Sustaining the Otherwise
Sustaining the Otherwise is a research and artistic project about restitution, reparation and transformation, which will take place in multiple locations in Africa and Europe over the next few years. Sustaining the Otherwise takes an active approach to engaging with the topic of restitution by attempting to dismantle the hierarchical institutional status quo, and focusing on artistic, design, research and spatial practices that activate decoloniality in different sites and multiple temporalities.
The project offers a space for artists, activists, scholars and writers to be in dialogue and to explore the topic of restitution in relation to both material and immaterial culture. Focusing on artistic practices, the program includes residencies, talks, conferences, publications, performances and exhibitions. As the title suggests, this is a call to imagine the otherwise, to imagine alternatives to the long history of capture and containment by supporting and sustaining artistic practices that undo colonial amnesia by refusing or replacing it with alternatives.
Sustaining the Otherwise is organized in several stages, and takes the shape of a multi-locational program developed in collaboration with the following institutions, initiatives and spaces: The Research Center for Material Culture and Metro 54 (Amsterdam), Nordic Black Theatre and The Global Art Project (Oslo), Afrikadaa and the African Art Book Fair (Paris and Dakar), CCA Lagos and G.A.S. Foundation (Lagos), Lusaka Contemporary Art Center (Lusaka), Kamene Cultural Center and Research Space, and NCAI (Nairobi), Afropocene Studio Lab and Capsule (Kampala), Alice Yard (Port of Spain) and Archive Books (Dakar, Milan, Berlin), among others.
Sustaining the Otherwise is initiated and curated by Amal Alhaag & Selene Wendt.
With generous support from Nordic Culture Fund, Creative Industries Fund NL, Fritt Ord, Arts and Culture Norway, and OCA.