Collaboration between:

Nathalie Bikoro (GA)

Serge Olivier Fokoua (CM)

Marc Patrick Tchambou (CM)

Willem Wilhelmus (NL)

Residence time:

20th February to 26th December, 2012

Work Presentation:

Sunday 26th February, 2012

Open doors - 5pm

The MIND PIRATES

Schlesische Strasse 38,

3rd Hinterhof (second entrance at Falckensteinstrasse 47, 1st Hinterhof)

10997 Berlin, Germany

The 7th edition will be in collaboration and hosted by MIND PIRATES and Pauline Doutreluingne.

The 7th edition of the CO-LAB performance art program is dedicated to the performative discourse produced by artists based in Cameroon and throughout the African Diaspora. CO-LAB editions is pleased to bring together Nathalie Bikoro (Gabon), Serge Olivier Fokoua (Cameroon), Marc Patrick Tchambou (Cameroon) and Willem Wilhelmus (Netherlands), in an attempt to exchange meanings of performance art production from both a Western and Non-Western point of view.

Questions arise about how African artists contribute to the larger discourse of contemporary performance art and the dialectics behind the performative in a Cameroonian context. In relation, how socio-political and historical realities of a society influence the direction and discourse of performance art will also be examined. To paraphrase, Victor Turner, if it is true that performance is a practice in which a culture recognizes itself or reveals something about itself, what does the performance art by African artists on the continent and in the diaspora reveal about their cultures?

CO-LAB 7 begins with a 7 day residency where an exchange of knowledge related to performance art and the affinities and/or differences between western and non- western along with the possible reciprocal influences will be explored to produce a final collaborative work. Culminating, on February 26th, the end result will feature performance art works from all 4 artists and a lecture by Nathlie Bikoro. The lecture, Killing Friday: Forbidden Chimeras Between Tradition and Modernity, is "a short introduction to existing representations of suspended language" and explores,  "the hierarchical body through influences of political governance in the community by looking at performance live art of Africa and its Diaspora". Bikoro asks, "How have contemporary artists of today used mythologies between tradition and modernity to present new questions on national identity and re-appropriating new social movements in urban spaces?". A second lecture by Willem Wilhelmus sharing his experiences at the DakArt 10 Biennial will also take place. A final open discussion addressing questions regarding performance art, its discourse and the influence of African thinking and its practices will be held after the performance.

Serge Olivier Fokoua is an artist/curator based in Cameroon. He use his art as a tool for activism, defending social and civic rights, ecological and community ideas through sculpture, drawing, installation and performance art works. His practice relies on human relations dealing with nature and African traditions, where poetry and music play a special role. Olivier is the president of the African artistic collective PALETTES OF KAMER in Cameroon and the director of the RAVY- Rencontres d'Arts Visuels de Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Marc Patrick Tchambou is a performing artist and photographer based in Cameroon. His works unfold into deliberated rude collages reflecting on local existence and the difficulty of "fitting" into socio-political discourses of "Western culture". His practice is both playful and disturbing, exploring his self- identity between where he lives and discourses made in Western countries.

Nathalie Bikoro is a visual and performing artist from Gabon, based in the UK. She works as an independent curator, writer, editor, and art consultant for national and international events from conferences, festivals, exhibitions, collaborative visual projects, and live art performances platforms including Transitstation Live Arts. She conducts weekly lectures, independent workshops, seminars, short courses in performance art in various academic institutions, schools (including adult learning), art festivals, galleries, and other creative organisations.

Willem Wilhelmus is a artist/curator from the Netherlands based in Finland. He is partly responsible for the rich development of performance art in Finland organizing, as a curator, several performance art venues such as Fake Finn Festival and New Art Contact. With a main focus into performance art practice Willem Wilhelmus has participated in many international festivals and venues, creating a special focus in African performance discourses. In 2010 Wilhelmus was invited to represent Finland in the Nordic Pavilion at DakArt 10 Biennial in Senegal. There he he was able to both present his work and receive valuable feedback, expanding his knowledge about performance art discourses in Africa.

Free entrance

Co-Lab Editions is dedicated to an exchange between artists that use performance art as one of their primary working media. The starting point of this collaboration process is this blog.Artists can start working together from their home countries by posting visual material that can be important for the development of the work. A virtual condition that will introduce both artists, their practices and working methods for a further, intensive, 7 days, live cooperation in Berlin.

All the visual material (text, video, photo, music, etc) can be followed by all the interested parts, being available in the: Online Collaboration link, inside the blog structure.

Co-Lab Editions is interested in the process of cooperation between artists from different cultural backgrounds in a mutual thinking about performance art practice.