Connecting Afro Futures Fashion x Hair x Design – Events

1. Opening

August 23, 2019 | 19:00–23:00
Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin

Join us for the opening of the exhibition Connecting Afro Futures. Fashion x Hair x Design at the Kunstgewerbemuseum – Berlin’s Museum of Decorative Arts. A new generation of African fashion designers are rethinking “African fashion.” An empowered self-image and a home-grown aesthetic is being presented – challenging and side-stepping (neo)colonial thought patterns and beauty norms.

Having started in Berlin November 2018, and with two further project stations in Dakar and Kampala, completed, Connecting Afro Futures. Fashion x Hair x Design returns to Berlin’s Kunstgewerbemuseum this August. The exhibition focuses on two fashion hubs: Dakar in West Africa and Kampala in East Africa. The designers and artists invited to participate were given carte blanche to transform their visions of African fashion and hair into installations: Lamula Anderson, Bull Doff, Meschac Gaba, José Hendo, Njola, Adama Paris, Ken Aïcha Sy, Tondo Clothing. The installations will be complemented with works by illustrator Diana Ejaita (Italy/Nigeria – Berlin/Germany) among others, as well as photographs, fashion films and music videos.
Curators: Claudia Banz, Cornelia Lund, Beatrace Angut Oola

For the opening, we are putting together an interactive programme for you: In the exhibition’s Afro Hair District there will be a Live Braiding Session with Awa Kalogo and Mariame Faye from NYA - Braid Bar & Salon. In addition, the fashion installation Shameless Afro Hair by designer Adama Paris will be brought to life with a performance.

The catering will feature both East African and West African specialties, a highlight being Bananas&Breads by Trésor Pembele promising “Berlin’s Best Banana Bread”.

DJ PAM BAM (Accra/Berlin) and DJ Mo Lateef (Maputo/Berlin) will be bringing their record cases and selecting Old School, New School and Future Beats for your listening pleasure. Expect Afrobeats, Afrohouse and a bit of RnB and Afro Soul in the mix.

Be sure to look out for the exhibition's magalogue ­– a fashion magazine and exhibition catalogue combined. It was edited by the exhibition curators: Claudia Banz (Kunstgewerbemuseum), Cornelia Lund (fluctuating images) and Beatrace Angut Oola (Fashion Africa Now) and will be published with the Kerber Verlag for the start of the exhibition.

# B R A I D  M Y  H A I R
“Black hair is politics by another name, art in another medium, and offers spiritual freedom of a lasting kind.”
– NOLIWE ROOKS, Professor of Africana Studies and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies & Director of American Studies at Cornell University

During the opening of Connecting Afro Futures. Fashion x Hair x Design (August 23), two people have the chance to get their hair braided for free! Two braiders, Awa Kaloga and Mariama Faye, from NYA Braid Bar & Salon, will be there at the ready and you can select Fulani- or Jumbo Triangle Braids.

NYA stands for “Not Your Average” – alongside their braiding and hair styling offer, they bring together multi-generational communities to discuss, share knowledge, engage and empower each other. “Feel your best – love your hair – be yourself”

Enter the Competition!
✓ You have Afro Hair,
✓ You will be in Berlin on the August 23, 2019
✓ You are happy to be filmed and photographed having your hair braided.

2. Meet the Designers

August 25, 2019, 14:00–18:00
Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin

The project Connecting Afro Futures. Fashion x Hair x Design, on show at the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, focuses on a new, confident and globally thinking generation of fashion designers from Africa. The social and political significance of fashion design and the design of Afro hair are at the centre of the processual and exchange-based concept of this exhibition.

Meet the Designers gathers all exhibition participants for an afternoon of discursive exchange. The event begins with short input presentations by the designers, followed by a Q&A session moderated by Emo Rugene. Afterwards, visitors will have the opportunity to walk through the exhibition together with the designers, have conversations and ask questions. 

- Adama Paris (Dakar/Senegal)

- Laure Tarot and Baay Sooley by BULL DOFF (Dakar/Senegal)

- Diana Ejaita (Berlin/Germany, Italy-Nigeria)

- José Hendo (London/UK, Kampala/Uganda)

- Ken Aïcha Sy (Dakar/Senegal)

- Lamula Anderson by Lamula Nassuna (London/UK, Kampala/Uganda)

- Njola Impressions (Kampala/Uganda)

- Mulindwa Adinan and Ali Musinguzi byTONDO Clothing (Kampala/Uganda)

3. The Importance of the Reclamation of African Creativity, Design & Fashion

September 20, 2019, 16:00-21.30 
Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin

Keynotes and panel discussion – cancelled

“Indigenous” creativity in Africa was denigrated under colonialism. Africa was denied a history and culture in order to justify its exploitation. African spiritual practices were denounced as idolatry and provided a rationale for the intervention of missionaries, who sanctified exploitation in the name of saving souls. The creative production of Africa was pillaged as trophies and souvenirs for ‘adventurers’, at best a curiosity for anthropologists and ethnographers. Art was stolen and hangs on the walls of notable Museums and institutions in the “West”. This seems to be happening with African fashion with the “West” dictating what is fashion and what is not. Due to the emergence of social media, Africans are creating their own narratives around creativity, the “West” can no longer dictate to this generation on what is authentic art or fashion.

Keynote presentations by Designer Sarah Diouf, The African art curation specialist, Ola Shobwale and others.
Discussion moderated by Arieta Mujay and Beatrace Angut Oola with Q & A from the audience.

Event in English.

4. Re-Coding African Fashion and Hairstyles

October 18, 2019, 16:00-21.30
Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin

Screening, Presentations, Performances, and Discussions

The event presents artistic and academic approaches that critically question African fashion and hairstyles as well as the related discourses from a contemporary and historical perspective. With discussions and Q & A from the audience.

Friday, October 18, 2019
16.00–17.30h
Welcome
Mwangi Hutter (artists, Ludwigshafen): Video screening “This Contemplated Self”
Carol Tulloch (Chelsea College of Arts, London): “Back to the Future: Natural Hair in the 21^st Century”

18.00–19.30h
Elke Gaugele (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna): “Fashion and Postcolonial Critique”
Noliwe Rooks (Africana Studies & Research Center, Cornell University): “Playing with Race, Battling Aesthetics”

20.00–21.30h
Tamar Clarke-Brown, Isaac Kariuki (artists, London/Nairobi): “CBT & coding for (in)visibility”
Maseho (artist/voice performer, Hamburg), Saliou Cissokho (musician, Hamburg): “It’s a Brand – not just a Continent – Storytelling about textile design made in Africa through the ages”; performance

Abstracts

Moderated by Cornelia Lund
Concept: Cornelia Lund
Event in English.
Meeting point: Vortragssaal, Kunstgewerbemuseum