The intimate relationship between a family archive and the collective dimension of a shared heritage: The history of contemporary Senegalese painting from 1960-1990.
From 20 June, the new exhibition at the ifa Gallery Berlin presents for the first time in Germany the central results of the five-year research and investigation project Survival Kit by curator and cultural activist Ken Aïcha Sy on the key moments in contemporary Senegalese painting between 1960 and 1990. The second part of the exhibition project will be shown at the ifa Gallery Stuttgart from October.
Exhibition Opening
19 June 2025, 19:00-22:00
ifa Gallery Berlin, Linienstr. 139/140, 10110 Berlin
DJ-sets with DJ Jaywalk (aka Holger Lund, fluctuating images) and Collectif Wokloni (aka Aminata Bouaré) focusing on (hidden) Senegalese, West-African and Afro-Diasporic music
Food Truck (with Senegalese cuisine by Ndeye Ndack Sarr)
Public Program
20 June 2025, 11:00-17:30
Heckmann-Höfe, entry via Oranienburger Str. 32 or Auguststr. 9, 10117 Berlin
Roundtable, Panel discussion, Presentation, Workshop & Performance focussing on “Archives in Motion”, memories of understanding and critical debates surrounding the hegemonic structures of museums and archives in the global art field with: Clémentine Deliss, Anna Helfer & Students of the Freie Universität Berlin, Elsa M’Bala aka A.M.E.T. & Dior Thiam
Lunch break (with Senegalese cuisine by Ndeye Ndack Sarr)
Exhibition: 20 June – 31 August 2025
Starting from a personal and familial archive, researcher and curator Ken Aïcha Sy, born and raised in Senegal and daughter of journalist and cultural activist Anne Jean Bart and of the artist and curator El Hadji Sy, identifies and focuses on a series of cultural initiatives, artistic movements and collectives that ultimately define the history of contemporary Senegalese art. This cultural heritage has been scattered across many different places outside the African continent and is largely unknown to the Senegalese. Her research took Ken Aïcha Sy to archives in Great Britain, and as far as Germany, including the Iwalewahaus of the University of Bayreuth and the Weltkulturen Museum in Frankfurt am Main, one of the first ethnological museums in Germany to collect contemporary art, particularly from Africa.
The exhibition Survival Kit – Between Us and History: The Hidden Archive will be presented across both ifa Gallery spaces — first in Berlin, then in Stuttgart. Through two distinct scenographies, it explores a shared focus: the intimate link between a family archive and the collective dimension of a shared heritage — the history of contemporary Senegalese painting from 1960 to 1990. Featuring a selection of works from German museum collections, the exhibition aims to bring these artists out of storage and into public view, shedding new light on their artistic legacy.
“Survival Kit is not just a collection of objects or documents: it’s a fragment of living memory, a heritage in motion. Through this exhibition, I want to offer a fresh, international perspective on the works and stories that have shaped – and are still shaping – the Senegalese art scene. This dialogue between the intimate and the global invites us to rethink the way in which heritage, when it circulates beyond its origins, becomes a shared language, a vehicle for resilience, creativity and identity.” – Ken Aïcha Sy
The project also engages German cultural institutions and aims to spark a dialogue around African archives and heritage. Survival Kit activates these spaces to explore tensions, bridges, and the possibilities of restitution — setting narratives and perspectives into motion.
Curated by Ken Aïcha Sy
Assistant Curator Nikola Hartl
Under the patronage of UNESCO. This exhibition is organized in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS – Ken Aïcha Sy
I would like to express my deep gratitude to all those who have nourished, supported, and at times even challenged this research. To my mother, Anne Jean-Bart — the starting point of this journey — to whom this work is dedicated. Thank you to Alya Sebti, mentor and friend, for her unwavering trust. To the team — Nikola Hartl, Svenja Wolff, Ev Fischer, Stefano Ferlito, and Anna Ratcliffe. To Clémentine Deliss, for her sharp insight and steadfast encouragement. To my peers and companions in thought — Philipp Horn, Anna Helfer, Alexandra Kuhnke, Nick Bartlett and Bamba Diop — and to those whose every conversation helped me grow: Eyumane Baoulé Assengone, Massamba Mbaye, Alassane Mbengue, Sylvain Sankalé, and Felwine Sarr. Thank you for the illuminating exchanges.
A special thought goes to Djibril Anton, who left us a few months ago, but whose kindness and warmth continue to resonate.
To the artists who made history and generously shared part of it with me: Kan Si, Djibril Sy, and Abdoulaye Ndoye. And to my father, El Hadji Sy — whose presence, works, and silences are at the very heart of this research. By offering no shortcuts, he taught me endurance: it is no doubt through these detours that I find myself here, five years later.
This project could not have been possible without the generous support and collaboration of our institutional partners: ZK/U Berlin, Goethe-Institut Senegal, British Council Sénégal, Weltkulturen Museum Frankfurt, Iwalewahaus – University of Bayreuth, Villa Ndar, and the Institut Français du Sénégal.
