Imagine. Materialise. Witness.

Imagine. Materialse. Witness.

These three words are more than just the title of an exhibition. They are an invitation, a stance, and a vision all at once — and they resonate in a powerful way with this year’s festival theme:

Remember. Resist. Exist. – To resist is to exist.

At a time when right-wing violence and racist discourse are visibly increasing in Germany and across Europe, when fundamental rights are up for debate, and when the lived experiences of BIPoC, of trans* and queer people, of people with disabilities, and of all those who do not fit into the narrow norms of a right-wing society are constantly devalued or put at risk, it becomes ever more urgent to create spaces that center dignity, encounter, and reflection.

This space is also meant to offer a moment of pause — and a breath of relief. To exist is to resist.

In this sense, I understand this exhibition as both a political and poetic space.

A space where resistance does not have to be loud to be powerful.

A space where intuition, tenderness, and artistic depth become expressions of remembrance and survival.

The artistic practice of Nando Nkrumah — his "Authentism" — opens the door to exactly such a space: a space of inner exploration, of gently making visible, of self-determined expression.

This is not about representation in the conventional sense, but about resonance:

Those who enter are invited to feel seen, to feel themselves, to simply be.

In a political climate that so often promotes division over connection, curating spaces that do not have to explain or defend themselves — but are allowed to exist in their multiplicity, vulnerability, and strength — is a radical gesture.

I thank Nando Nkrumah for his trust and openness in sharing this deeply personal process with us, and Amina Wolter for her willingness to share her ideas and actively help shape this exhibition.

I warmly invite you — and especially you, dear BIPoC: Come. Feel. Remember. Breathe. Resist.

We see you.

Text by Yaël Koutouan (Curator, africologneLOCAL)