Event

Indiscipline - Resetting Birds' Memories

Festival for performance & experimental art

Indiscipline - Resetting Birds' Memories

Indiscipline is an annual one-day happening with performances and experimental interventions set at the Grand Casino in the Belgian seaside resort of Knokke-Heist. Known for its rich art and film history—in particular the legendary EXPRMNTL film festival (1949-1974)— the casino offers a rare and surprising context that encourages new forms of perception, experience and corporeality.

At the invitation of Wiels, Jester co-produces Resetting Birds’ Memories by Kiluanji Kia Henda (AO).

About the performance

Resetting Birds’ Memories tells the story of the Kinaxixi Square in the centre of Luanda. This square symbolises the violent past, with successive rulers adorning it with monuments dedicated to themselves, in glorification of their own ideologies. Kia Henda reveals the relationship between pre-colonial Angola and the present-day nostalgic view of that era. The performance has a political layer but is not a literal illustration of this history. Rather, the poetry of this work invites to reflect on the perpetual changing world. Changes that are often represented through monuments in public space.

The musical and narrative performance immerses the viewer in a shadow play. The interaction between spotlights, living persons and static objects evokes a story that hovers between past and present. The accompanying soundtrack is composed and arranged by Satch Hoyt.

Performers: Esther Mugambi, Kimberly Agyarko, Pierre-Patrice Pépé Kasses
Curators: Dirk Snauwaert & Helena Kritis

Resetting Birds' Memories was originally commissioned by International Film Festival Rotterdam, as part of a performance program curated by Peter van Hoof and Orlando Maaike Gouwenberg. Due to several lockdowns it was never before shown here.

About the artist

Kiluanji Kia Henda is an artist and filmmaker from Luanda, Angola, who uses text and images to probe the sore spots in history. He does not shy away from confronting traumas but is able to look them in the eye and share them using fiction and poetry in his visual narratives.

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