Zeitz MOCAA presents Indigo Waves & Other Stories and Joël Andrianomearisoa: The Five Continents of All Our Desires

Indigo Waves & Other Stories
Re-Navigating the Afrasian Sea and Notions of Diaspora
June 30, 2022–January 29, 2023

Joël Andrianomearisoa
The Five Continents of All Our Desires
August 2, 2022–June 25, 2023

The international study and multi-chapter exhibition Indigo Waves & Other Stories: Re-Navigating the Afrasian Sea and Notions of Diaspora, as well as a site-specific commission by Jol Andrianomearisoa, are both on display at Zeitz MOCAA.

Indigo Waves & Other Stories: Re-Navigating the Afrasian Sea and Notions of Diaspora
June 30, 2022–January 29, 2023

The project, which is being presented by Zeitz MOCAA in collaboration with organizations such as Gropius Bau, SAVVY Contemporary, and Vasl Artists’ Association, among others, draws inspiration from the stories and histories of the Indian Ocean. It brings together modern artists, musicians, writers, and thinkers to explore, analyze, and shed light on some of the smaller and larger historical, cultural, and linguistic connections between the African and Asian continents. It reads African history of forced and voluntary migration from the perspective of the Indian Ocean as a community horizon. Instead of re-centering the colonial gaze that restores power imbalances while reverberating from the chronicles of bygone exploits, this exhibition addresses “the politics of forgetfulness” by approaching relationalities grounded in this maritime geography from a perspective of permanent hybridity.

This sea mass, which goes by various names, extends from the East African coast, borders Asia in the north, engulfs Australia in the east, and stretches south to the Southern Ocean. It accounts for around 20% of the world’s oceanic surface area. They say there is a lot in a name, but no one term has the power to comprehend, contain, symbolize, or express everything that this body of water signifies, conveys, sings, or evokes. It is too intricate, profound, enormous, and full of varied history to be known by just one name. Certainties include the fact that it unites rather than divides regions, populations, cultures, languages, foods, noises, winds, seas, economies, philosophies, and more. The ocean is a fluid joint, a junction of and for affinities and realignments prior to nation-state allegiances.

The exhibition includes ambitious new commissions and existing works by Akinbode Akinbiyi, Malala Andrialavidrazana, Shiraz Bayjoo in dialogue with Traci Kwaai, Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose, Ayesha Hameed, Hasawa, Sorab Hura, Cetus Chin-Yun Kuo, Sancintya Mohini Simpson with Isha Ram Das, Oscar Murillo, Myriem Omar Awadi, Thania Petersen and Cinga Samson.

Curators: Natasha Ginwala, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, with Michelangelo Corsaro in collaboration with the Zeitz MOCAA curatorial team.

Joël Andrianomearisoa: The Five Continents of All Our Desires
August 2, 2022–June 25, 2023

A new, monumentally sized site-specific commission by Jol Andrianomearisoa is now on display in the atrium of Zeitz MOCAA. In The Five Continents of All Our Desires, relationships and connections are honored. Six large-scale sculptures are suspended from the ceiling and are made of black silk paper, Andrianomearisoa’s hallmark material, in a lyrical allusion to real and imagined geographies. The piece relates to language and migration, as well as the continual search for zones of interest and desire, according to Andrianomearisoa. He creates a vision of a world that is precarious, uncertain, and full of new opportunities for human interaction.

The piece is both in play and in visual conflict with its surroundings thanks to the conversation it has with the museum’s concrete interior and what is left of the original silos of the structure. The thin and delicate materiality of the piece allows for minor atmospheric responses to become seen, such as paper rustling due to airflows induced by human movement, yet looking as enormous black masses.

Working across disciplines is a part of Andrianomearisoa’s practice, with scale and materiality being key factors. His delicate, frequently ambiguous works, which are infused with profound emotional experiences, are a continual series of ever-evolving exercises that investigate the aesthetic and architecture of sentiments that we all experience but are unable to put into words.

A sound installation and a display of 40 drawings are included in The Five Continents of All Our Desires; this is the artist’s first significant exhibition of his graphic works.

This commission was made possible through a grant from Fonds Yavarhoussen, Madagascar.

Curator: Storm Janse van Rensburg

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa
Silo District
V&A Waterfront
Cape Town
8000
South Africa
Hours: Thursday–Sunday 10am–6pm

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