Preview

Issue 3/2025

WANDALA – postcolonial negotiations

“WANDALA” refers to the real place Wandala (kingdom in northern Cameroon) and at the same time marks out a fictional space that cannot be found on Google Maps. It dissolves boundaries and combines aspects of drama and dream. The issue is produced in cooperation with the exhibition project of the same name, initiated by Martin Wassermair, which will be realized in the Offenes Kulturhaus (OK) Linz from October 2025. Artists from Dakar (Senegal), Windhoek (Namibia) and Kampala (Uganda) make the hybrid space “WANDALA” their own in order to exchange different ideas about “Africa” and to set a diaspora of images in motion – by means of practices that move disharmoniously towards each other and interweave in unexpected ways.

At the center of the project are new interfaces of postcolonial negotiations. These not only create ruptures, but also call for self-empowerment and expose the many injustices of a world order that has provided them with an existence in the misery of the global backyards. “Why is Africa so riddled with holes and undermined,” asks political scientist Achille Mbembe, “when will this matter finally be addressed, where are we going?” “WANDALA” explores the possibilities of finally casting off the face of enslavement and rebuffing the victimization that has been a compliant counterpart to plundering and harassment for centuries – with an overdue rebellion of images and a conflictual contradiction of narratives.

Publication date: September 15, 2025