S A V V Y ContemporaryThe laboratory of form-ideas

TEAM

Founded in 2009by Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung in Berlin–Neukölln

Move in 2013to the former Umspannwerk (transformer station) in Berlin–Neukölln

Opening 2013of the new space, renovated by SAVVY in the former transformer station in

Berlin–Neukölln

Move in 2015to silent green Kulturquartier in Berlin–Wedding

SAVVY Contemporary | The laboratory of form-ideas is an art space, platform for discourses, meeting place for good conversations, food and drinks - a place of shared hospitality. It is located on the threshold between concepts of the West and non-West in order to understand and deconstruct them. It has carried out a variety of projects - exhibitions, performances, film screenings, lectures, concerts, readings, discussions, dance. SAVVY Contemporary has built a participatory archive for German colonial history, a documentation centre for performance art, a library and a residency programme. The art space cooperates with schools in educational projects and deals with the history and socio-political realities of its neighbourhood, which are closely interwoven with the project's considerations and discourses.

EXHIBITIONS

EXHIBITIONSSelection 2016–201814.09.–11.11.2018 | GEOGRAPHIES OF IMAGINATION | Collaboration: BOZAR–Centre for Fine Arts (Brussels), Kulturen in Bewegung (Vienna) & SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin) | Co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union

06.–22.07.2018 | UNITED SCREENS: ON CINEMA BEYOND THE BORDERS OF THE SCREEN | Funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds and theArab Fund for Arts and Culture

19.05.– 24.06.2018 | WHOSE LAND HAVE I LIT ON NOW? Contemplations on the Notions of Hostipitality | Co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union

03.05.– 02.06.2018 | CANINE WISDOM FOR THE BARKING DOG – THE DOG DONE GONE DEAF: Exploring the Sonic Cosmologies ofHalim El-Dabh | Dakar Biennale 2018, Senegal | Supported by Auswärtiges Amt, Goethe Institut, Macaal, Fondation Alliance, Be Berlin, Mophradat and Institut Für Auslandsbeziehungen.

23.03.– 06.05.2018 | WE HAVE DELIVERED OURSELVES FROM THE TONAL. Of, With, Towards, On Julius Eastman | MaerzMusik –Festival for Time Issues, funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation

14.02.–11.03.2018 | WE ARE NOT WORRIED IN THE LEAST قالطإلاىلعنیقلقانسلنحن . An exhibition by Jasmina MetwalyAs part of 13th Forum Expanded | 68. Berlinale

30.11.2017–28.01.2018 | THAT AROUND WHICH THE UNIVERSE REVOLVES: On Rhythmanalysis of Memory, Times, Bodies in Space | Funded by the TURN fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation

14.09.–21.10.2017 | EL USMAN FAROQHI HERE AND A YONDER: On Finding Poise In Disorientation | Supported by Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa

28.04.–04.06.2017 | EVERYTHING IS GETTING BETTER: Unknown Knowns of Polish (Post) ColonialismFunded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds

17.03.–26.03.2017 | JULIUS EASTMAN: LET SONORITIES RING | Produced by SAVVY Contemporary and MaerzMusik – Festival for Time Issues

08.02.–12.03.2017 | THE LAW OF THE PURSUER: ESSAY-EXHIBITION BY AMOS GITAI | As part of 12th Forum Expanded, 67. Berlinale

PROJECTS

PROJECTSSelection 2016–2018

13.10.2017–fortlaufend | UNTRAINING THE EAR: Listening Sessions

14.09.2016–07.03 2018 | HOW DOES THE WORLD BREATHE NOW? 52-week Film Series

15.11.2016–11.01.2018 | SPEAKING FEMINISMS: Preliminary Exercises

30.09.2016–28.01.2018 | THAT, AROUND WHICH THE UNIVERSE REVOLVES: On Rhythmanalysis of Memory, Times, Bodies in Space | Including five chapters in Lagos, Düsseldorf, Harare, Hamburg and Berlin | Funded by the TURN fund ofthe German Federal Cultural Foundation

17.06.–08.07.2017 | SAVVY FUNK: EVERY TIMEA EAR DI SOUN – the documenta 14 radio programme in partnershipwith Deutschlandradio Kultur

03.06.–07.08.2016 | THE INCANTATION OF THE DISQUIETING MUSE: On Divinities, Supra-Realities or the Exorcisementof Witchery | Exhibition, programme and publication | Funded by the TURN fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation

PERFORMANCES

PERFORMANCES &EVENTSSelection 2018

14.09.2018 | DIS-OTHERING AS A METHOD: Invocations with Hamid Dabashi, Elnathan John and many more

19.07.2018 | THE ACID IN THE TASTE OF THINGS: Reading and conversation with Olu Oguibe and Adam Szymczyk

26.06.2018 | TRIBUNAL–A MATTER OF EMOTION: Performance with Washi Kuhi and others

08.–10.06.2018 | WHOSE LAND HAVE I LIT ON NOW? Contemplations on the Notions of Hostipitality: Invocations withUlf Aminde, Seloua Luste Boulbina, Jihan El-Tahri, Naeem Mohaiemen and many more

13.06.2018 | BLIND SPOT: Reading with Teju Cole

01.06.2018 | CARESSING THE PHANTOM LIMB. 'HEIMAT' –PROGRESSION, REGRESSION, STAGNATION? with Arjun Appadurai, Margarita Tsomou and others.

23.03.2018–ongoing | WE WHO ARE NOT THE SAME: Research and performance project on decolonial, intersectionalfeminist practices and politics

24.–25.03.2018 | WE HAVE DELIVERED OURSELVES FROM THE TONAL. Of, With, Towards, On Julius Eastman: Invocations with George E Lewis, The Otolith Group, Elaine Mitchener and many more

25.11.2015 – ongoing | FREEMAN‘S : Magazin launch with readings by John Freeman, Ishion Hutchinson, Xiaolu Guo, Nadifa Mohamed, Taiye Selasi, amongst others.

RESIDENCIES

RESIDENCIES01.01.–31.03.2018 | Nkosilathi Emmanuel Moyo: activist and artist from Zimbabwe

01.08.–31.10.2016 | Tito Aderemi-Ibitola: multimedia artist from Lagos / Nigeria

01.02.–07.03.2016 | Alejandra Mizrahi and Agustín González Goytía: artists from Argentina

01.08.–10.09.2014 | Uche Uzorka: artist from Lagos / Nigeria

01.08.–10.09.2014 | Myron Beasley: scientist, curator and performance artist from the US.

COLONIAL NEIGHBOURS

COLONIAL NEIGHBOURS is a participatory archive and research project investigating the colonial history of Germany, including its ongoing impacts upon the present. The project aims to address gaps in Germany’s politics in order to question dominant knowledge structures and historical narratives. The archive serves as a platform for discussion, exchange, and collaborations with actors from various fields.

SAVVY.doc

SAVVY.doc: Library, documentation centre and archive, which questions archiving practices through a performative connection of future, past and present. Our archive collects and organizes documentation of performing and performance art in different media: photography, video, text and physical objects. This archive functions in a way as a corporeal catalogue available for the general public interested in approaching performance, performing arts and its ideas. But it also serves as a more objective platform for the exposure of such a practice into the contemporary art realm and its different contexts.

WORKSHOPS & EDUCATION

WORKSHOPS &EDUCATIONSELECTION 2013–2017

15.09.2018 | THE ABC OF RACIST EUROPE: Workshop with Daniela Ortiz

19.05.2018 | POETICS OF REFUSAL: Poetry Workshop with Simone White

30.10.–03.11.2017 | DEVIANT DESIGN IN A HOUSE OF OLD FEARS: On Coloniality in Design Theory and Practice Workshop with students at the Royal College of Art in London

13.10.–14.10.2017 | TRANSLATING PASTS INTO FUTURES: Decolonial Perspectives on Things in Art, Design & Film | at Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg

August–September 2017 | MY NAME, MY STORY: The Danger of a Single History and Collective Practices of Resistance | Workshop series with students at OSZ Bekleidung und Mode | A partnership of Colonial Neighbours, Deutsches Historisches Museum (DHM) and Kulturagentenprogramm Berlin

29.11.2016 & 14.12.2016 | (POST)COLONIALISM AND TEXTILES | Workshops with students at OSZ Bekleidung und Mode | A partnership of Colonial Neighbours, Deutsches Historisches Museum (DHM) and Kulturagentenprogramm Berlin

28.01.–02.03.2014 | STÜCKE / FERNE: Exhibition with Robert-Koch-Gymnasium students

15.03.–22.02.2013 | ESSEN / GARTEN: Exhibition with Robert-Koch-Gymnasium students

PUBLICATIONS

PUBLISHINGSELECTION

__THE INCANTATION OF THE DISQUIETING MUSE: On Divinity, Supra-realities or the Exorcisement of Witchery. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung & Federica Bueti [Hg.], Verlag: The Green Box, 2017, ISBN 978-3-941644-95-3.

__EVERYTHING IS GETTING BETTER: Unknown Knowns Of Polish (Post)colonialism, Joanna Warsza [Hg.], 2017, ISBN 978-3-00-056533-5.

__GIVING CONTOURS TO SHADOWS, Marius Babias, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Elena Agudio und Storm Jansevan Rensburg [Hg.], Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König 2015, ISBN 978-3-86335-591-3.

__JOURNAL 2010–2012 |. SAVVY ART.CONTEMPORARY.AFRICAN–Critical Texts On Contemporary Art .

AWARDS & SUPPORTERS

2013: Berlin Senate Department for Cultural Affairs Prize for Project Spaces

Supporters of SAVVY: _ Prof. Horst Köhler, former president of Germany_Prof. Hermann Parzinger, president of the Foundation Preussischer Kulturbesitz_Andre Schmitz, former secretary of culture_Adam Szymczyk, artistic director documenta 14_ Olafur Eliasson, artist_Taiye Selasi, writer_Thomas Eller, curator and artist_Marianne Esser, art historian and patron_ amongst others

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Architectural Digest 10/ 2015

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CONTACT US

Visit: Plantagenstraße 31 | 13347 Berlin

Mail: Gerichtstraße 35 | 13347 Berlin

www.savvy-contemporary.com

communications@savvy-contemporary.com