Missed some of this edition’s 1-54 Forum events? – 1-54 FORUM LONDON 2021 IS NOW ON THE PODCAST!

This year, 1-54 was accompanied by 1-54 Forum curated by Dr. Omar Kholeif, the fair’s extensive talks and events programme, including film screenings, performances and panel discussions with international curators, artists and cultural producers. Entitled Continental Drift, 1-54 Forum is a choreography that unfolded in slow-motion over the course of 1-54 London 2021, exploring this interstitial moment in history. 1-54 Forum explored the concept of the ‘drift’ as a moment for gradual reflection—a cumulative act of knowledge gathering, a dance from one end of the continent to another, oscillating gently, deep time in and in constant motion. Read the full curatorial statement here.

The Continental Drift: Recuperating the Echoes, the Ghosts, the Songs Overture/Talk In this opening keynote, 1-54 Forum curator DR. OMAR KHOLEIF framed the context of Continental Drift. They demonstrate this through the work of continental poets, songwriters, lyricists, and historians deceased and erased; forgotten or lost whose ghosts have been summoned. Here they beckon, primed to be heard. Dr. Omar Kholeif was joined by KOYO KOUOH (Executive Director and Chief Curator at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA). >> Listen here The Virtual Salon Panel The digital, the virtual, the augmented, the real, the imagined; A.F.K versus I.R.L—the lexicon around our digital world both perplexes and invigorates ‘our’ collective consciousness. In the western world, debates of African digitality often summon references to ‘digital divides’ and social inequity. The reality, in many instances, contrarily exhibits a much more complex picture. Within these interstitial spaces, creative practitioners have found tools that have enabled new forms of expression—an agency that enables independently-driven storytelling techniques that embody queer, feminist alter-narratives to breathe in open space. PRINCESS ALIA AL-SENUSSI, PhD (Cultural strategist, writer, patron, public speaker and academic) led a discussion with OSINACHI (Artist), SUMAYYA VALLY (Principal Architect, Counterspace), GEMMA ROLLS-BENTLEY (Chief Curator, Avant Arte) and TINIE TEMPAH (Rapper). >> Listen here Objective Romance and Scarce New Flowers Performance A short experimental musical performance by Zimbabwean musician, mbira player and poet HOPE MASIKE. With three studio albums, a published poetry book and several collaborative and tour credits to her name, Masike shares her art with audiences across the globe. >> Listen here A History of Echoes Panel Amidst this symphony of voices: curators, artists and creative collaborators discuss the exhibitions fashioned from the imagination of the late Nigerian curator, Okwui Enwezor (1963-2019). By exploring the sediments of the past, the collective voices herein sketch out a path for listeners to imagine an alternative possible future—one that is inclusive of the dissonant voices and identities, which make up our shared world. HOOR AL QASIMI (President and Director, Sharjah Art Foundation and President, The Africa Institute, Sharjah) led a conversation with JO-ANNE BIRNIE-DANZKER (former Director, Villa Stuck; Vancouver Art Gallery; Frye Art Museum and Biennale of Sydney), GODFRIED DONKOR (Artist, Gallery 1957) and JOANA HADJITHOMAS and KHALIL JOREIGE (Artists). >> Listen here Poetry Salon: On Fragile Ground Performance In this curated poetry salon, five artists-writers presented a collective dreamscape. Newly commissioned pieces of lyric, poem and song exploring themes of environmental justice will converge in myriad life-like forms—the drift resuscitated. Join ANAÏS DUPLAN, LUBAINA HIMID CBE RA, ISAIAH A. HINES, DR. OMAR KHOLEIF and OTOBONG NKANGA. >> Listen here The Walk Towards the Future Panel This open-ended conversation explores the concept of artist as philanthropist; the artist as the maker and progenitor of institutions, and the diverse ways that they approach this aspect of their practice. Is institutionalism a form of artistic practice? Or rather, is it a by-product of a hollowed vacuum that requires re-imagining, regenerating? How do these engines fuel a vision for a collective future? How do we sustain them and enliven them with the potential tools required to sustain their existence? DR. OMAR KHOLEIF led a conversation with artists MICHAEL ARMITAGE, BILL KOUÉLANY and OTOBONG NKANGA. In partnership with Phaidon to celebrate the publication of African Artists. Available for purchase here. Save 20% using PHAIDON20. >> Listen here in French or here in English