Fabian Knecht
Dry Ocean
Artistic research and exhibition project
Dakar and Berlin
With Katja Aufleger, Aliou ‘Badou’ Diack, Ibaaku, Fabian Knecht, Jeewi Lee, Ana Lessing Menjibar, Selly Raby Kane, Agnes Stillger, Ibrahima Thiam and Nathalie Vairac
Dry Ocean is a collective artistic research- and exhibition project between Dakar and Berlin. It can be read as an interdisciplinary, transcontinental journey. Borne from an intensive exchange period between all par- ticipants, the project observes the notion of sharing individual cultural influences, hybrid experiences and knowledge traditions with one another through artistic practice. Art work emerging from this dialogue is less concerned with the creation of an individual stance, than with the translation of reciprocal inspiration and influences, i.e. ‘being touched’ and ‘allowing oneself to be touched’, into a symbiotic aesthetic form.
In accordance with its contextual orientation, Dry Ocean is conceived as a long-term project without a con- crete end result in mind; instead it will be presented in a variety of formats in Dakar and Berlin with options of presenting individual chapters.
In general, the project constitutes two parts, an artistic research phase and various presentation forms: A long-term collaborative contextual exploration with residencies for joint work and exchange in Berlin and Dakar mean the varying perspectives of all the participants will inform the themes and questions posed in Dry Ocean.
The second part concerns the translation thereof into various presentation formats and a resulting travelling exhibition designed to open public dialogue through collective performances, participatory formats, co-ope- rations as well as working with civil society organisations. The two parts aren’t necessarily separate entities, meaning that the development phase has room for public presentation and equally partial results may well be presented at part of the research project.