Más Arte Más Acción in Kassel – final participation in documenta fifteen (September 2022)

MAMA returned in September to conclude its programme. In collaboration with CELA, the University of Kassel, the Colombo-German Peace Institute (CAPAZ) and documenta institut, we organised the summer school “Extractivism and its discontents: artistic and counter-cultural movements” from 7 to 18 September in Kassel, Germany.

The Summer School included experts from multiple disciplines and fields of research, such as Hans-Jürgen Buchardt, Carolina Caycedo, Ximena González, Paco Gómez Nadal, Ana Garzón Sabogal, Erna von der Walde, Angela Schrott, Mateo Chacón Pino, Liliana Gómez, Ana Alonso, Sarah Corona Berkin, Lucía González, Stefan Peters, Marcelo Expósito, Elizabeth Deloughrey, Jan Witthaus, Annika Rink and Regina de Miguel.

All the participants arrived with an outstanding trajectory in their respective fields of action and/or academia. The artists, activists, researchers, etc., the majority of whom were women, came from different parts of Ibero-America, which allowed us to ensure that the seminars were in Spanish. Each shared their knowledge through academic research and/or practice and activism.

The International Summer School was an initiative organised by the University of Kassel, documenta Institut, CELA and the Fundación Más Arte Más Acción with the support of DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service, with the support of documenta fifteen and CAPAZ – Colombo-German Institute for Peace. This initiative was financed by the DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service with funds from the Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt, AA). The organising committee was led by Prof. Dr. Liliana Gómez, Prof. Dr. Angela Schrott (University of Kassel / documenta Institut, CELA); Erna von der Walde, Jonathan Colin, Alejandra Rojas Giraldo (Más Arte Más Acción), Mateo Chacón Pino (University of Kassel), Rossana Alarcón (Más Arte Más Acción).

Alongside the Summer School, we began the public programme with “Letting go”, a space guided by Ana Milena Garzón in which she shared her thoughts about writing and editing the book “Chocó as a School” (temporary title), a compilation of texts about the themes present in the last 4 years of work during her time as director of Más Arte Más Acción.

The conversation, guided by Ericka Flórez, opened a space to discuss the changes, difficulties and reflections that the organisation and the people who are part of its processes have gone through. Little by little the space became an encounter between friends who, out of affection and deep admiration, shared what it has meant to become entangled, to untangle, to arrive and also to let go.

We are especially grateful for the presence of Ana Milena Garzón and Ericka Flórez for their generous contributions to this space. We hope to continue accompanying and building projects and affections that will also allow us to meet soon for the book launch.

Finally, it was with great excitement that we held the launch of the film Postcards from the Future at the wonderful Gloria Kino, as part of the lumbung film programme. This event was attended by the filmmakers: Carolina Rincón, Hortencio Palacios, Yaisa Mariam Quintana, Karina Angulo, Manuel David Riascos, David Paredes, Ana Garzón and Alejandra Rojas.

Postcards of the Future is a film composed of six short films made by Colectivo de Comunicaciones En Puja (Nuquí), Colectivo Puerto Creativo, Yemayá Producciones and Fundación Tura Hip Hop (Buenaventura).The films function as audiovisual letters between Buenaventura, a port city, and Nuquí in the Gulf of Tribugá, threatened by the construction of a deep-water port.

Postcards was a project of articulation and organisation, of creation and pooling of forces and resources that over five years allowed us to reflect on the visions of life and the realities of the port of Buenaventura, thinking about what a port could imply for the Gulf of Tribugá. This exercise allowed for a dialogue on visions of well-being and development and opened a space for pedagogy around audiovisual production in these two territories.

After the screening, a round of dialogue was opened with the audience to answer questions about the context and the management of this collaboration, as well as the anecdotes and personal experiences of each of the filmmakers.

On 22 September the film had a second screening in Berlin, organised by Elizabeth Gallón and other Colombian colleagues at the ACUD MACHT. We are very grateful for the management of this space for the screening and we hope to continue planning future screenings and the launch in the Pacific.

The day after the launch at documenta fifteen we celebrated with a vichera at the MAMA Doc Space, which was also the farewell of the Más Arte Más Acción team from Kassel. We shared music, food, viche and danced with the guests of Postcards from the Future , the Summer School comrades and our friends from the lumbung.

With this event we ended our official programme for documenta and it was the opportunity to thank everyone who accompanied MAMA on this journey.