A SACRED STORY AT THE TREE OF LIFE takes the form of an ephemeral installation centred on the signification of landscape and space through processes of memory and ceremony. The shade of the baobab, the sacred tree, is the gathering place for a communion with poets, rioters, storytellers, vocalists, players of instruments, and DJs.
Over a period of six weeks the gallery transforms into a portal for the platform, Listening at Pungwe. Pungwe is an occasion where sound system culture is approached as a mo(nu)ment of auditory, corporeal and sociocultural frequencies. The platform traces spatiality through a complex web of movements that are often embodied and transferred through sound.
Between 14 and 17 September, Listening at Pungwe will open the space with a Pungwe, host Poetry Meets with Jumoke Adeyanju, and a collage workshop by Duduetsang Lamola. Followed by more events in October and a finissage on Saturday 21 October 2023.
Listening at Pungwe, a collaborative project by Memory Biwa and Robert Machiri, pivots on circulatory aural imaginings and practices in southern Africa, to produce publics and alternative spaces of sociality.
With: Listening at Pungwe, Jumoke Adeyanju, blk banaana, Malik Ntone Edjabe aka Hypocrite, Eric Vaughn, Banji Chona, Percy Zvomuya, Eiliyas, Nikola Hartl, Zen Marie, Elsa M’Bala, Melanelle B. C. Hémêfa, Day Eve aka audioslut, Savanna Morgan.
Curatorial Ensemble: Memory Biwa, Robert Machiri, Jumoke Adeyanju, Nikola Hartl
Sound System: John Broback
* The title echoes Sanusi Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa’s Chapter, The Sacred Story of the Tree of Life, in Indaba My Children: African Tribal History, Legends, Customs and Religious Beliefs, Canongate Books Ltd, Edinburgh, 1998, first published in 1964.
Special opening hours Berlin Art Week 2023
Wed 14.09., 14:00 – 22:00
Thu – Sun 15. – 18.09., 14:00 – 21:00
For the duration of the portal A SACRED STORY AT THE TREE OF LIFE at ifa gallery Berlin Cashmere Radio will transmit features, sonic fragments and iterations through their channels. On 15 September 2023 you will be able to tune into the songs, sounds and stories unfolding at the gallery and you will be able to join a livestreaming on 13 October 2023 with Banji Chona and additional features throughout the 6 weeks.
Celebrating community and experimental broadcasting Cashmere Radio is a radio station based in Wedding, Berlin. Broadcasting underground music, talk shows and live performative arts.
