An Indigo Battle between Wisdom and Fear
Performance for Electric Dub Station - A Psychedelic Afro Futuristic Electro-Dub Opera in Three Acts - Flevopark Amsterdam
Costumes by Iva Jankovic - Photos by Marlise Steeman
Performers: Antonio Jose Guzman, Rebecca Lillich Krüger, Avalon Brown, Fernanda Gonzalez Morales, Isaiah Wilson, Shanti Monkou and Savalan Ghodsi.
This project was made possible with the generous support from Mondriaan Fonds, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Stichting Stokroos and Ajrakh Indigo House by Sufiyan Ismail Khatri.
Choreography: Fernanda Gonzalez Morales & Antonio Jose Guzman
Biografica is a creative dance exploration, including body mapping through levels, shape, dub loops and dynamics schemas. Influenced by Yoruban Dance, The NYC Theatre company “The Living Theatre” and Iván Nogales theory of Body Decolonisation (La Descolonización del Cuerpo),
Electric Dub Station
In Surinam and elsewhere in the Americas, blue had the power to protect enslaved Africans and their descendants from evil spirits. Indigo was also the source of incomparable suffering and helped spur the 18th-century transatlantic trade, resulting in the enslavement of thousands. Indigo dye is deeply rooted in African culture. So is the symbolic use of the color blue to ward off evil spirits. In some cultures, indigo, itself has spiritual significance.
For the past 15 years, Antonio Jose Guzman has been working on post-colonial theoretical art research involving his Panamanian background and his connection with multiple ancestral places in the world. In this pop-up expo, Guzman works together with Iva Jankovic, researching African, Asian and Latin American indigo dyed textile patterns and investigating the transatlantic, colonial history of the color indigo.
The natural blue Indigo was grown on various plantations in Suriname. Research into the history of indigo dye is at the same time an exploration into the colonial history of the Dutch nation and its economic impact on today's global economy. Indigo finds its origins in India, Africa, China and Latin America. The African slave trade made it particularly valuable.
The sonic structures and songs that the Africans sang in the indigo, sugar and coffee plantations had a profound influence on the history of music in the Americas. The impact that Dub has had on contemporary music production can hardly be overestimated. Electric Dub Station is a site specific indigo installation labyrinth and a Yoruba inspired Panamanian Congolese procession.