Visions for the National Tear-ter of Nigeria
Four Conversations and Seven Performative Pamphlets Seven Performative Pamphlets: Ayodele Arigbabu, Hunter & Gatherer collective When exploring a complex object like the National Theatre of Nigeria (NT), one may do so through a variety of registers, approaches or methodologies, such as those developed through Constanze Fischbeck’s and Daniel Kötter’s filmic exploration, or Andreas Müller’s political reading of architecturalsocial […]
Urban Sahara from the Sky
How Capitalism Fixes the Dunes. by Marion Broquère, Armelle Choplin, Simon Nancy Images by en Haut! NOUAKCHOTT IS THE CAPITAL CITY OF MAURITANIA, created ex nihilo in 1960 in the middle of sand dunes. No physical obstacle to urban sprawl – Nouakchott is home to more than two million inhabitants – nor to speculation. Until recently one of those “ordinary cities” considered […]
The Shifting Fortunes of a Performing Poet
Post-apartheid poetry and its makers have witnessed the commodification of the art in more ways than one. Now a veteran of the South African performance poetry scene, Vonani Bila notices his greying chin hairs, his fading allure and the fact that nothing exists outside the realm of exchange. He calls on the new generation of […]
Mapping The Last King of Africa
This map features alongside a text by Olivier Vallée in the new Chronic, an edition in which we ask: what if maps were made by Africans for their own use, to understand and make visible their own realities or imaginaries? How does it shift the perception we have of ourselves and how we make life […]
Bordering on Borana
by Dalle Ebrahim. It was 2011 and I was seated in a taxi travelling through southern Ethiopia, conjuring shapes and images out of the many anthills we came across on the narrow road into the heartland. I had no identification papers, no phone, and very little cash in my pockets, but I walked around with a […]