BENEFIT AUCTION FOR OPERNDORF AFRIKA

The Festspielhaus Afrika gGmbH and the KÖNIG GALERIE will hold a charity auction on September 22,2017 in aid of Christoph Schlingensief's Operndorf Afrika in Berlin. International young and established artists, who feel closely connected to the project, have each contributed a T-shirt of their own design. The participating artists are Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili, Kathryn Andrews, Dirk Bell, Norbert Bisky, John Bock, Monica Bonvicini, Mark Bradford, Paul McCarthy, Martin Creed, Claudia Comte, Thea Djordjadze, Martin Eder, Jeppe Hein, Andy Hope 1930, Christian Jankowski, Oda Jaune, Alicja Kwade, Friedrich Kunath, Jonathan Meese, Florian Meisenberg, Tobias Rehberger, Anselm Reyle, Christian Rosa, Michael Sailstorfer, Anri Sala, Karin Sander, Andreas Slominski, Katja Strunz, Gert & Uwe Tobias, Rosemarie Trockel, Raphaela Vogel, Jorinde Voigt, Julius von Bismarck and Andro Wekua. The blank T-shirts were kindly provided by Hess Natur.

The date of the auction – two days prior to the German federal election – was chosen purposely: Burkina Faso, where Aino Laberenz and her team have been partly working for eight years, is a country that hadn’t known democratic elections for decades until 2014 when citizens ousted their former president from power. A political movement emerged, initiated by the people, especially by the artists of the country. The following year, general elections were held for the first time after the declaration of independence from France. Today, Burkina Faso is a young democracy whose own voice can be used as political power for people around the world. Thus, Operndorf Afrika seeks to highlight the value of democracy briefly before the national elections in Germany

The Operndorf Afrika is an international art project, which is being realised in Burkina Faso/West Africa, and builds on the idea of the German artist Christoph Schlingensief (1960–2010), who made this project his final artistic work. Since 2009, and under the leadership of Aino Laberenz, numerous projects have continuously evolved in the form of a platform for intercultural exchange programs and relevant postcolonial discourses, which makes a new and nuanced image of Africa, visible. A space for international encounters, in which people from different backgrounds can work together and exchange ideas. Embedded therein is the everyday life of the emerging village which already includes a school for 300 pupils, a hospital, and the first artist residency in West Africa.

From 8 September onwards, you can place a bid for one of the T-shirts on Artnet. The final auction will take place in KÖNIG GALERIE. All the T-shirts created by contributing artists will be shown on Operndorf’s Instagram account.

In addition to the auction, the magazine 032c is launching a t-shirt on the 21st of september on 032c.com. At the auction event this t-shirt will be presented as well. The proceeds will be given tot he Operndorf Afrika.

KÖNIG GALLERY, Alexandrinenstraße 118-121,10969 Berlin