A new AtWork Chapter is on its way: it will take place on September 15-17th in Lisbon in partnership with the cultural center Hangar and one of its founders the artist Monica de Miranda. The workshop will be conducted by our advisor Simon Njami who will lead the 16 young creative talents from the African diaspora in the in-depth discussion on the topic “Where do we go from here?”. The conversation will be moderated by the local artists Herberto Smith, Antonio Britto Guterres and Jeanne Mercier.
A starting point, a future trajectory, a metaphor full of potential, on the movement towards elsewhere or the other. It alludes to the new discoveries, to widening one’s point of view “from here to there”, containing a potential of a promise.
As usual, AtWork deals with the challenging and hot topics. The critical debate triggers the creative process, which spills out the final result on the notebook, at once the container and the device. As often happens, the question is more intriguing than the answer. Where do we go from here? We will see where the Lisbon participants will take us with their notebooks, which will be exhibited from September 20th to October 14th at Hangar headquarters.
And talking about exhibitions, we have just come back from Zimbabwe, where AtWork Harare took place. 20 young creative talents, together with the educators, curators, entrepreneurs, have debated a highly relevant topic: “Can revolution be a whisper?” The discussion was expertly guided by the vigil and sharp eye of Andrew Tshabangu, the internationally renowned South African photographer, one of the protagonists of The Divine Comedy exhibition, on which he recollects in our Why Africa? column: “I came here to take photographs, but instead a window on my soul has been opened”.
Many windows have been opened during this AtWork at the Zimbabwe National Gallery. A new passionate wind has entered and each participant has elaborated their own personal revolution. The results will be on show from September 11th to October 31st when the created notebooks will be exhibited during the ICAC (International Community of performing Arts Curators) Conference. An international platform of cultural exchange among aritsts, curators, brokers that stimulates the “discovery of the other”. An open dialogue on the new artistic and cultural African scene. The African Conscience, posts Raphael Chikukwa on Facebook, has to continue to expand from generation to generation, without being apologetic about it.