Once a vital space for illegal political discussions and drinking, the South African shebeen is revived on a Brussels stage. Starting with South African jazz singer Miriam Makeba’s exile from her own country in the early 1960s, Alesandra Seutin’s VOCAB Dance Theatre takes their audience into the depths of a deconstructed shebeen and on a journey full of life, struggle, perseverance and determination. Based on lyrics by Lebo Mashile and Lisette Ma Neza and music composed by Angelo Moustapha and...
Once a vital space for illegal political discussions and drinking, the South African shebeen is revived on a Brussels stage. Starting with South African...
A live film performance directed by renowned Dutch artist Dries Verhoeven. Straight from the heart of the African film industry in Nollywood, Lagos, Kininso Koncepts’ incandescent performers enact European nightmares of refugees flooding into the continent as they directly address their European audiences via a live internet connection. Provocative, disruptive and inescapable, like the future itself. Watch this space for a review soon! In theatres around the Netherlands- reservation is required....
A live film performance directed by renowned Dutch artist Dries Verhoeven. Straight from the heart of the African film industry in Nollywood, Lagos,...
The Dutch Praemium Erasmianum Foundation has awarded the Erasmus Prize 2023 to South African comedian Trevor Noah (b. 1984). He receives the prize for his inspired contribution to the theme ‘In Praise of Folly,’ named after Erasmus’s most famous book, filled with humour, social criticism and political satire. With his sharp-minded, mocking yet inclusive political comedy, Noah, in the eyes of the jury, upholds the ‘Erasmian Spirit.’ Trevor Noah is a South African comedian of international stature....
The Dutch Praemium Erasmianum Foundation has awarded the Erasmus Prize 2023 to South African comedian Trevor Noah (b. 1984). He receives the prize for...
Ticket sales for the upcoming edition of Movies that Matter have begun! The festival will take place in The Hague and a series of satellite cities from March 24 through April 1. The program includes many dozens of feature films and shorts that really matter. A must go for lovers of stories that make you think and get you moving. Especially for you, our editors selected 5 productions that are more than worth watching. 1. The Blue Caftan Delicate, visually gorgeous. By Maryam Touzani, Morocco. Halim...
Ticket sales for the upcoming edition of Movies that Matter have begun! The festival will take place in The Hague and a series of satellite cities from...
In 1993 Richard Stengel, who assisted Nelson Mandela in writing his autobiography Long Walk To Freedom, recorded more than 60 hours of audio during a series of face-to-face interviews with the ANC freedom fighter and first president of democratic South Africa. These recordings are now being released on Audible for the first time and can be listened to for free. From discussions around the South African leader’s willingness to embrace armed resistance in the struggle against apartheid, to Stengel...
In 1993 Richard Stengel, who assisted Nelson Mandela in writing his autobiography Long Walk To Freedom, recorded more than 60 hours of audio during a...
De Zuid-Afrikaanse acteur en theatermaker Junior Mthombeni was op 5 februari een van de eregasten tijdens het Face Forward festival en de ZAM Nelson Mandela Lezing. Beeldend kunstenaar patricia kaersenhout, geïnspireerd door Mthombeni’s muziekproductie Dear Winnie, ging met de theatermaker in gesprek en schonk hem bij die gelegenheid een kunstdruk van haar Ode aan Winnie, Portrait of Love and Revolution . Patricia Kaersenhout en Junior Mthombeni © Elzo Bonam Op 6 april en 2 mei neemt Mthombeni het...
De Zuid-Afrikaanse acteur en theatermaker Junior Mthombeni was op 5 februari een van de eregasten tijdens het Face Forward festival en de ZAM Nelson...
Alongside his work as a busy visual artist and cultural organiser, Jamal Nxedlana (1985) is also the founder of the Bubblegum Club , a digital platform and culture agency showcasing innovative new work and creating opportunities for emerging cultural workers. Crossing borders of platforms and media and reaching out to a growing international audience, Bubblegum is inspired by “work that is experimental without being restricted to exclusive spaces. And which is populist without pandering to the...
Alongside his work as a busy visual artist and cultural organiser, Jamal Nxedlana (1985) is also the founder of the Bubblegum Club , a digital platform...
"Haufi nyana?" means "Too close?" in Sesotho, one of South Africa's 11 official languages. The title of the exhibition refers to the nature of the dialogue between viewer and artist: how far can one go in a photographic autobiography on the one hand and to what extent can they share a personal story on the other? In the context of South Africa’s broader traumatic history before, during and in the aftermath of apartheid and colonialism, what should we look at? It also refers to the idea of "home" -...
"Haufi nyana?" means "Too close?" in Sesotho, one of South Africa's 11 official languages. The title of the exhibition refers to the nature of the...
In 2019, ZAM launched the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture. It returns in 2023 with expanded programming. Save the date! Sunday 05.02.2023 | Face Forward | Stories for Change ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture | Music - Dance - Film - Arts - Debate 12h30 - 18h00 | International Theatre Amsterdam - Tickets €22,50 Speakers: Marcus Tebogo Desando (South Africa, Netherlands), Jerry Afriyie (Netherlands, Ghana), Panashe Chigumadzi (Zimbabwe, US). Programme includes: Lloyds Company & Soweto Skeleton Dancers,...
In 2019, ZAM launched the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture. It returns in 2023 with expanded programming. Save the date! Sunday 05.02.2023 | Face Forward |...
A landmark exhibition fills the entire museum as it attempts to survey the remarkable career of the French-Cameroonian photographer. For almost fifty years Fosso has explored the possibilities offered by the medium of photography to present a refreshing and relevant vision of today’s world. Fosso’s work, which is located somewhere between photography and performance, occupies a central place in the international contemporary art world. It has been shown in such leading institutes as the Tate Modern...
A landmark exhibition fills the entire museum as it attempts to survey the remarkable career of the French-Cameroonian photographer. For almost fifty...
In October this year, Dutch-Liberian writer Vamba Sherif attended the 5th edition of what has become the leading literary festival in the country. “The future of Africa lies in its writers.” Monday I am at Schiphol, on my way to Accra, Ghana, to attend the Pa Gya! Literary Festival. The festival is in its fifth year, and this is my first time visiting it. Attending this year’s edition are more than a hundred writers from all over Africa and the diaspora, including Nigerian critic and writer Molara...
In October this year, Dutch-Liberian writer Vamba Sherif attended the 5th edition of what has become the leading literary festival in the country. “The...
A Century of Black Figuration in Painting brings together artworks from the last 100 years in a dialogue between artists and thinkers around the world. With a focus on painting, the exhibition celebrates the myriad ways in which artists from Africa and its diaspora have imagined, positioned, memorialised and asserted African and African-descent experiences. It contributes to the critical discourse on African and Black liberation, intellectual and philosophical movements. The title of the exhibition...
A Century of Black Figuration in Painting brings together artworks from the last 100 years in a dialogue between artists and thinkers around the world....
Collaboration between artists and local communities in Africa can help initiate a grassroots transition to a more equitable society, case studies show. "Artists in African countries are increasingly organizing themselves into collectives," says Molemo Moiloa in a video interview from Berlin, where she’s in residency until March 2023 as a follow-up to Documenta, the five-year international art arena. "This makes it easier to connect with people in the community and to take action." At Documenta her...
Collaboration between artists and local communities in Africa can help initiate a grassroots transition to a more equitable society, case studies show....
The Uganda Press Photo Award shines a light on the thrills and fears of our new realities. The digital era proposes that in order to live a productive life, you must first cater to your mental, physical and spiritual well-being. But what happens when this is not an option for you, your neighbour, and your neighbour’s neighbour? The images featured in this exhibition weave a story of change and the (im)possibilities that result from a time when we can only speak of our dreams of productivity. The...
The Uganda Press Photo Award shines a light on the thrills and fears of our new realities. The digital era proposes that in order to live a productive...
R!ot by Design, Sindiso Nyoni’s first solo exhibition, opens in Amsterdam. Hundreds of visitors attending the first shows of the annual Afrovibes Festival in Amsterdam were granted an exclusive preview of this hotly-anticipated exhibition. The opening, which followed the next day, was very well attended and many more people have passed through the doors since. On Thursday 13 October the exhibition moved to its next location at the festival’s second venue, De Balie. R!ot by Design at De Balie....
R!ot by Design, Sindiso Nyoni’s first solo exhibition, opens in Amsterdam. Hundreds of visitors attending the first shows of the annual Afrovibes...
What a touching gesture! Visual artist patricia kaersenhout (1966, born in the Netherlands to Surinamese parents) has created a work of art especially for ZAM. Ode to Winnie, A Portrait of Love and Revolution is printed in an edition of 60 signed and numbered copies. All proceeds from sales will go to support ZAM's efforts to bring the urgent and inspiring stories of African creatives and changemakers to the attention of international audiences. This is how ZAM builds a world beyond us-and-them....
What a touching gesture! Visual artist patricia kaersenhout (1966, born in the Netherlands to Surinamese parents) has created a work of art especially...
Growing up poor and queer, and loved, in a South African township. The memoir Boy on the Run by Welcome Mandla Lishivha is “destined to be a classic”, says acclaimed South African author Mark Gevisser. ‘It’s tough and fragile, tragic and resilient, and utterly compelling. Welcome Lishivha has broken new ground in South African literature.’ South Africa’s cultural wires are abuzz about Lishivha’s debut. Readers have found themselves moved by lyrical lines like: ‘It is the godly feeling of dancing...
Growing up poor and queer, and loved, in a South African township. The memoir Boy on the Run by Welcome Mandla Lishivha is “destined to be a classic”,...
A new exhibition with the works of Mohau Modisakeng, Ishmael Armarh and Kwadwo Amfo opened last week at Gallery Ron Mandos in Amsterdam. Ishmael Armarh's (Ghana, 1986) exhibition Possibilities shows us a series of paintings about the constant dialogue between the Western gaze and the heterogeneous African identity. It is the result of a collaboration with the Noldor Residency, Ghana’s first independent artist residency and fellowship program for contemporary African artists on the continent as well...
A new exhibition with the works of Mohau Modisakeng, Ishmael Armarh and Kwadwo Amfo opened last week at Gallery Ron Mandos in Amsterdam. Ishmael Armarh's...
Ten years after the massacre, Marikana - The Musical is once again staged in Pretoria. The production builds on a rich history of protest theatre. On the 16th August 2012, 34 striking mineworkers were killed by the South African Police Service at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana, in the North West province of South Africa. Their deaths, and the events leading up to them, were broadcast live on television. This tragedy, which has come to be known as the Marikana Massacre, is the deadliest act of...
Ten years after the massacre, Marikana - The Musical is once again staged in Pretoria. The production builds on a rich history of protest theatre. On the...
In an upcoming solo exhibition, Dutch-Surinamese visual artist patricia kaersenhout (1966) continues her exciting journey into the forgotten stories of women of colour. Firstly, there is Le Retour Des Femmes Colibri, a new film featuring the histories of Josephine Baker, Suzanne Césaire, Christiane Diop, Frida Kahlo and Paulette and Jeanne Nardal. Most of these women are far from forgotten but less well remembered are their crucial roles within the Négritude movement, an important organisation of...
In an upcoming solo exhibition, Dutch-Surinamese visual artist patricia kaersenhout (1966) continues her exciting journey into the forgotten stories of...
The festival opens with JUWAA, a film by Congolese filmmaker Nganji Mutiri. Shot in Belgium and the DRC, Juwaa is a subtly powerful drama portraying African characters with a complexity rarely seen on screen. An award-winning artist born in Bukavu and currently living in Belgium, Mutiri works in theatre, film, poetry and photography and is always looking for connections and perspectives between the special and the universal. JUWAA is his first feature film as a writer and director. Each year, a...
The festival opens with JUWAA, a film by Congolese filmmaker Nganji Mutiri. Shot in Belgium and the DRC, Juwaa is a subtly powerful drama portraying...
