BISMARCK-DEKOLONIAL als LIVE=FORUM at Alten Elbpark, St. Pauli
August 13th to 15th at International Sommerfestival Kampnagel

Using video mappings and interventions, eight artists from former colonies critically examine Hamburgs huge Bismarck statue and the way Germany's colonial history is dealt with.

Otto von Bismarck is one of the key figures in the context of the colonisation of Africa in the 19th century. At Bismarck's invitation, European powers, the Ottoman Empire and the USA met at the so -called Congo Conference (1884-1885), which had far-reaching consequences for the African continent. To this day, a monumental statue of Bismarck (1901-1906) rises above the old Elbe Park in Hamburg. The city of Hamburg is restoring this monument for around nine million euros from 2020 to 2022. This decision was controversial: What signal will the restoration of the monument send in Hamburg? How we deal with the colonial past is increasingly becoming the focus of public attention, both in urban spaces and in institutions, currently in the discourse about the ownership of the Benin statues of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. How can and do we want to deal with signs of colonial history in urban space? How do the formerly colonised look at these representations of European history? How can a critical view and reappraisal of colonial monuments become visible? The Mexican-German choreographer and curator has been reflecting on this question since 2017 in various artistic projects with international dancers and performers, summarised on her platform SHAPE THE FUTURE. For the Kampnagel International Summer Festival, she is curating a performative tour and video mapping around the Bismarck Monument. BISMARCK DEKOLONIAL reflects a new postcolonial view of the monument - by artists from Tanzania, Rwanda, Namibia, Togo, Cameroon, Mexico and Germany. Their own experiences as subaltern "subjects", who are still unwillingly marginalised in discourses today, appear as a performative voice and body in a dance intervention at the Bismarck monument.

With BISMARCK DEKOLONIAL, a change of perspective is now stimulated: The Mexican-German choreographer and curator Yolanda Gutiérrez, together with artists from Tanzania, Namibia, Cameroon, Togo and Rwanda, is focusing on artistic narratives of formerly colonized peoples. Since April, they have commonly been workin on collective, decolonizing artistic countervoices in the form of a lab. The results has been presented in August in the form of video mappings on the statue itself and live performances around its pedestal.

Curator/Producer: Yolanda Gutiérrez
Management: Lucia Lilen Heffner
Dramaturgy: Judith Mauch
Assistance: Valerie Witt
Costumes: Yupanqui Ramos
Audio/Foto- & Videodocumentation: Igor Sherba
Videomapping: Dr. Calavera
Animations: Dolph Banza
Assistance Videomapping: Stephanie Fenner
Website: Uli Mathes
Video & Track #1: Isack Peter Abeneko
Artists performing: Vitjitua Ndjiharine, Stone, Moussa Issiaka, Sarah Lasaki, Faizel Browny, Samwel Japhet and Shabani Mugado.
Helping Hands: Joshua Raudies, Pearl Merfort, Paul Osemann, Celina Sals

Funded by Fonds Darstellende Künste from funds of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, as well as in the frame of Kultursommer Hamburg