Emeka Okereke

 Emeka Okereke will exhibit, for the first time, a selection of five conversations from the ongoing series, Nkata Podcast: Art & Process. The exhibition will take place at the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k) Berlin from 02 March - 28 April 2024 as part of the collective show, A Home for Something Unknown. The official opening is slated for 01 March. 

Nkata, meaning “conversation” in Igbo, is the name of a podcast (since 2020) hosted by transdisciplinary artist Emeka Okereke (*1980 in Aba, Nigeria). In this series, Okereke speaks with cultural practitioners, theorists, and fellow artists about their lives and work. The conversations are renditions of the indelible experiences of the guests that inform their way of being and moving in the world. They give the listener a sense of how these artists and art practitioners partake in the redefinition of the ontology of being and, consequently, the re-mapping of the cartography of the world. 

Central to Okereke’s practice, which encompasses photography, video, writing, and performative interventions, is the concept of Trans-Africanism. According to the artist, the prefix “Trans-“ connotes “going beyond”, while equally implying crossing back and forth, like in an exchange. “Wherever there is exchange, a boundary is traversed into unfamiliar spheres where another dimension takes on existence,” he states. Although this term has been used mostly in relation to economic factors as it pertains to particular geographic structures, Okereke suggests, that it could equally apply as a metaphor for the method of artistic exchange, or any other exchange for that matter, in Africa today.

Guests and episodes exhibited:  

EP3: "No Thank You – I Will Live Up to the Consequences