Women and Water – Perspectives from the African and European cultural scenes

2nd DECONFINING hybrid Conference • 18 June 2024, Goethe-Institut Madrid + Online

Languages: Spanish and English / *the third panel will also have simultaneous translation into French

→ CONFERENCE ZOOM LINK ←

The African and European continent, although distinct in their histories, cultures, and environmental contexts, share common issues linked to social emancipation and environmental preservation. These two crucial concerns manifest through historical dynamics, legacies of colonization, growing disconnections with nature, persistent gender inequalities, challenges posed by climate change, and the quest for sustainable cultural identities. The weight of colonial history is deeply – even though differently – rooted on both continents. The development models imposed during this period continue to shape social and economic structures, with lasting consequences for the environment. Questioning these colonial legacies is a crucial step in achieving equitable social emancipation. For these reasons we will focus our second Deconfining conference on the social as well environmental nuance of the Deconfining concept within African and EU/ropean relations. We will explore this topic through rituality, policy, and practical experience perspectives. 

“WOMAN WATER LIFE” offers an immersion in the very essence of life through the prism of water, a fundamental element for the woman who carries and gives life. Ami Weickaane’s performance, anchored in a symbolic ritual, will convey the harsh reality of a woman and a planet drying up – two entities that, deprived of their vital essence, struggle to perpetuate life. Water, as a vital element, irrigates the woman’s body just as it nourishes the sap of trees and the rivers that flow through our lands. The presentation will also address the unique challenges faced by black women in Africa, raising crucial questions about equity, environmental justice, and women’s rights, and building a bridge between Africa and Europe on these critical issues. 

Kirsten Dunlop and Sylvia Amann will explore the ecological dimensions from a European point of view and the related role art and culture from female perspectives can play. The European Union aims at implementing ambitious green policies but faces considerable resistance. Many voices are heard that this transition bears the risk of leaving large strata of the population behind, interfering in current economic and social systems without providing credible alternatives. Which are the key areas of attention for a just ecological transition? How can art and culture play a related credible role in view of the diversity of cultural markets and practices in Europe? What are the international impacts of these (continuing or updated) green actions or of non-action from the European side? 

We will end the conference with a panel discussion among women of the cultural and artistic field, who handle in their works with inclusion womanhood, feminism, environment, climate change, and water – both in Europe and Africa. In this roundtable we will examine what aesthetics allows us to capture, through the senses, of the interdependent nature of the human and the “more-than-human”, including the inseparable histories of colonial violence and environmental degradation, and which situated art as an inclusive platform for environmental communication and activism. The challenge is to learn to listen to otherness, to perceive things from another point of view, rejecting all forms of duality. Learning to “move”. 

→ Register for the conference HERE.

→ Register for the film HERE.

↓ Find the whole program below ↓

DECONFINING Conference Program

• Please note that the programme and times are according to Central European Time.
• 17 JUNE 2024
• 19:00 (CET) “El agua” (“The Water), Film by Spanish director Elena López Riera
• 18 JUNE 2024
• 18:00 (CET) WOMAN WATER LIFE - A conversation in motion // A talk and a performance by Ami Weickaane
• 19:00 (CET) Culture and Climate at the EU level: conversation with Kirsten Dunlop (CEO Climate KIC)
  Moderated by: Sylvia Amann
• 20:00 (CET) Voices from the cultural field. Panel Discussion. With: Ana Lessing-Menjibar / Dry Ocean (collective research and exhibition project, in residency), Afrie (artist) Lucía Mbomío, (journalist/writer)
  Moderatied by: Vydia Tamby
• At the end of the conference, a vino español will be offered at the Goethe-Institut garden.

→ Register for the conference HERE.

→ Register for the film HERE.

About the participants

Ami Weickaane

Ami Weickaane, also known as Bluuu, is a versatile creative professional with a rich academic and entrepreneurial background. A graduate in foreign languages, civilizations, corporate communication, and strategic marketing from prestigious institutions in France, Bluu combines her academic excellence with real-world business experience, successfully managing companies and cafes in Paris. Her global travels have broadened her perspective and enhanced her cross-cultural creativity. With over two decades in creative industries, Bluu is an accomplished visual poet, artist-activist, curator, and content producer. She’s also an independent researcher and lecturer, deeply dedicated to advocating for social justice and advancing the cause of women. Today, Bluu leads People Along Road Studio, her marketing agency, while continuing to create captivating art, curate exhibitions, and develop innovative concepts. Her exceptional skills and extensive background make her a true visionary in the world of creativity.

Kirsten Dunlop

Dr. Kirsten Dunlop is Chief Executive Officer at EIT Climate-KIC, Europe’s largest public-private partnership focused on climate innovation. She brings to her role a deep conviction in our capacity to learn and evolve into a climate-resilient society, and her over 30 years of experience catalyzing systemic transformations in a career spanning academia, consulting, banking, and the insurance industry, across three continents. Kirsten serves on various Advisory Boards and is recognized as a leader at the European Commission Economic and Societal Impact of Research and Innovation (ESIR) expert group. A specialist in experiential learning and cross-disciplinary practice, she holds a Ph.D. in Cultural History from the University of East Anglia and a BA Hons in Art History from the University of Sydney.  

Sylvia Amann

Sylvia Amann is director of inforelais (inforelais.org) – tailored services for culture and creative industries (policy) developments. Sylvia Amann engages for more than 20 years for innovative European policies for culture and for updated international cultural relations including a special focus on enhanced cooperation with the African continent. She was member of the European Capital of Culture Expert Panel, co-chair of the EU expert group on cultural and creative industries, Culture and Cultural Heritage Topic Coordinator for EU Urban Innovative Actions, and is Member of the Advisory Board UNESCO Media Art City Linz. Her recent research and publications focus on collaborative transformation policies in and with culture, integrated water culture initiatives as well as on enhanced local-to-local intercontinental relations and on the interlinkages between culture, climate change and green transition including green touring.

Ana Lessing Menjibar

Ana Lessing Menjibar was born and lives in Berlin. She studied Visual Communication in Berlin and Sydney, in 2008 she graduated from the University of Fine Arts Berlin (UdK). In 2020 she completed the Solo/Dance/Authorship (SoDA) master programme at HZT-Berlin.  At the same time, Ana Lessing Menjibar has been working as a choreographer and soloist in flamenco dance for many years. In her interdisciplinary practice, she weaves bodies and sound compositions into multimedia installations, for which she creates electronic music, videos and sculptural elements that are understood as an extended choreographic practice to construct poetic worlds. She experiments with the transformative potential of flamenco in the context of performance and contemporary dance. Ana Lessing Menjibar has performed, directed or exhibited, among others, at the Uferstudios Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Villa Romana (IT), PHotoEspaña or Centre Pompidou Málaga. Ana Lessing Menjibar is part of Dry Ocean, a collective research and exhibition project of artists from Dakar and Berlin. Dry Ocean was at the Goethe-Institut Madrid in March 2024 for an artist residency in the framework of the EU project Deconfining.

AFRIE 

Afrie is a Ugandan filmmaker, musician, and girls’ education advocate. She has studied at the University of Southern California, Henley Business School South Africa, and Kenyatta University. She was appointed the African Union AU/CIEFFA Ambassador for the continental #AfricaEducatesHer campaign to safeguard girls’ rights to education. Her song, Let Her Know is the theme song of this campaign. Her documentary film ‘Little Faith’ about one of Karamoja’s (a rural area in Uganda) first female doctors won the award for ‘Best Documentary Film’ at the prestigious Uganda Film Festival. She directed WABA, a documentary film about the quest for water, through which she explores the relationship between water and women. Afrie runs a social enterprise called The Kalaverse that uses art to empower teenage girls and young women. The Kalaverse has created eleven short films and trained over 1000 girls from rural and urban Uganda Her song, Let Her Know is the theme song of this campaign. Her documentary film ‘Little Faith’ about one of Karamoja’s (a rural area in Uganda) first female doctors won the award for ‘Best Documentary Film’ at the prestigious Uganda Film Festival. She directed WABA, a documentary film about the quest for water, through which she explores the relationship between water and women. Afrie runs a social enterprise called The Kalaverse that uses art to empower teenage girls and young women. The Kalaverse has created eleven short films and trained over 1000 girls from rural and urban Uganda.

Lucía Asué Mbomío Rubio

Lucía Asué Mbomío Rubio (Madrid, 1981) is a journalist. She has a degree in Information Sciences (Complutense University of Madrid), a diploma in Scriptwriting and Documentary Directing (Madrid Film Institute) and a Master’s Degree in Development and International Aid (Complutense University). In 2005 she began working in television, for which she has directed documentaries and has been a reporter for Telemadrid, Antena 3 and TVE1, in programmes such as ‘Españoles en el Mundo’, a programme awarded by the Academy of Television, and ‘Aquí la tierra’, winner of an Ondas award. He collaborates with El País, where he has had a column called ‘Barrionalismos’, Ctxt or Píkara and carries out other mixed projects such as Afromayores, where he interviews black people over 65 years old living in Spain to talk about nostalgia, roots and migration from another point of view. Currently, he combines his journalistic work with teaching, dissemination and consultancy on representation, diversity and inclusion. This has led him to give lectures and workshops in organisations and universities around the world. 

Vydia Tamby

Vydia Tamby has been working at the City of Dakar since 2009 where she first worked for 10 years as the Dakar’s Mayor’s Personal Assistant, which has helped her to understand the issues of a city like Dakar in a transversal way, the challenges it was facing but also, how art could participate in bringing up solutions. Being Dakar’s Mayor’s cultural advisor for the past 4 years today, they are working on strong cultural policies for the territory in order to support arts and creative industries in a structural way. As a founder member of the African Capitals of Culture, and secretary general of Africapitales, Vydia keeps on engaging into local actions and international networking to support a shared global vision. She is also the Editorial director of the publishing house at Vives Voix, and associated at the “Fonds d’archives pour la sauvegarde des Mémoires”, based in Senegal.