Monday, April 19th, 2021, 7pm
ZERO SEASONS: EROICA AND THE APOPHATIC
Chino Amobi in conversation with Kodwo Eshun, Fatima Wegmann and the students.
HEAD – Genève, Boulevard Helvétique 9, 1205 Geneva, seminar room CCC, salle 27, 2nd floor
The talk is already available on our Youtube channel.
Image: Chino Amobi, exhibition/book launch Eroica, 2020, exhibition at Schwarzescafé, Luma Westbau ©
Zero Seasons: Eroica and The Apophatic
Chino Amobi’s science fiction narrative, “Eroica”, a thriller in the Epic tradition, situated between history and myth, unfolds as a cinematic Gesamtkunstwerk: an immersive stage comprised of graphic flags, a light display, video projections, fashion, sculptural props, an overlapping sound work and a revolving cast of live performers, with Amobi’s most recent series of paintings superimposed atop the maximalist display.
In the same vein, Amobi’s series of oil-on-canvas still life paintings of exotic floral species are titled after cities where Amobi has performed: Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Tokyo, et. al. He approaches painting with the same vernacular as his music compositions, and vice versa; using sound as a means of immersing the listener into the space of an apophatic landscape, envisioning each moment in his musical arrangements as a painting. So too, his paintings frame visions of life bursting forth in a fevered neon dream with sonic vibrations: the exotic bloom a proxy for his entranced audience on the dance-floor, at the height of ecstasy, at the peak of inflorescence.