Timetable

20 Jun 13:30
Online

Fasia Jansen Residency

Since October 2020, Princela Biyaa and Marny Garcia Mommertz have been examining the life of singer-songwriter and peace activist Fasia Jansen as part of the open-ended artistic research residency on Jansen. The research duo set out to identify the extent to which Fasia Jansen’s life can be understood and analysed from Black German perspectives. Their fact-finding mission saw stories and works of Black people who knew Fasia Jansen play a central role in gaining a fuller picture of Black people’s networks in Germany during and after the Second World War. Biyaa and Mommertz’ work drew on the conversations and accounts of Fasia Jansen’s niece, Ms Vivian Seton, and also on interviews conducted by Tina Campt in 1992. In the process, it became clear that extending the perspective away from Fasia Jansen’s individual identity and towards embedding her story in socio-political contexts allows correlations to appear that can provide a deeper insight into the collective experiences of Black people during Fasia Jansen’s lifetime.

In the context of this residency, the exploration of Fasia Jansen’s life can be viewed as the first step in a process in which Biyaa and Mommertz ask and discuss questions about the archiving of Black histories. They seek active dialogue with people who pursue different forms of archiving, such as Fayo Said, founder of Oromia Records, an online archive on Oromo cultures. The live Q&A will start 20.06.2021 at 1.30 pm on vimeo. After the presentation the research duo invites you to a discussion in our digital festival lounge.

The artistic research residency on Fasia Jansen 2020 is supported and promoted by IFFF Dortmund+Köln and Interkultur Ruhr.