Guest Lecture by N'Goné Fall on 6th June at 5:00 pm EAT

N’Goné Fall is an independent curator and cultural policies specialist. She graduated with honor from the École Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris with a museum and research center – supervised by Paul Virilio – addressing 500 years of trans-Atlantic history between Africa, Europe and the Americas. She has been the editorial director of the Paris-based contemporary African art magazine Revue Noire from 1994 to 2001. She is the editor of An Anthology of African Art: The Twentieth Century (Revue Noire / DAP 2002); Photographers from Kinshasa (Revue Noire 2001); Anthology of African and Indian Ocean Photography: a century of African photographers (Revue Noire 1998). She curated exhibitions in Africa, Europe and the USA. She was a guest curator of the Bamako and Dakar biennales respectively in 2001 and 2002. Her last major group show in Denmark in 2016, combined with a nine-month public program, was inspired by the landmark novel Things FallApart by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. She is the author of strategic plans and evaluation reports for national and international institutions such as the Prince Claus Foundation, the Rijksakademie van BeeldendeKunsten, Arts Collaboratory (The Netherlands); the ACP-EU Group and Africalia (Belgium); the City of Paris, the Conseil regional de Guadeloupe / BICFL, the Organisation international de la Francophonie (France); the Rockefeller Foundation, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, the Villa Albertine / French embassy (USA); the Dakar biennale (Senegal); the Africa Centre (South Africa); the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth (Barbados); the Gyeonggi MoMA, (South Korea).She has been a professor at the Senghor University in Alexandria, Egypt (2007 – 2011); lecturer at the Michaelis School of Arts in Cape Town, South Africa (2017) and at the Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey in Niger (2018). In 2018, N'Goné Fall has been appointed by the French President Emmanuel Macron General Commissioner of the Africa2020 Season, a series of more than 1,500 cultural, scientific and pedagogical events held in 210 cities all over France from December 2020 to September 2021.

N’Goné Fall will be speaking about When things fall apart: critical voices from the radars a group show she curated in 2016.

In his ground breaking 1958 novel Things Fall Apart, Nigerian author Chinua Achebe staged the decline of a man obstinately struggling against the mutation of his society. Ironically, this 19th century story line seems to ridicule the world of today. For the current abolition of frontiers made virtually possible thanks to the internet—much like the (re)-discovery of lands in past centuries—has, instead of opening up an infinite realm of inspiring encounters, created a vast intersection of fratricidal conflicts. This disturbing context based on power control, ostracism and fear can lead us to conclude that the Other is not our brother or sister, has never been and never will be. It is an enemy to neutralize or destroy so as to maintain our own system of values alive and intact. And it matters little if this murder necessitates our own loss.

When things fall apart: Critical voices on the radars is a metaphor of Achebe's novel. But rather than staging the dichotomy of a hostile geopolitical, economic, socio-cultural and religious relationship based on "us" versus "them," the exhibition analyzes our common chronic pathologies. Built as a series of wake up calls, it tells us that the little we have retained of history could be the reason why societies, throughout the entire world, create their own Nemesis by living in an almost constant state of intolerance, withdrawal into oneself and fear. Using humor, poetry, radical protest or interactive role-play, 12 voices direct a critical gaze at a world that is drifting to emphasize the vital necessity to learn to live together, for the survival of communities is at stake, for the survival of humanity is at stake. Because human beings, architects of their past and their present, behave as tragic gravediggers of their own destiny.

When things fall apart: Critical voices on the radars is a platform for artists who are taking a radical stand for a salutary change of mind-set and attitude. It probes how their positions and voices are acting as a warning that mirrors societies in turbulent times. If some of them are demanding Equal Justice and Social Change by addressing gender, race, sexuality, politics, democracy and human development issues; others are embracing a globally resonant humanitarian cause with an Empathy that will uplift humanity, redefine otherness, rehabilitate solidarity, and lead us to believe that the best is yet to come.


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