“I’m in need of our visibility to not depend on our physical presence. And, I long for a visibility that’s centered around a recognition that actually brings us joy. Or at least a soothing, a relief that doesn’t require or remind us of a wrecking.” – Simone Zeefuik in Operatic Stillness, the first part of her twofold piece about Thomas J Price’s sculpture Moments Contained.

Paris, London, Rotterdam and Amsterdam all have rather significant numbers of Black residents. But, what would be left of this Black presence if none of the Black folks are physically outside? For our September 7-edition of #BPTUnpacks we’ll focus on sculptures and statues that represent Black people ánd are made by Black artists. Through their presentations and a panel conversation, five speakers will discuss some of their favourite works and imagine what they’d like to see.

Date and time: Thursday September 7, 19.30h.
Location: Bijlmer Parktheater (address: Anton de Komplein 240, 1102 DR Amsterdam).
Tickets: Please use this link to buy your tickets in advance. Tickets: 13 euro in total.

Line up
We’ll start our program with UK based digital sculptor, writer, researcher and curator Rayvenn D’Clark (London) who’ll talk about the craft of sculpting and her current practice. Aruna Vermeulen (Rotterdam), Simone Lagrand (Paris), Sarah Ozo-Irabor (Books&Rhymes, London) and Simone Zeefuik (Bijlmer) will discuss the importance of sculptures and statues depicting both everydayness and legacies in their respective cities. Lashaaawn (Amsterdam) and Ernestine Comvalius (Bijlmer) will imagine the kind of sculptures and/or statues they’d like to see. After their individual presentations, they’ll join each other in a conversation about craft and Blackity Black (re)imaginations.