Drawing on themes surrounding collective memory, post-colonialism, and the monument, Nathalie Mba Bikoro seeks to engage with communities by initiating public discussion surrounding their local environments. The resulting scenario is a cross-navigation between urbanity and the natural ecosystem, as well as the traditional and the contemporaneous. Utilizing the library archive as her primary medium, Bikoro aims to decolonize archive images to generate new memory and new knowledge for the local community. Through the production of an online sound tour and an installation of the decolonized archive material, the artist will transform our understanding of the colonial archive through collaborative intervention, whereby we are encouraged to assume authorship of our participation and reconsider the function of the monument.
Bikoro uses live art practices and digital photography story telling to create living and performative archives contesting the nature of our cultures, histories and identity. For her performance at M:ST8, Bikoro will apply digital excavation to re-envision the archive through the creation of a sound tour and accompanying installation in collaboration with artist Terrance Houle.
Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and raised on the Great Plains of North America, Terrance Houle is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary media artist and a proud member of the Kainai Nation (Blood Tribe).
Involved with Aboriginal communities all his life, he has traveled to reservations throughout North America participating in Powwow dancing and native ceremonies. Houle makes use of performance, photography, video & film, music, and painting in his work. Likewise, Houle’s practice includes various tools of mass dissemination such as billboards and vinyl bus signage.
Houle graduated from the Alberta College of Art + Design in 2003 with a BFA Major in Fibre. His groundbreaking art quickly garnered him significant accolades and opportunities.
Houle’s work has been exhibited across Canada, the United States, Australia, the UK, and Europe.
Houle lives and maintains his art practice in Calgary.
Nathalie Mba Bikoro received her Doctorate in Visual Cultures, Art & Political Philosophy in 2012. She is an Associate Lecturer in Political Visual Cultures, Philosophy & Fine Art and the curatorial Director of Squat Museum, centered around visual arts methods of decolonization across cultures and geographies. Her most recent projects have been shown at the 798 Art District Gallery Beijing (2015); Art15 Fair in London (2015); Smithsonian Museum of African Art Washington DC (2013); Dak’art Biennial in Senegal (2012); and Tate Britain in London (2009).
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Community Partners
Future Monuments
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