Amidst social and political tensions, heimA(R)Ten, a part of the heimaten network in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, is opening an artistic space for collective self-empowerment, memory, and (future) design.

heimA(R)Ten consists of two parts. It kicks off on 13 and 14 September with a two-day workshop for Black people with Isaiah Lopaz, founder of the mobile archive Black Visual Grammar. In a safe space conceived for community empowerment, participants will create collages that artistically process personal and collective confrontations with loss and profit, memories and visions, belonging and home.

The results of the workshop will be presented on 18 October, the second part of heimA(R)Ten. The collage presentations will be given literary accompaniment by Dorcas Nsiama, who will share her poetic visions of cultural roots, connections, and plurality. Diverse artistic perspectives will also be presented as part of the varied programme.

The closing event will be opened by a surprise guest, a Nigerian-born artist living in Cologne. His figurative art makes global connections and cultural entanglements tangible and offers an unusual understanding of the concept of ‘heimaten’. Safiya Yon will present a walk-in mirror installation that invites viewers to reflect on home and foreignness, whether as an intrinsic feeling or an external imposition. Nando Nkrumah will present a 3D animation of a living cocoon—a visual confrontation with generation-spanning empowerment. Following this, an artist talk moderated by Donna Kukama will give visitors insight into the imaginative and creative processes of the participating artists.

The entire event will be documented visually by Tembela Toto Kiesa, whose photographs will be collected in a book—a conscious act of archiving lived plural realities  that will serve as testimony for future generations.

heimA(R)Ten is at once an invitation and a claim:
heimaten is not some distant place—but something that has long been experienced and lived.
Made visible through art, remembrance, and encounters,
Preserved for us and for those who come after.
—N'joula Baryoh (Theodor Wonja Michael Bibliothek)

With Special Guest P. U., Isaiah Lopaz, Dorcas Nsiama, Safiya Yon, Nando Nkrumah, Donna Kukama, Cucuteni and Tembela Toto Kiesa

More information about the programme can be found here.