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[Festival] Poetic Cartography Days, by Amo Collective Berlin.

pablo hassmann

Nov 1, 2024

Location: Berlin, Germany.

Summary

The Poetic Cartography Days are structured as a festival-residency designed to foster care, neighborliness, and friendship through poetry. Over three days, together with the invited artists, we will share public moments with the audience and engage in more intimate gatherings to create an atmosphere of connection and collaboration.

Counter-Mapping Berlin: Experimentelle Stadtentwürfe nach der Berliner Konferenz

An Amo Collective project

This year marks the 140th anniversary of the Berlin Conference whose echoes of domination and separation continue to reverberate through our bodies, institutions, and relationships. Contrary to colonialist mapping and division, the project proposes counter-mapping – collective, artistic mapping – as resistance against dominant spatial practices. We investigate how these historical events continue to shape urban practices and communal life today, and ask: How can we counteract the resulting forms of discrimination in our postcolonial present? What decolonial futures can we envision for our neighborhoods?

Through sound, dance, poetry, performance, decolonial storytelling and collective mapping we nurture a process that rethinks and practices sustainable, equitable relationships among decolonial initiatives. Counter-Mapping Berlin features workshops, artistic events, and a collaborative exhibition, creating an open cultural and arts space for collaboration. Kiosk Batakari, a pop-up pavilion in the backyards of Anthon-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße, will serve as a hub for critical cartographic practice and networking.

Our vision for Berlin's future is to transcend the dominant spatial practices and social divisions which are directly tied to its history. Through collective artistic counter-mapping practices, we strive to develop a decolonial, anti-discriminatory perspective in collaboration with the urban community and beyond.

In the context of the project, we are organising the “Counter-mapping Days” in July and the “Poetic Cartography Days” in November.

The Poetic Cartography Days are structured as a festival-residency designed to foster care, neighborliness, and friendship through poetry. Over three days, together with the invited artists, we will share public moments with the audience and engage in more intimate gatherings to create an atmosphere of connection and collaboration.

Through performances, site-specific intervention, and workshops, we will explore Who We Are, Where We Come From, and Where We Are Going, mapping a space of connection and solidarity. The Poetic Cartography Days will feature poets and artists including: Stefanie-Lahya Aukongo, Fatim Selina Diaby, Hanita Firoozmand, Agie Gambian CookBook, Otis Mensah, Savannah Sipho, Rami Shalati, Nhã Thuyên and Daniela Zambrano Almidón.

Pablo Hassmann

Counter-Mapping Berlin: Experimentelle Stadtentwürfe nach der Berliner Konferenz