Pan African Space Station

BACKGROUND This project drew upon new approaches to pedagogy, public programming and the ‘educational turn’ in curatorial practice, with a particular focus on decolonising the institution. Decolonisation represents an attempt to radically transform institutional knowledge and social structures to recenter indigenous knowledge and ways of being. Drawing on the work of indigenous scholars Audrey Simpson, Eve Tuck and Wayne Yang, who engage critically with the idea of decolonisation in relation to settler cultures, the project created a physical and digital space for pan-African and indigenous dialogue. In this way it also engages with Kylie Message’s work on public institutions, democracy and racism. This curatorial and public programming project brought together deep research on histories of Australia’s engagement with the social and political movements of the African continent in the 1970s, with contemporary understandings of indigeneity and race politics in Melbourne. This involved bringing together archival research on Australia’s participation in The Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) which took place in Lagos, Nigeria in 1977 with contemporary perspectives on black internationalism and decolonisation. CONTRIBUTION I was invited by Hannah Matthews to produce the Pan African Space Station (PASS) radio program for the Shapes of Knowledge exhibition at Monash University Museum of Art from 11 - 13 April, featuring an initiative of the Cape Town-based collective, Chimurenga. PASS was a live radio studio and innovative platform for free ideas and political reflection about Africa by Africans. In collaboration with artists, activists and cultural workers based in Melbourne, we researched Australia’s participation in The Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) which took place in Lagos, Nigeria in 1977 and invited contemporary artists, activists, musicians and writers to reflect on this history. PASS used FESTAC as a lens through which to locate and imagine new conversations around black internationalism. SIGNIFICANCE The Shapes of Knowledge exhibition at MUMA was a major exhibition that received funding from multiple sources including the Australia Council for the Arts, Create NSW, Creative Victoria and Gandel Philanthropy. PASS operated as a live radio studio, a meeting place and an exhibition space to investigate this query through visual content, as well as conversations and performances with activists and artists working in the city. It forged new connections between artists, musicians and activists in Australia and Africa, and provided a platform for critical discourse about race, social privilege and cultural knowledge. It reached an audience of several thousand – online and in person, and was included in media coverage including in ArtsHub and Green Magazine.