Three times Museum Night at CBK Zuidoost

CBK Zuidoost offers the Museum Night owls no fewer than three programs for a rich journey in Bijlmer: diverse, inclusive, innovative, musical and danceable. We start at 5 pm at Hettenheuvelweg 8, with the opening of Sandra Roberts’ CommUnion – an interactive exhibition/performance on dance cyphers, followed by a dance night  in collaboration with Foundation Hip Hop Academy. From 7.30 pm, everyone is welcome at Heesterveld 35 for the screening of the magical film The Garden by Clarinde Wesselink. The evening ends, or the night begins, at CBK Zuidoost on Anton de Komplein with the exhibition Unblocked Tomorrow, a fantastic puppet performance by Duda Paiva Company and a Dislocated Noise concert by musical all-rounder Kourosh.

Hettenheuvelweg 8

CommUnion is an invitation to reflect on the philosophical and transcendental aspects in the practice of dance cyphers, where a group of people come together in a circular setting and take turns in the middle, to freely express themselves through movements.

Common to many dance cultures such as hip-hop, house or voguing, cyphering bears similarities with ancestral cultural traditions, particularly from African origins. 

In dance cyphers, performers and bystanders commune to elevate each other, summoning a commitment from their bodies and souls to sustain the energy on which the circular formation relies.

Dance cyphers can, from an outsider viewpoint, be perceived as arenas or battlefields, where people compete with one another. This exhibition proposes to look at (dance) cyphers as safe spaces where individuals can exchange with one another and can be seen, acknowledged and celebrated for what they have to express. Powerful spaces of communion that carry an inherent spirituality. 

The works featured aim to translate the interpersonal interactions at play between the individuals performing in dance cyphers, but also the impact it has on one’s own spirituality and belief systems. 

The artists contributing to the exhibition are: Rabi Bah, Yohannes Henrikkson, J. Milongo en Alyson Sillon.

De dancers performing on November 5th are: Amisha Kumra, Nkosi Matondo, Saskia Nartey-Wemegah, Ibou Ndong (drummer) and Sandra Roberts.

DJ John Agesilas
DJ John Agesilas is co-founder and artistic director of Summerdance Forever (one of the largest dance festivals in the world, based on street dance, theater and club culture), Night Owls (Amsterdam & Djoon Paris), Foundation Amsterdam Hip Hop Academy, Amsterdam Soul Weekender, and the organiser, booker and collaboration partner of ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event). He has been doing meaningful work intended to preserve and transmit the hip hop culture while building communities. He is also one of the founders of jazz fusion and has danced and choreographed for international artists such as Earth Wind and Fire, Jocelyn Brown, Sister Sledge, the Metropole Orchestra, the New Cool Collective and Donna Summer.

Heesterveld 35

The Garden is a fictional world based on the experiences of seven athletes. The film shows how movement gives us a mentally and physically multidimensional landscape of possibilities. As if we have received new eyes to see the world. By listening to the athletes’ stories, the filmmaker developed a language of movement that expresses their personal experiences while exercising very precisely. Every scene could be seen as a performance in which the maker established a particular contact and meaning through the body and its environment.

Voice-over: Eva Karczag
Camera: Emo Weemhoff
Editing: Riekje Ziengs
Sounddesign: Peter Oskam & Olmo van Straalen 
Grading: Barend Onneweer

About Clarinde Wesselink
‘As a choreographer and filmmaker, I am fascinated by the skin, the physical boundary between our inner and outer world. The skin is a permeable membrane and in my work, I keep asking myself how we can influence its permeability to create new, more sensitive, and more intensive relationships with our natural surroundings outside.’

Anton de Komplein 120

During the Museum Night, special events will take place at Anton de Komplein 120, against the background of the current exhibition Unblocked Tomorrow. 

Unblocked Tomorrow
The group exhibition Unblocked Tomorrow consists of multimedia work by various local and international artists. They have been asked to present work about their speculative vision of the future. The common denominator among the artists is that they work from an unconventional situation: they come from non-Western countries, are non-binary, non-conformist, traumatised and, above all, extremely driven. They radically challenge time and space to create counter-future narratives from non-dominant perspectives.

Dance/puppet performance by Duda
Duda Paiva Company gives a short performance with dance and puppets – the trademark of the theater group. The stories told by Duda, usually without text, hold up a mirror to the audience in a playful and exciting way. The puppets are an organic part of the cast and are brought to life by their real, dancing counterparts. The performances provide food for thought, are aesthetic, funny, inventive and bold. People of different backgrounds, ages, cultures and genders can easily relate to the characters.

Musical performance by Kourosh & Friends
Kourosh is a producer, vocalist and performer who creates a mixture of dreamy trap, r&b, hip hop and trip hop. Kourosh was named after his father’s best friend who was killed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops in 1983. His genre crossing music is about his narrative. Writing songs has been his personal outlet ever since he got his first guitar when he was 12 years old. Struggles turned into poems, poems turned into songs. Making music is a natural form of expression which Kourosh loves to exercise and perform during live shows. His shows are energetic, and he is not afraid to truly connect with his audience. In 2020, his first critically acclaimed EP ‘This Is How I Use My Memory’ was released, including the heartfelt song The Funeral, which was made into a video clip. He contributed to Dislocated Noise, a club night where newcomers and locals were able toe meet up.

Ani
Ebaa Monther aka Ani (1993) is a rapper, songwriter and performer with Palestinian/Syrian roots. She made her first official release in 2020 with producer Moody, under the title Mansi. She mixes EDM rap, rap rock, lo-fi and other styles with traditional folk songs and folk music.

Dj Fatima Ferrari
Fatima Ferrari spins an eclectic mix of electronic club and booty bounce – with influences from dancehall, funk, vogue, Jersey and Baltimore Club. With her music she stays close to her Middle Eastern descent.

She performs at various festivals, events and venues such as: Atlas Electronic (Marrakesh/MA), Mundi Festival (Bari/IT), Hackney Wick (London/UK), EURABIA, Amsterdam Dance Event, Le Guess Who? Festival, De School, EKKO, MONO, Red Light Radio and Into the Great Wide Open.