Chorus in Rememory of Flight, Julianknxx (2023) (EMPIRE LINES x Barbican)

Curator Eleanor Nairne traces the migrations of contemporary artist Julianknxx, as he travels between European port cities, and back to the Barbican in London, collaborating with Black choirs and musicians.

Sierra Leonian artist Julianknxx challenges stereotypes around African art, history, and culture through the lens of his personal experiences. Crossing the boundaries between poetry and music, audio and visual art, his new multichannel installation at the Barbican is born out of a year of travelling over four thousand kilometres across Europe, from Berlin to Barcelona, in a process of collaboration and ‘active listening’ with Black choirs and collectives.

Curator Eleanor Nairne shares her experience of working with the artist, and how their interdisciplinary practice challenges the singular ‘Black experience’. We discuss the importance of water and migration, ‘shipwrecked’ cities like Amsterdam, and how the language of historical reckonings is rooted in transatlantic slavery and colonialism. Drawing on academics like Édouard Glissant and Lorna McDaniel, we consider the role of songs as non-conventional sources, sites of community and the intergenerational transfer of knowledge. Plus, Eleanor details the importance of immersion in unsettling narratives - including online.

Julianknxx: Chorus in Rememory of Flight runs at the Barbican in London until 11 February 2024. The exhibition is also accessible online via WePresent, the global arts platform of WeTransfer.

For more, you can read my article.

For more about A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography at Tate Modern, listen to curators Osei Bonsu, Jess Baxter, and Genevieve Barton on EMPIRE LINES: pod.link/1533637675/episode/386dbf4fcb2704a632270e0471be8410

For more about Johny Pitts, hear the artist on Home is Not A Place (2021-Now) at The Photographers’ Gallery on EMPIRE LINES: pod.link/1533637675/episode/70fd7f9adfd2e5e30b91dc77ee811613

Part of EMPIRE LINES at 90, exploring the legacies of the transatlantic slave trade through contemporary art.

WITH: Eleanor Nairne, Senior Curator at Barbican Art Gallery, London. She is the curator of Chorus in Rememory of Flight.

ART: ‘Chorus in Rememory of Flight, Julianknxx (2023) (EMPIRE LINES x Barbican)’.

SOUNDS: Aron Kyne; THABO; Boras Choir.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.

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