please click for more information

THE POWER OF THE KOLA – Restituting knowledge ?

Based on the long-term research project THE POWER OF THE KOLA and the associated plant journey of diasporic kola plants from Germany to Dschang in Cameroon (THE POWER OF THE KOLA – NEGOTIATING THE LIVING, 2023 –2025), the artist Astrid S. Klein presents her translocal research and artistic practice.

• When: Thursday, May 8th, 2025, 12 to 2 pm
• Where: Room S 147  FZA 0.21, University of Bayreuth 
• Zoom : https://uni-bayreuth.zoom.us/j/67598682591?pwd=CnTgdrwFkHzhoiivKPp8t8bVZk13GU.1

THE POWER OF THE KOLA is a transgenerational, translocal art project by Astrid S. Klein that has involved international research, art projects and events since 2011. It is supported by the voices of many. With the kola plant (Cola acuminata), tropical diasporic plants are placed at the center as powerful actors with diverse modes of action and meanings. In contrast to the violence of the Plantationocene, colonialism and extractivism, the kola embodies constructive forms of action and communication and activates respectful relationships. Marginalized, local knowledge about economies, social connections, cosmologies, ecology and plant medicine as well as the reconnection of diasporic plants are given space. Alternative translocal modes of action are negotiated on an equal footing in the encounter and convergence of different knowledge complexes.