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MOMENTUM-LAGOS
ARTIST RESIDENCY
#13
thandiwe adofo
1 – 29 January 2025
the practice of creative resistance
Artist Residency Presentation by thandiwe adofo
28 January 2024
KUNST SALON – By Invitation
ARTIST BIO
thandiwe adofo is a multidisciplinary artist whose creative expression spans the realms of film and writing. From a tender age, she found her voice, shaped by the rich tapestry of folklore and ancestral teachings imparted by her West African dance instructor. This early exposure ignited a profound curiosity for complex identities and narratives, drawing her into the literary worlds crafted by the likes of Toni Morrison and James Baldwin. Thandiwe’s academic journey at Howard University (Washington DC, USA), where she majored in English and History with a concentration in Creative Writing, honed her craft and expanded her perspective. Thandiwe’s artistic innovation blossomed further as she directed and co-wrote her inaugural short film, “The Resolution” (2023-24), and co-directed “BURN II” (2023) a vibrant showcase and docu-series of African-American creatives from Howard University and the DMV area. Thandiwe In 2025, Thandiwe embarks on a transformative gap year, traveling the globe and immersing herself in esteemed artist residencies — Chateau d’Orquevaux (France), Arts Letters and Numbers (NY, USA), Casa Uno Residency (Costa Rica), MOMENTUM-LAGOS (Berlin, Germany), and Creekside Arts (CA, USA) — dedicated to refining a compelling writing and visual arts project that reflects her diverse experiences and vision. Concurrently, Thandiwe Adofo is the Director of the off-broadway play “Changes” (NY, USA, 2024-25).
ARTIST STATEMENT
thandiwe adofo is a multidisciplinary artist whose work interrogates the complexities of Blackness, engaging with themes of historical memory, tragedy, and reclamation. Through storytelling, she critiques entrenched systems of power and challenges political instability. Her art seeks to provoke reflection, reclaim narratives, and use creative expression as a means of resistance and transformative change. – thandiwe adofo
ARTIST RESIDENCY PROJECT
the practice of creative resistance
Writer, poet, and director– thandiwe adofo came to Berlin to expand their already prodigious creative practice into the visual arts. thandiwe’s Artist Residency Project is driven by her experience of the concurrent dualities of contemporary and historical Berlin – a city where time-frames perpetually overlap and history is always present – alongside her ongoing research into the horrors and abuse of human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Following a curatorial program focused on exposure to diverse practices of text-based art, thandiwe has turned their texts into visual installations. Mobilizing the poetry they have written while in Berlin, thandiwe creates insightful, jarring, and compelling works that are meant to revolutionize and radicalize the viewer while also crafting purposeful dialogue for onlookers to engage with.
MOMENTUM MOVES!
An Outraged Goodbye to the Kunstquartier Bethanien
The Kunstquartier Bethanien has been the home of MOMENTUM ever since we first launched in Berlin in January 2011. For 14 years MOMENTUM has been an integral part of the identity and mission of the Kunstquartier Bethanien as a dedicated art center. During our tenure in the Bethanien, MOMENTUM has realised more than 300 Exhibitions, Artist and Curator Residencies, Video Art in Public Space Initiatives, Performances, Talks and Education Programming. We have consistently been an asset to the cultural program of the Kunstquartier Bethanien, bringing diverse new audiences into the building, while maintaining a strong network of loyal visitors, exceptional artists and partner institutions in Berlin and abroad. For all these reasons, MOMENTUM is OUTRAGED that, after 14 years at the Kunstquartier Bethanien, we have been informed that our contract will not be renewed without any explanation given, and with an utter refusal to communicate. Nor are we the only ones to be treated with such callous disregard by the GSE gGmbH, the company managing the Kunstquartier Bethanien. On behalf of all those being hassled and unfairly evicted in all the properties under GSE management, we condemn the GSE for blatantly contravening its mandate to safeguard premises to support socio-cultural initiatives.
Sadly, we are far from alone. Our move out of our home of 14 years in the Kunstquartier Bethanien takes place at a critical juncture in Berlin’s very identity as the art capitol of Europe; at a time when idiotically short-sited political decisions are threatening to eviscerate the art and culture scene in Berlin; when budgets for visual and performing arts institutions are being radically cut; when artists are being evicted from their studios; when they are being silenced and penalized for voicing political dissent; when so many of the support structures for the arts – which had made Berlin so unique and built-up this city’s reputation as a cultural mecca – are being de-funded. MOMENTUM stands together with Berlin’s vast art and culture communities in protest against the utter evisceration of the visual and performing arts.
So by necessity, as of January 2025, MOMENTUM MOVES! We will celebrate our 15th Anniversary in 2025 by focusing on the worldwide in our name, MOMENTUM Worldwide. This Global Platform for Time-based Art goes global, with projects in development in Australia, China, Malta, and beyond. And for our loyal community of Berliners, we will continue to make exciting pop-up exhibitions and events closer to home. December 2024 marks the end of our era at the Kunstquartier Bethanien. But we look forward to bigger and better things to come as MOMENTUM turns 15 next year!
