Chombotrope

The African-European collective rededicates the heritage of cultural appropriation into the art of appropriation. Through the artistic practice of appropriation and self-empowerment, a music and dance project with ties to art phenomena central to the 20^th century such as collage and ready-made rises. Contemporary sources of inspiration can be found in the African “Jua Kali” artists who creatively recycle disposed material. The group around choreographers Stephanie Thiersch and Kefa Oiro drives the idea of the mash-up into the extreme: On beatboxing, spoken word art, percussion and turntables, fashion, art, voguing, contemporary dance and catwalking, a sort of “fashion concert” of futuristic identities emerges. Among the artists participating will be musician and beatboxer Dodo NKishi, known for his connection to the band Mouse on Mars, among other things, voguing dancer and tanzhaus teacher Marie AKA Zoe Melody as well as Alexandra Naudet, dancer with Philippe Découflé in Paris, and also Belgian DJ Elephant Power.  While traditional African symbols and patterns have long been engrossed by the Western fashion industry, “Chombotrope” uses the principle of “stealing from the West” as a subversive and playful change of perspective conjuring up new narratives: Animism encounters science fiction, spiritualism meets technology. Traditional and contemporary materials, patterns and meanings become intertwined, collected and newly adjusted. A black hole of fashion between two continents opens, occupied by “The Jitta Collective”: Loud, glaring, colourful, confusing, and with no copyright guarantee whatsoever. The project picks up where the internationally successful 2013 piece “Mitumba – A happening” on the circulation of second-hand clothes on African textile markets left off.

Duration: 60 min.