio! PERFORMANCE |
| 9:45 PM | Harmony Holiday The Acoustics of Retribution PERFORMATIVE LECTURE |
| 10:45 PM | Linda-Philomène Tsoungui PERFORMATIVE KEYNOTE |
| 11 PM | Manuela Garcia Aldana sonic passage DJ-SET /SONIC INTERVENTION |
Sunday August 22, 2021
AT SAVVY CONTEMPORARY AND ONLINE
| 3 PM | Welcome and introduction by the artistic director and curators of FOR THE PHOENIX TO FIND ITS FORM IN US. ON RESTITUTION, REPARATION, AND REHABILITATION |
| 3:15 PM | Manuela Garcia Aldana sonic passage DJ-SET /SONIC INTERVENTION |
| 3:30 PM | Avni Sethi Dar Firaaq-e-Gujarat* (On Separation from Gujarat) PERFORMANCE |
| 4:30 PM |
Gladys Kalichini and Oumar Atakosso Restitution of Dignity: Meaning of Evidence CONVERSATION (moderated by Arlette-Louise Ndakoze) |
| 5:30 PM | Manuela Garcia Aldana sonic passage DJ-SET /SONIC INTERVENTION |
| 5:45 PM | Yuko Kaseki oldISGold SOLO DANCE PERFORMANCE |
| 6:15 PM | Wayne Modest ONLINE LECTURE |
| 7 PM | Arjun Appadurai What is the Object of Restitution? KEYNOTE LECTURE |
| 8 PM | BREAK |
| 8:30 PM |
Khyam Allami, Julie Normal and Julia Tieke ‘32–Mawjāt Musicales PERFORMATIVE PRESENTATION WITH LIVE MUSIC |
| 9:30 PM | Musa Michelle Mattiuzzi, Chiara Figone, and Paz Guevara Dancing on Debris by Archive CONVERSATION AND SCREENINGS BY ARCHIVE |
| 10:30 PM | Linda-Philomène Tsoungui PERFORMATIVE KEYNOTE |
| 10:45 PM |
Manuela Garcia Aldana sonic passage DJ-SET /SONIC INTERVENTION (Endnotes) |
More information on Phantom Limb, an exhibition hosted at the Jameel Arts Centre in 2019, reflecting upon the pressing questions of dispossession and reparations, and our lived relationship to material heritage, historisisation, the weaponisation of heritage and the construction of foundation myths can be found here, and our long term research threads and interest in relation to material heritage can be found here.