

Murmurs on Mami Wata
ARLETTE-LOUISE NDAKOZE
WEDNESDAY 26 MARCH 2025 19.00 AT ATALANTE – TICKETS HERE
shared evening with"Funambulist"
What, again, did Echo say?
While “she's heard by all who call; her voice has life”: does she say anything? Why can't Narcissus see her? Can he see at all? Or did Tiresias and his “power, his wit, in prophecy” see past them?
Reflecting on the figure of the prophet, the performance “Murmurs on Mami Wata” calls for entities of vision, starting from the prophecy in Ovid's myth of Echo and Narcissus. While the tale, inspired by ancient Greek mythology, became emblematic for “modern”-linear-exploitative-disconnected societies, it also entails a, less discussed, pre/scription for its remedy.
The performance evokes, from there, cosmogonies and practices of ancient African traditional-cyclic-remembering societies. Here, on carried grounds, figures and configurations are traced beyond the exclusivity and singularity of prophecy - as they are tied to the bodies of intermediates manifesting peoples’ ancestors in their everyday experience of the living.
An independent scholar and (sonic) inscriber, Arlette-Louise Ndakoze is carrying out research on the complex sciences initiated by African civilisations. In her work, she focuses on the connection between spiritual-immaterial and physical-material spheres, those spaces of possibility in the making. With special attention, Arlette-Louise Ndakoze treats the link that holds cultures together until today. Her research composes text and sound articulations, reportages and radio features, performances and seminars. After having initiated her research project Akayovu in 2018 with independent curations and creations, she had worked from 2018-22 as a curator and from 2020-2022 as artistic co-director of the Berlin art space SAVVY Contemporary, before intensely continuing her research at arts institutions and with artistic communities in Africa and Europe. Her recent creative form, Kamashará, expresses drawings joined by sound-text articulations.
RADIX is supported by The City of Gothenburg Arts and Cultural Affairs Committee and The Region Västra Götaland Cultural Affairs Committee