Jaamil Olawale Kosoko

Nigerian-American performance artist and poet Jaamil Olawale Kosoko presents the second edition of his interactive, multi-media artwork “American Chameleon: The Living Installments”. Based on the live performance “Chameleon: A Biomythography”, Kosoko and collaborators craft a virtual venue, a flexible space where Black voices feel comfortable thinking and speaking out loud. Via the gaming chat app Discord, attendees are guided through a full programme consisting of discussions with guests among which Vanessa Eileen Thompson, Brenda Dixon-Gottschild and Ebony Noelle Golden, a healing session, a poetry reading, and the world premiere of Kosoko's film “Chameleon (A Visual Album)”. The three-hour event will take place on the 23rd of August, the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. This day commemorates the revolt of formerly enslaved people in the French colony of Saint-Domingue in 1791, which marked the beginning of the Haitian Revolution. In a virtual choreography of contemplation, this pop-up community seeks to create sustainable, multi-tiered networks of care and investigate digital space as a place where progressive thought can occur.

If you would like to experience “American Chameleon: The Living Installments (2.0)” in its full and original version, join the event on Discord. You are invited to interact with the hosts and other guests and if you wish to stay anonymous, there is no obligation to write messages or turn on your camera. After the event, conversations can be continued in break-out rooms. All information on how to join on Discord is available here. Additionally, “American Chameleon: The Living Installments (2.0)” will be streamed live on our homepage and our YouTube channel.

Notes on accessibility:

Parts of the YouTube live stream of “American Chameleon: The Living Installments (2.0)” can be offered with German subtitles. Please refer to the event schedule below to see which sections this applies to. In addition, ASL translation will be available throughout the event.

Technical support is available on Discord in both English and German.

We also partially offer ASL (American Sign Language) in the YouTube live stream. Please also refer to the schedule for which parts this can be made possible.

Event Schedule

18:00 | Welcoming and Acknowledgement with Nile Harris
(Spoken English/ASL)

18:15 | “The Hold” 
with Everett-Asis Saunders, Vocal Performances by mayfield brooks, Nile Harris, Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, Ima Iduozee (ASL)

18:20 | “On Remembering” 
with Jaamil Olawale Kosoko & Ebony Noelle Golden (Spoken English/ASL)

18:45 | “Chameleon (A Visual Album)” 
Directed by Jaamil Olawale Kosoko & Ima Iduozee, Edited/Post-Production by Alexis McCrimmon (Spoken English/German subtitles/ASL)

19:15 | “Chameleon Contingency” 
Conversation/Reading by Dr. Brenda Dixon-Gottschild, Edited by Meena Murugesan (Spoken English/German subtitles/ASL)

19:45 | “On Healing” 
with mayfield brooks (Spoken English/ASL)

20:15 | “Unbreathing and the Possibility of Abolition” 
with Dr. Vanessa E. Thompson (Spoken English/ASL)

20:45 | “Black Body Amnesia (Public Archive Remix)” 
Film by Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, Edited by Meena Murugesan, Featuring sound by Everett-Asis Saunders (Spoken English/German subtitles/ASL)

&

Community Dialogues for Discord Audience
led by Dr. Vanessa E. Thompson and Ebony Noelle Golden (Spoken English /ASL through Zoom link on Discord)

For more information on the artist visit www.jaamil.com

From the Magazin im August: “The Chameleon Contingency: Reflections on Chance, Culture, and Coping” by Brenda Dixon-Gottschild