Berlin

O Quilombismo

Installation view of exhibition O Quilombismo: Of Resisting and Insisting. Of Flight as Fight. Of Other Democratic Egalitarian Political Philosophies, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), 2023. Photo: Camila Gonzatto

01 November 2023

Magazine América Latina Magazine

1 min read

Installation Views

Black Cultures Matter

Cultural heritage

Berlin

Abdias Nascimento

Exhibition inspired by Abdias Nascimento's Quilombismo philosophy marks reopening of Berlin's House of World Cultures.

The exhibition entitled O Quilombismo: Of Resisting and Insisting. Of Flight as Fight. Of Other Democratic Egalitarian Political Philosophies was on display in 2023 at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures) in Berlin. The project’s point of departure is the philosophy of Quilombismo, as developed by Brazilian artist, author, and politician Abdias Nascimento (1914–2011). Nascimento defined the quilombos—communities created by escaped and emancipated enslaved people—as societies of "fraternal and free reunion, or encounter; solidarity, coexistence and existential communion”.

The exhibition used the idea of the quilombo not only as a metaphor, but also reflects on the intellectual and political implications of a philosophy and ideology based on the quilombos, mapping the spaces that made them possible, whether in historical times, in the imagination of many, or in our multiple contemporary worlds. Work by artists from various countries are presented, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Cape Verde, Mozambique, among others.

O Quilombismo
The exhibition was on display until September 17, 2023

Haus der Kulturen der Welt
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
10557 Berlin

www.hkw.de

Celia Vasquez Yui with Diana Ruiz Vasquez, The Council of the Mother Spirits of the Animals (2020/23), courtesy of the artists and Shipibo Conibo Center, NY; Bastin Santan Diggekar, Untitled (2023), courtesy of the artist. Installation view of O Quilombismo: Of Resisting and Insisting. Of Flight as Fight. Of Other Democratic Egalitarian Political Philosophies, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), 2023. Photo: Laura Fiorio/HKW

Hattarabi Maulasab Gunjavati, Untitled (2023); Everald Brown, Mystical Signs (1994), courtesy of the National Gallery of Jamaica; Abdias Nascimento, Ponto Riscado da Liberdade (Sacred Sign for Freedom, 1974), Quilombismo (Exu e Ogun, 1980), Afro Estandarte (African Standard, 1993), Teogonia Afro-Brasileira n. 2: Iansã, Obatalá, Oxum, Oxóssi, Yemanjá, Ogun, Ossaim, Xangô, Exu (Afro-Brazilian Theogony n. 2: Iansan, Obatala Oshun, Oshossi, Yemanja, Ogun, Osanyin, Shango, Eshu, 1972), courtesy of the Instituto de Pesquisas and Afro-Brazilian Studies IPEAFRO. Installation view of O Quilombismo: Of Resisting and Insisting. Of Flight as Fight. Of Other Democratic Egalitarian Political Philosophies, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), 2023. Photo: Laura Fiorio/HKW

Installation view of the exhibition O Quilombismo: Of Resisting and Insisting. Of Flight as Fight. Of Other Democratic Egalitarian Political Philosophies, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), 2023. Photo: Laura Fiorio/HKW

Tuli Mekondjo, Ovadali vounona (Birthers of children I, 2023), Ovadali vounona (Birthers of children II, 2023), Ounona vedu (Children of the soil, 2023), courtesy of the artist. Installation view of O Quilombismo: Of Resisting and Insisting. Of Flight as Fight. Of Other Democratic Egalitarian Political Philosophies, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), 2023. Photo: Laura Fiorio/HKW

Bernardo Oyarzún, Kilombo: Piwuchen (2023), courtesy of the artist; Ange Dakouo, Imagine (2023), courtesy of the artist. Installation view of O Quilombismo: Of Resisting and Insisting. Of Flight as Fight. Of Other Democratic Egalitarian Political Philosophies, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), 2023. Photo: Laura Fiorio/HKW