Gilles Aubry (CH/DE) + Nathalie Mba Bikoro (GA)
location: different locations
The artists re-examine the entangled histories of German colonialism in West Africa, botanic and mineral sciences, and ancient Greek civilisation Departing from the amphitheaters built by German settlers in Cameroon, Senegal and Gabon at the end of the 19th century for recreational purposes, they follow the multiple traces of writer and botanist Adelbert von Chamisso, whose famous novel (The Man With No Shadow, 1814) was performed in such theaters, and who’s name was re-appropriated locally as an imaginary Goddess, named Chamissona. These historical and imaginary voices come to populate Aubry & Bikoro’s performative sound field, together with those of healing plants, minerals, African parrots mimicking German voices and conceptual radio antennas.