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COLAB Copenhagen

The problem with history and many of the institutionalized cultural knowledge is that, normally, it only recognizes a past made by opinion leaders, or meaning makers, or memory makers of a society, who select memory items from the past, relate with recent items and prepare them for consolidation into stable collective memories. We embody those narratives of events and we are led to believe that they constitute the criteria to experience and measure our past and present realities, leaving behind all the other angles from which other individuals and communities looked at the same events.

 

Who owns the job of deciding which stories to remember and which stories to forget? Can artist be involved in this decision making?

CO-LAB COPENHAGEN invited international artists and Danish officials from different Danish public institutions, to collaborate during a month residence, to create a new performative work. The 8 international artists were selected for their ability to give voice to counter-stories and personal interpretations of official narratives in their own countries. They were paired with representatives of Danish national institutions, archives and media. Two ways of memory-making met and exchange knowledge and inspiration. At four public events, the audience witnessed different research forms and life performances and were invited to take part in their processes.

 

Artists: Ali Alfatlawi and Wathic Alameri (Iraq), Jelili Atiku (Nigeria), Ammar Abo Bakr (Egypt), Christian Etongo (Cameroon), Khaled Jarrar (Palestine), Ato Malinda (Kenya) and Odun Orimolade (Nigeria)

 

Danish officials: Mette Garfield, Jessica Klemann, Peter Van Der Meijden, Brian Mikkelsen, Torben Sangild, Alette Scarvenius

CO-LAB COPENHAGEN was curated by Marcio Carvalho in collaboration with Liveart.dk

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