// English below

I samarbejde med Teater Grob inviterer Bikubenfonden til Kunstsalon VISION. Her mødes skuespiller og kunstnerisk leder af Black To Normal Marie-Lydie Nokouda med Ytasha Womack, forfatter og ledende ekspert i USA inden for kunstretningen afrofuturisme, til en samtale om Nokoudas praksis. Afrofuturisme er en videnskabs- og historiefilosofisk kunstretning, der udforsker krydsfeltet mellem afrikansk diasporakultur og teknologi, science fiction og utopier. Denne kunstneriske arbejdsmetode giver mulighed for at forestille sig alternative afrokulturelle fremtidsbilleder.

Marie-Lydie Nokouda har stor spændvidde som skuespiller, men det er som initiativtager og leder af den nye kunstnerplatform Black To Normal, hun især går nye veje. Med Black To Normals kunstneriske undersøgelser ønsker hun via intense skriveforløb at skabe et nyt scenekunstnerisk udtryk i Danmark: den sceniske afrofuturisme. Det er den første kunstneriske platform i Danmark, der inden for dramatik og skuespil arbejder målrettet på at opdyrke og synliggøre skjulte talenter blandt people of color – med særlig fokus på afrodanskere.

Marie-Lydie Nokouda er udpeget til Bikubenfondens Artistic Practice program for særligt lovende kunstneriske praksisser. Som en del af programmet arrangerer vi en interviewsalon, der har til formål at undersøge den udvalgte kunstners særlige tilgang til kunsten og det potentiale, der ligger heri. Kunstneren vælger selv sin interviewpartner i forbindelse med salonen.

Samtalen finder sted i Teatersalen på Teater Grob fredag den 4. marts kl. 17.00-18.15. Salonen foregår på engelsk.

OM MARIE-LYDIE NOKOUDA
Marie-Lydie Nokouda (f. 1981) er en afrodansk skuespiller uddannet fra Teaterskolen ved Aarhus Teater i 2013. Hun havde sin debut i forestillingen ’SNE’ på Husets Teater i 2014 og har siden haft roller i mange teaterforestillinger, heriblandt ’Katalog Over Kommende Katastrofer’, ’QUEENS’ og ’I Nat Kommer Krigen Hjem’. Hun medvirker i Netflix-serien ’Kastanjemanden’, og kunne i efteråret 2021 opleves på Husets Teater i forestillingen ’Mit Arbejde’.

I 2021 præsenterede hun med Black To Normal ’Afro To The Future’ på Teater Grob. ’Afro To The Future’ er performative readings, der præsenterer ny dansk dramatik iscenesat med afsæt i afrofuturisme. Disse readings vender tilbage til Grob igen den 25. og 26. november, 2022 under titlen “Holberg Goes Black”.

OM YTASHA WOMACK
Ytasha L. Womack er en amerikansk prisvindende forfatter, filmskaber, uafhængig forsker og danseterapeut. Hun betragtes som USA’s førende ekspert i afrofuturisme og holder foredrag om den og dens anvendelser over hele verden. Hendes bog ’Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi and Fantasy Culture’ (Chicago Review Press) er den førende bog om emnet og bruges aktivt verden over i undervisning på gymnasier og universiteter. Bogen er blandt finalisterne til en Nonfiction Locus Award, som læserne af science fiction- og fantasymagasinet Locus årligt stemmer om.

Ytasha Womack er instruktør af den afrofuturistiske dansefilm ’A Love Letter to the Ancestors From Chicago’. Hun er resident i Black Rock Senegal under ledelse af den berømte kunstner Kehinde Wiley. I 2019 var hun i residency hos Kickstarter og i 2018-2019 var hun forfatter-in-residence hos Emerson College i Boston.

Ytasha Womack er en produktiv forfatter. Hun står bag tidsrejseserien ’Rayla Universe’, herunder ’Eartha 2198’, ’Rayla 2212’ og ’Rayla 2213’. Hendes afrofuturistiske novelleserie ’A Spaceship in Bronzeville’ (Mouse Books) blev skabt under hendes ophold hos Kickstarter. Hun er også forfatter til faglitteraturen ’Post Black’ (Chicago Review Press) og ’Beats Rhymes and Life: What We Love and Hate About Hip Hop’ (Random House). Hun er forfatter på forlaget Megascope, hvor hun skaber aftryk dedikeret til spekulativ fiktion i tegneserier, og hendes grafiske roman-epos ’BLAK KUBE’, illustreret af Tanna Tucker, debuterer i 2022.

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UK

In collaboration with Teater Grob, Bikubenfonden hereby invites you to Kunstsalon VISION. Here, in this installment, actress and artistic director of Black To Normal Marie-Lydie Nokouda will be meeting with Ytasha Womack, author and leading expert (in the United States) within the art movement known as ‘Afrofuturism’, for a conversation about Nokouda’s practice Afrofuturism is a philosophy of science and philosophy of history being coined in a movement that explores the cross-field where African diaspora and technology, science fiction and utopias all intersect. This artistic method of working provides an opportunity to envision alternative Afro-cultural pictures of the future.

As an actress, Marie-Lydie Nokouda has a wide range. However, it is as initiator and leader of the new artist platform, Black To Normal, that she is especially charting out new pathways. With Black To Normal’s artistic investigations, Nokouda yearns to create, through rounds of intense writings, a new performing arts expression in Denmark: the scenic Afrofuturism. This is the first artistic platform in Denmark that is working in a goal-oriented way, within the realms of drama and acting, to cultivate and render visible hidden talents among people of color – with a special focus on Afro-Danes.

Marie-Lydie Nokouda has been singled out for Bikubenfonden’s Artistic Practice program for particularly promising artistic practices. As one aspect of the program, we arrange an interview salon that has the objective of examining the selected artist's special approach to art and the potential lying within this. It is the artist herself who chooses her interview partner, in connection with setting up the salon.

The conversation is slated to take place in the Theater Salon at Teater Grob on Saturday February 5^th, at 13.30-14.30. The salon will be unfolding in English.

ABOUT MARIE-LYDIE NOKOUDA
Marie-Lydie Nokouda (born 1981) is an Afro-Danish actress who graduated from the Aarhus Theater School in 2013. She made her debut in the performance, ‘SNE’, at Husets Teater in 2014. Since that time, she has played roles in a good many theater performances, including ‘Katalog Over Kommende Katastrofer’, 'QUEENS' and 'I Nat Kommer Krigen Hjem’. She plays a part in the Netflix series, ‘Kastanjemanden’, and she could also be seen at Husets Teater, in the autumn of 2021, in the performance, ‘Mit Arbejde’.

In 2021, with the Black To Normal artist platform, Nokouda presented ‘Afro To The Future’ at Teater Grob. ‘Afro To The Future’ is a series of eight performative readings that present new Danish drama staged with a point of departure in Afrofuturism. These readings will be returning to Grob on November 25 and 26, 2022 under the title, “Holberg Goes Black”.

ABOUT YTASHA WOMACK
Ytasha L. Womack is an award-winning American author, filmmaker, independent researcher and dance therapist. She is considered to be the leading expert in the United States on Afrofuturism and she holds lectures on Afrofuturism and its applications all over the world. Her book, ‘Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture’ (published by Chicago Review Press) is the leading work on the subject and is actively being used throughout the world in teaching at secondary schools and universities. This book is among the finalists for a Nonfiction Locus Award, which the readers of the science fiction- and fantasy-magazine, Locus, vote on every year.

Ytasha Womack is the director of the Afrofuturist dance film, ‘A Love Letter to the Ancestors From Chicago’. She is an inaugural resident with Black Rock Senegal under the direction of the celebrated artist, Kehinde Wiley. In 2019, Womack was a creative in residence with Kickstarter and in 2018-2019, she was a writer-in-residence at Emerson College in Boston.

Ytasha Womack is a prolific writer. She stands behind the time-travel series ‘Rayla Universe’, including the worlds of ‘Eartha 2198’, ‘Rayla 2212’ and ‘Rayla 2213’. Her Afrofuturist short story series, ‘A Spaceship in Bronzeville’ (published by Mouse Books) was created during her creative in residence with Kickstarter. She is also the author of the specialized work of cultural commentary, 'Post Black' (published by Chicago Review Press) and 'Beats Rhymes & Life: What We Love and Hate About Hip-Hop' (published by Random House). She is an inaugural author with the publishing house, Megascope, where she creates prints that are dedicated to speculative fiction in comics, and her graphic novel-epic, ‘BLAK KUBE’, illustrated by Tanna Tucker, is slated to make its debut in 2022.