Beyond Tropaganda: Performances on Colonial Afterlives

Beyond Tropaganda: Performances on Colonial Afterlives 🌍

Date: 22 August
Time: 12:00 - 17:00
Location: Harsdorffs Hus Office Club, Kongens Nytorv 5, 1050 København, Denmark

In conjunction with the exhibition Beyond Tropaganda, curated by Mathias Danbolt and Jeannette Ehlers, this event features an ambitious performance and talks program at the historic former Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The program is generously supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Danish Arts Foundation.

Agenda for 22/8:

• 12:00: Introduction by Mathias Danbolt & Jeannette Ehlers
• 12:10: Performance by Alma Akua and Michael Dumfeh
• 12:25: Performance by Katrine Dirckinck-Holmfeld: The Christmas Report & Other Fragments
• 13:00 - 13:45: Panel Conversation: Performances of Colonial Afterlife with David A. Berg, Alma Akua, Katrine Dirckinck-Holmfeld, Jeannette Ehlers, moderated by Mathias Danbolt
• 13:45 - 14:15: Coffee Break ☕
• 14:15: Justin F. Kennedy: Albertazina: A Sci-Fi Opera
• 15:00: David A. Berg: Moko Jumbie Performance (outside)
• 15:30: Voices in the Shadow of Monuments: Tribute to Gerville Larsen, Sum more dahn uddahs (2016) outside Det Gule Palæ, Amaliegade 18
• 16:00: Reception at 2112, Holbergsgade 20

About the Programme:

This event takes place in a building deeply connected to Denmark’s colonial history, where the agreement for the 1917 transfer of the Danish West Indies to the United States was signed. The program features Justin F. Kennedy’s newly commissioned performance Albertazine: A Speculative Opera, which centers on Alberta Viola Roberts, a young girl brought from the former Danish West Indies to Copenhagen in 1905. This performance combines speculative fiction, music, and archival research to bridge Danish and Virgin Islands histories.

The program also includes performances by Alma Akua, Katrine Dirckinck-Holmfeld, and a Moko Jumbie stilt performance by David A. Berg, along with a performative city walk featuring Voices in the Shadows of Monuments. This event aims to create new encounters between artists from the US Virgin Islands, Ghana, and Denmark, extending the exhibition’s exploration of colonial histories through live artistic practices.