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Circolo Nero N***8
Meetings Pan-africani
by Hamedine Kane
24.06 - 25.06.2024
- Artists
- Hamedine Kane
- Rodney Saint-Éloi
- Jennifer Houdrouge
- Alicia Knock
- Ntone Edjabe
- Sarah Frioux-Salgas
- Franck Hermann Ekra
- Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
- Marie Hélène Pereira
- Katy Léna Ndiaye
- Valérie Nivelon
- Maboula Soumahoro
- Ramata-Toulaye Sy
- Justin Randolph Thompson
- Eliana Văgălău
- Marie-Cécile Zinsou
In a spirit of filiation and continuity, artist Hamedine Kane invites the descendants and heirs of those who organized the Paris and Rome Congresses of the last century to Rome, the Eternal City. In this way, the workshop is transformed into a space for the production of a new narrative through the creation of a space for discourse, readings, cinema and music.
Program
- Monday June 24, 6pm-8pm
Lecture by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr with Eliana VăgălăuExile is a school of the eye, a trans-national circulation.
In a spirit of continuity and filiation, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, author of La plus secrète mémoire des hommes, looks back at the original desires of the initiators of the Paris and Rome Congresses. The desire to join forces across borders and propose better futures for the African continent and its diasporas.
- Tuesday June 25, 6-8pm
Screening of L’argent, la liberté, une histoire du Franc CFA by Katy Léna Ndiaye1960 marked the end of colonial empires on the African continent. France disappeared from the map… in theory only. The CFA franc, a currency attached to the French Treasury since its origins, still circulates in almost all its former territories south of the Sahara. On the diplomatic stage, the CFA system confers a central role on Paris, which is perceived and poses as the “Guarantor” and “Interceder” for the international community. Fourteen countries still retain this curious heritage. What are the reasons for this? At the end of history, there’s the Fable.
The Paris and Rome congresses
In Paris, talents as diverse as Richard Wright, Chester Himes, James Baldwin, William Gardner Smith, Richard Gibson in literature, but also artists like Ollie Harrigton, Larry Potter, Walter Coleman, not to mention dozens of entertainers, from actor-poet Gordon Heath to singer Jimmy “Lover Man”, had then chosen, for political, economic or racial reasons, to settle in the Latin Quarter. This was the birthplace of the Congress of Black Writers and Artists, initiated by Alioune Diop, founder of the magazine Présence Africaine, at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1956, then three years later in Rome in 1959. Participants included such figures as Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, Jacques Staphen Alexis, Cheikh Anta Diop, Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Eric Williams, James Ivy, William Fontaine, Drake St. Claire, Ousmane Sembène and many others.
Practical information
Monday June 24, 6pm-8pm: Lecture by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr with Eliana Văgălău
Grand Salon
Free
In French and English
Tuesday June 25, 6pm-8pm: Screening of L’argent, la liberté, une histoire du Franc CFA by Katy Léna Ndiaye
Michel Piccoli cinema room
Free
In French
THE SPEAKERS
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, born in Senegal in 1990, lives in France and has published four novels: Terre ceinte (Présence africaine, 2015, Prix Ahmadou-Kourouma and Grand Prix du roman métis), Silence du chœur (Présence africaine, 2017, Prix Littérature-Monde – Étonnants Voyageurs 2018), De purs hommes (Philippe Rey/Jimsaan, 2018) and La plus secrète mémoire des hommes (Philippe Rey/Jimsaan, Prix Goncourt 2021).
Eliana Văgălău
Eliana Văgălău is a senior lecturer at Loyola University Chicago. Her research in Caribbean literature and philosophy focuses on the relationship between aesthetics and politics, as well as transnationalism. She is co-editor, with Martin Munro, of the volume Jean-Claude Charles: A Reader’s Guide (Liverpool University Press, 2022), the first book dedicated to this seminal Haitian author.
Katy Léna Ndiaye
Katy Léna Ndiaye is a documentary filmmaker. Her films bring contemporary Africa to the screen, weaving together history and individual or collective memories. L’argent, la liberté, une histoire du franc CFA, her latest film, is a feature on the CFA franc, a currency inherited from the French colonial system and still in circulation.
Katy Léna founded IndigoMood Films, a production company based in Dakar. IndigoMood Films is a place where her own stories unfold, and where she welcomes and accompanies other filmmakers. Together, they bring singular stories to the screen in a constantly inventive visual grammar.
Hamedine Kane
Hamedine Kane (Mauritania, 1983) is a Senegalese artist and filmmaker living between Dakar, Brussels and Paris. His work focuses on exile, wandering, heritage and the awareness that comes with the post-independence political experiences of certain African countries. He questions their recent history, particularly that of Senegal, and reflects its upheavals and aspirations around the notions of Afro-nostalgia and Afro-utopia. Hamedine Kane is also interested in the influence of African, African-American and Afro-diasporic literature on political, social and environmental commitments. Hamedine Kane has recently taken part in numerous festivals and biennales in France and abroad, including the Dakar and Berlin Biennales in 2022, the Momenta Biennale in 2021, the Taipei Biennale in 2020, and numerous exhibitions as part of the Africa2020 season in France.
