This year at the British Pavilion exhibition 2024, we are working with partners to bring you an inspiring programme of in-person and online events, including talks, film screenings, workshops, performances and commissions.
Inspired by the themes explored in John Akomfrah’s Listening All Night To The Rain, the programme recognises the impact and influence of Akomfrah’s work on different generations of artists and filmmakers and provides a platform for new voices to connect with audiences beyond Venice, encouraging a global dialogue around the most pressing issues of our time.
Keep an eye on our social media channels – including Instagram, Facebook and X – for further updates.
Our Public Programme Partners
- Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts)
- Institute of Contemporary Arts, London with Monangambee, Lagos
Programme Events
Tuesday 2 July 2024: John Akomfrah in conversation at the Royal Academy The Benjamin West Lecture Theatre, Burlington Gardens or digital live stream. Tickets £20/£12 in person or £10/£8 online.
Celebrated artist and filmmaker Sir John Akomfrah will discuss his practice, career, and representing Britain in this year’s Venice Biennale with curator Tarini Malik. This talk is supported by the Natalia Cola Foundation.
Unseen Guests: A Post-National Digital Pavilion
Unseen Guests is a commission led by iniva and funded by the British Council. Eight artists based in the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), working across new media, audiovisual and writing will create new works in dialogue with the work of filmmaker and artist John Akomfrah, representing Great Britain at the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale. For the second edition of the Post-National Digital Pavilion, iniva presents Unseen Guests. The Pavilion is a series of radical re-imaginings of nationhood, reflecting on the entanglement between land and water, movement and m/otherlands, in the forging of new identities and subjectivities.
Unseen Guests invites eight artists to develop new works, including Ibiye Camp, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Gladys Kalichini, Rodrigo Nava Ramírez, Shamica Ruddock and Helena Uambembe. Through an international open call, they have selected two writers: Yaa Addae and Alexis Teyie. The first commissioned work, a soundscape by Shamica Ruddock is available to listen to now. Unseen Guests is co-curated by Renée Akitelek Mboya and Beatriz Lobo Britto, and produced by Leanne Petersen.
Tuesday 16 July: Listening Party – Canto IX (after Listening All Night To The Rain) Stuart Hall Library (and online)
This listening party is proposed as an informal study session. Canto IX (after Listening All Night To The Rain) proposes an exploration of sound as an entry point into a diverse decolonial temporality. Departing from dominant narratives and sonic landscapes that reinforce colonial power frameworks, Canto IX (after Listening All Night To The Rain) expands on disrupting and subverting these norms by inviting participants to engage with a multiplicity of voices, rhythms, and sonic textures.
Wednesday 25 September: Performance whya (a listening exercise) convened by Nolan Oswald Dennis Stuart Hall Library (and online)
This hybrid event is an opportunity to engage with 'whya', a digital artwork by Nolan Oswald Dennis, through a guided listening session.
whya (a listening exercise) invites listeners to be guided through an auditory journey into the digital artwork ‘whya’ by Nolan Oswald Dennis. The session features a guest selector who, using a set of listening protocols provided by the artist, will lead an exploration of ‘whya’. The selector will determine what to listen to, when to pause, and what to repeat, allowing the audience to experience the artwork’s fluid nature and interpretive possibilities in real-time.
‘whya’ is a digital memory server that reimagines fragments of oral history from the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO), a revolutionary school in Mazimbu, Tanzania, established for freedom fighters in the armed struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. Through an ongoing project of interviews with former students, teachers, and residents of SOMAFCO, Dennis has created a speculative choreography of remembering.
Thursday 21 November: Drunk and Disorderly with Down River Road (DDR) Stuart Hall Library, Karara Community Library in Nairobi (and online)
An afternoon hosted between the Stuart Hall Library in London and the Karara Library & Community Archive in Nairobi and online, which gathers artists, writers and social actors, to share and learn on issues of climate justice, nationhood and the possibilities of community and collaboration in the varied extensions of post coloniality. Open to in-person participants in London and Nairobi, and available to stream online.
ICA Events
The ICA and British Council collaboration, centred around John Akomfrah's British Pavilion exhibition, aims to explore post-colonial themes and the experiences of migrant diasporas through a series of screenings and discussions at ICA (and UK-wide) and at a partner organisation in West Africa, Monangambee, Lagos.
Screening John Akomfrah's work alongside his contemporaries and emerging artists from the UK and West Africa creates a dynamic cultural exchange that bridges generations and geographies. This juxtaposition not only celebrates Akomfrah's pioneering contributions but also contributes to the evolving dialogue on post-colonialism, diaspora, and environmental issues. It offers a platform for diverse voices, fostering a rich, multifaceted conversation that resonates with global audiences and highlights the interconnectedness of our contemporary world. Further details to follow.