Lerato Shadi in Conversation with
Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung Discussion in Connection with the Exhibition
Maru a Pula Is a Song of Happiness

18 November 2020
Maschinenhaus M1

In her work, Lerato Shadi questions Western notions of history and reveals mechanisms of structural exclusion and oppression. She uses her body as a medium to make the overlooked, forgotten, or repressed visible—often in lengthy, physically demanding performances. The solo exhibition Maru a Pula Is a Song of Happiness at the KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art presents videos and installations as well as a new series of textile works that deal with the relationship between panel painting and performativity.

As part of the exhibition, a discussion between Lerato Shadi and Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung took place at the KINDL on 18 November 2020. Due to the current pandemic, it was recorded in camera.

Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (born in 1977 in Yaoundé, Cameroon), is an independent curator, author and biotechnologist. He is founder and artistic director of SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin and the artistic director of sonsbeek20–24, a quadrennial contemporary art exhibition in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Ndikung was the curator-at-large for Adam Szymczyk's documenta 14 in Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany in 2017. He is currently a professor in the Spatial Strategies MA program at the Weissensee Academy of Art in Berlin.

Lerato Shadi (born in Mahikeng, South Africa) lives in Berlin. Her work has been shown internationally, most recently at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (from December 2020), the 14th Curitiba Biennial in Brasil and at SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin (both 2019), Kunsthal KAdE Amersfoort and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town (both 2018) as well as in the programme The Parliament of Bodies at the documenta 14 in Kassel (2017). www.leratoshadi.art, Instagram: @studio.leratoshadi