Loris Cecchini, Monologue Patterns, 2005/15. Installation view, 2009. Courtesy of Galeria Continua. Photo by Loris Cecchini
Simon Njami is a rather international author and curator. Born in Lausanne and based in Paris, he was responsible for the inception of unprecedented exhibitions focusing on African artists. “Africa Remix” (2004) was one of those and it toured the world challenging the mainstream perception of contemporary African art, from London to Tokyo. As an author Njami has also written a biography of James Baldwin – another man of the world with renowned insight into notions of Otherness and belonging. So quite fittingly Simon Njami has curated “Xenopolis”, an art exhibition part of the STADT/BILD cooperation of four institutions, which opens during Berlin Art Week. “Xenopolis” explores the complexity of the city in times of global migration, nodding to Roland Barthes’ idea that the city communicates with its residents, who in turn change its language. Sleek speaks with the curator to find out more about the metropolis as a “free zone” in a liminal state between placelessness and rootedness.
Anri Sala, Long Sorrow, 2005. Courtesy of VG Bild-Kunst Bonn and the artist
Sleek: you’ve said that Berlin doesn’t belong to anyone in particular – that’s a pretty bold statement.
Simon Njami It is not a statement particular to Berlin. My belief is that, since any capital in the world belongs to all its citizens, it ends up not belonging to anyone anymore. People don’t experience the same feeling when they’re back home in Bavaria or in the Ruhr than when they are in Berlin. The multiplicity of identities (and I am not even mentioning the foreigners) create another type of relation to the city. If you add the divide that has transformed Berlin into two entities for decades, with two opposite visions of the world, you may even say that, mentally, they are still two Berlins co-existing, even for the Germans. If you add to that already complex equation the “other” identities coming from Europe and from all over the world, you find yourself with a place that can be claimed by anyone and no one at the same time.
As cities lend and sell culture and products to one another, how can we talk about the authenticity of a city or person?
Authenticity is a word that I personally dislike. There is no such a thing in our contemporary world. Nevertheless, every city, as every individual, bears an identity that is unique, and that is due to architecture, culture, history, and all those dimensions that shape an entity. New York, Paris, Berlin, London, despite globalisation, have a strong identity of their own, and one can never be mistaken. The problem with nostalgic people always regretting old times when things were better is that they don’t realise that a city, just like a human being, has to evolve in order to remain alive. And that evolution, like any other, is never a loss, when it is lived for what it is: the natural movement of life.
Mwangi Hutter, Proximity of Imperfect Figures, 2015. Courtesy of the artist
Could you talk us through your selection of artists for this show?
I precisely wanted to give an impressionist portrait of a city that different people, with different backgrounds, identities and sensibilities could claim theirs. It teaches us about this very notion of authenticity you were referring to, and gives it a very vivid shift. When Kennedy claimed to be a Berliner, he could of course say it in the same way the artists in the show could. But that metaphorical statement could not have worked if he would claimed to be a German, which would have not made any sense. Through the works and the biographies of the artists I have selected, I would like every Berliner to experience the sharing of the space and convince them that the notion of stranger is much more complex than what they might think.
What do you think are the implications of an artist remaining an outsider in their chosen new city?
No one can really be an outsider on all accounts. Of course, a passport may be a limitation, as far as regulations are concerned. There is a number of things that a “legal stranger” cannot perform in certain territories (voting, for instance). But there are many other ways of belonging. Having said that, I tend to think that the very nature of an artist is to remain an outsider, wherever he is, be it in the place where he was born and grew up. To be a stranger is to allow oneself to keep a critical distance from the crowds. The only true country for any artist, I believe, is the studio. That very space where the artist is faced with herself or himself.
Theo Eshetu, Kiss the Moment, 2015. Courtesy of the artist
Portrait of Simon Njami, photography by David Damoison
Berlin as a city and art hub has changed tremendously in the past decade. What do you think it will be like in five years?
Five years is too a short a period. I don’t think any major change will occur within that time. For me, Berlin has that provincial taste that makes its charm. It not a big commercial hub, like New York or London, it is not a mega art capital like Venice or, let’s say Kassel and to be honest, I would not like it to change much. What attracts people to this city, at least my artists friends, is precisely this different time and rhythm. One can still lead a “normal” life in Berlin.
Interview by Will Furtado
STADT/ BILD “Xenopolis” takes place at Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle in Berlin from 16 September until 8 November
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