In Our Time: Azu Nwagbogu x Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung

Revitalize the spirit of dialectical discourse in art

In the lead-up to the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, entitled Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice, Azu Nwagbogu and Yoeri Albrecht, director of De Balie, engage in conversation with this year’s head curator, Bonaventure Ndikung.

Both curators focus on nuanced, fragile, and in-depth works of art, often from the global African diaspora, and deeply rooted in indigenous knowledge systems. But how do you create a profound understanding of such works of art in a global art system built on inequalities?

And how do you curate a true dialogue about decolonization, restitution, and reconciliation without falling into fallacies, echo chambers and highly polarized discussions that do not create meaningful discourse?

About In Our Time

In Our Time, a series of talks and debates hosted at De Balie in Amsterdam, seeks to revitalize the spirit of dialectical discourse in art. Drawing inspiration from Melvyn Bragg’s BBC Radio 4 program and the logic of the Dig Where You Stand movement of the seventies, this initiative aims to create a platform for engaging discussions on social, contemporary, political, artistic, historical, philosophical, and scientific topics.

By encouraging public participation and fostering critical dialogue, In Our Time represents a vital effort to reestablish art as a space for truth-seeking and intellectual inquiry. This series is hosted by curator Azu Nwagbogu and Yoeri Albrecht, director of De Balie, Amsterdam.