Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung Explained

Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (born in 1977 in Yaoundé, Cameroon) is a contemporary art curator and writer. He lives in Berlin.[1]

Early life and education

Ndikung moved to Germany in 1997 to study at Technische Universität Berlin (TU). He holds a doctorate in medical biotechnology from the Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf /TU Berlin, and a post-doctorate in biophysics from the University of Montpellier.[2] [3]

Career

Curating

Ndikung is the founding director of SAVVY Contemporary, an independent project space[4] and discoursive platform for exhibitions, performances and other events. It situates itself on the threshold between concepts of the West and non-West to understand and deconstruct them.[5] [6]

From 2015 to 2018, together with Solvej Helweg Ovesen, Ndikung was a curator at Galerie Wedding, a public gallery in Berlin-Wedding.[7] [8]   Ndikung and Ovesen also co-curated the year long Danish art project Images 2016 – An Age of our Own Making, that took place in Holbæk, Roskilde and Copenhagen.[9] [10]

In 2015, Ndikung contributed a key essay to the project The Citizen, which the German photographer Tobias Zielony created for the German pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale. Ndikung's piece with the title "The Penultimate Dance On The Roof" dealt with the self-empowerment of the activist refugees, who had occupied the building of the former Gerhart-Hauptmann-School in Berlin-Kreuzberg. The double-page was published by the daily The Citizen in Khartoum, Sudan,[11] and put on display in the Pavilion as a migrating image.[12]

In the same year, Ndikung became part of the curatorial team of Adam Szymczyk's documenta 14, in the role of Curator at large.[13] [14]

Together with Pauline Doutreluingne Ndikung curated the Performeum at the Wiener Festwochen in 2017.[15] [16] Ndikung was a guest curator for the 13th Dakar Biennale in Senegal, under the artistic direction of Simon Njami.[17] [18]

As part of the Miracle Workers Collective[19] he curated the Finnish pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019.[20] He was artistic director of the 12th Bamako Encounters[21] in 2019, a biennale for African photography in Mali.[22] Ndikung is artistic director for Sonsbeek 2020-2024, a large-scale sculpture exhibition that takes place in Arnhem, the Netherlands.[23] [24]

Ndikung was a guest professor in curatorial studies and sound art at the Städelschule in Frankfurt from 2017 to 2019,[25] and together with artist Nasan Tur, is professor for the Spatial Strategies MA program at Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin.[26] [27]

In June 2021, Ndikung was appointed as the Director of Berlin's Haus der Kulturen der Welt,[28] to take over from Bernd M. Scherer on 1 January 2023.

Other activities

In 2022, Ndikung was a member of the jury of the Venice Biennale, chaired by Adrienne Edwards.[29]

Recognition

In October 2020 Ndikung was awarded the Order of Merit of Berlin, in "recognition of the work Savvy Contemporary has been doing over the past decade".[30]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Documenta-Bonaventure-Ndikung. 2017-06-13. ZITTY. de-DE. 2019-02-03.
  2. Web site: Art Must Be A Space Of Dissonance: In Conversation With Bonaventure Ndikung. 2018-04-27. IGNANT. en-US. 2019-02-03.
  3. Web site: Bonaventure Ndikung is the Curator Defying the North-South Dichotomy. www.sleek-mag.com. en. 2019-02-03.
  4. Web site: SAVVY Contemporary Contemporary And. www.contemporaryand.com. de. 2020-01-27.
  5. Web site: Off-space No. 23: Savvy Contemporary, Berlin / ArtReview. artreview.com. 2019-02-03.
  6. Web site: Concept. S A V V Y Contemporary. en. 2019-02-03.
  7. Web site: Galerie Wedding. galeriewedding.de. 2019-02-03.
  8. Web site: Galerie Wedding (Wedding Gallery). www.visitberlin.de. en. 2020-01-27.
  9. Web site: An Age of Our Own Making. images.holbaek.dk. 2019-02-03.
  10. Web site: An Age of Our Own Making. Charlottenborg. Kunsthal. Kunsthal Charlottenborg. en-GB. 2020-01-27.
  11. Ndikung. Bonaventure. 2015-04-22. The Penultimate Dance On The Roof – on spaces and currencies of negotiations. The Citizen. 28. 200. 6–7.
  12. Book: Ebner, Florian. Fabrik. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König. 2015. 978-3-86335-765-8. Cologne. 64.
  13. Web site: Team - documenta 14. www.documenta14.de. de. 2019-02-03.
  14. Web site: Paul Preciado and Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung Join Documenta 14’s Curatorial Team. www.artforum.com. en-US. 2020-01-27.
  15. Web site: Who discovered whom? Contemporary And. www.contemporaryand.com. Gauthier. Lesturgie. de. 2017-07-10. 2019-02-03.
  16. Web site: THE CONUNDRUM OF IMAGINATION Archive EXHIBITIONS Leopold Museum. www.leopoldmuseum.org. 2020-01-27.
  17. Web site: Dak’Art Biennale 2018: The Red Hour Ocula. 2019-02-03. ocula.com. en. 2019-02-03.
  18. Web site: Biennial of Contemporary African Art Dak’Art announced the guest curators for }} 13th edition]. 2017-08-30. Biennial Foundation. en-US. 2020-01-27.
  19. Web site: Artists: Miracle Workers Collective. Frame Contemporary Art Finland. en. 2020-01-27.
  20. Web site: Finland Taps Miracle Workers Collective for 2019 Venice Biennale. Russeth. Andrew. 2018-05-08. ARTnews. en-US. 2019-02-03.
  21. Web site: Bamako Encounters 12th – Bamako Encounters, 12th edition. www.rencontres-bamako.com. 2020-01-27. 2020-09-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20200924183309/https://www.rencontres-bamako.com/Bamako-Encounters-12th?lang=en. dead.
  22. Web site: Bamako Encounters: Streams of Consciousness. 2019-12-09. British Journal of Photography. en-US. 2020-01-27.
  23. Web site: Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung Will Curate 2020 Edition of Storied Sonsbeek Exhibition in the Netherlands. Russeth. Andrew. 2019-02-01. ARTnews. en-US. 2019-02-03.
  24. Web site: Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung to Curate 2020 Edition of Sonsbeek. www.artforum.com. en-US. 2020-01-27.
  25. Web site: Bonaventure Ndikung – Städelschule. www.staedelschule.de. de. 2019-02-03.
  26. Web site: New Post-Graduate Program With New Professors Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and Nasan Tur. 2020-03-27. Contemporary And. de. 2020-04-01.
  27. Web site: Spatial Strategies MA—Of Spaces: Criticality, Coloniality, Vulnerability – Announcements – Art & Education. www.artandeducation.net. en. 2020-04-01.
  28. Web site: 2021-06-16. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung appointed Director of Haus der Kulturen der Welt. live. 2021-06-16. Haus der Kulturen der Welt. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20210616145712/https://hkw.de/en/presse/pressemitteilungen/pressemitteilung_183155.php . 2021-06-16 .
  29. Alex Greenberger (23 April 2022), Black Women Reign Victorious at Venice Biennale as Simone Leigh, Sonia Boyce Win Top Awards ARTnews.
  30. Web site: Curator Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung Awarded Order of Merit of Berlin. Artforum. 2020-10-02. 2020-10-04.

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