Bwa Kayiman—Three-Day Festival Commemorates the Haitian Revolution. With Performances, Discourse, Music, Dance, Film, and Food

Bwa Kayiman—Tout Moun se Moun

Performances, Discourse, Music, Dance, Film, Food
2.–4.8.2024
Admission free
Interviews and accreditation via presse@hkw.de

The yearly Bwa Kayiman festival is named after—and thus a homage to—the first major meeting of the enslaved people of African descent in Haiti, which marks the official beginning of the Haitian Revolution(August 1791–January 1804).

Over two centuries ago, the enslaved people of Saint-Domingue revolted against the colonial power, succeeded in abolishing slavery, ending the French hegemony, and establishing an independent state. Having planted the paramount seeds of liberation that then germinated throughout the Americas, the defining revolution of human history has been vastly overlooked, forgotten, and disregarded.

How can we commemorate the first uprising of enslaved people that subsequently founded a state free of slavery and colonial rulership? What does it mean to celebrate the independence of a nation currently deep in political and economic crisis?

Tout moun se moun, meaning ‘every human is a human’ in Haitian Creole, sets the tone of HKW’s second edition of Bwa Kayiman.

Following the first celebration of Bwa Kayiman in 2023, HKW continues to offer space to reflect on reparation for Haiti as well as other peoples who have been subjected to oppressive and exploitative regimes.

The influence for the second edition of the festival derives from Haitian poet and former communist-activist René Depestre, whose poetry greatly contributed to reflections around relationality and humanité.

Together with artists, thinkers, and priestesses from Haiti, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, and beyond, HKW invites everyone in the audience to summon the spirits of the Haitian Revolution and practice the idea of being human: Tout moun se moun.

With contributions by:
Y. S. Alone, Joël Andrianomearisoa, Gajendran Ayyathurai, Lēnablou, Jean Casimir, Marlene L. Daut, Carole Demesmin, Jean-Ulrick Désert, Luis Garay, Samuel Ishimwe, Rachelle Jeanty, Erol Josué, Kiki Katese, Shaunak Mahbubani, Mahishaa (Neelavarana ನೀಲಾವರಣ), Sajan Vazhakaparambil Kolavan Kalyanikutty Mani, Célestin Monga, Scholastique Mukasonga, Nrithya Pillai, Riva Précil, Chaveli Sifre, L’Antoinette Stines, Amelia Umuhire, among others

More information: hkw.de/bwa-kayiman
Press photos: hkw.de/pressphotos

Programme

At this year’s Bwa Kayiman festival, HKW hosts a weekend of performative gestures, including bodily expressions, discursive gatherings, sound-based discourse and offerings, moments of food sharing, and communal agoras.

Friday, 2 August 2024

17:30
Rest & Riot (Safe Passage—Rite of Passage—Mona Passage)
Installation by Chaveli Sifre
Miriam Makeba Auditorium

18:00
Invoking Ayizan and Legba
Opening blessing by Carole Demesmin
In French and Creole
Miriam Makeba Auditorium 

18:30
Rasambleman! Sa Na Kenbe? Re-Imagining Translocal Living Economies for Haiti’s Counter-Plantation System
Keynote and Conversation with Jean Casimir, Célestin Monga, and Marlene L. Daut
In French, English, and German
Miriam Makeba Auditorium

20:30
Le Sacre du Sucre
Dance Performance by Cie Trilogie Lēnablou
Miriam Makeba Auditorium 

22:30
Rasambleman, Sa Na Kenbe? The Lakou as a Space for Political Transformation
With Rachelle Jeanty, Luis Garay, Amina Szecödy, Kelvin Kilonzo, Lukresia Quismundo, John Shades, and Riva Précil
In Creole, French, and English
Sylvia Wynter Foyer

Saturday, 3 August 2024

14:00
L’Antech: Wine yu Bottom. Lift up yu Chest and Pointe yu Tuoz
Movement Lecture and Dance Workshop with L’Antoinette Stines
In English
Mrinalini Mukherjee Hall

16:30
Mediated Pasts: Caste and Non Brahmin Selfhood in Bharatanatyam Dance
Performance by Nrithya Pillai
Safi Faye Hall

17:30
Keynote Conversation with Yashadatta Alone and Gajendran Ayyathurai
In English and German

20:00
Erol Josué
Concert
Miriam Makeba Auditorium 

Sunday, 4 August 2024

14:00
Lawonn et Bigidi: un mawonaj de la pensée caribéenne, la cercularité du monde caribéen
Movement Lecture with Lēnablou, Félix Flauzin, Allan Blou
In French and English
Mrinalini Mukherjee Hall

17:00
Remembering the Rwandan Genocide: Thirty Years of Human Resistance and Life Making
Performance, Readings and Conversation with Kiki Katese, Mushimiyimana Marguerite, Samuel Ishimwe, Scholastique Mukasonga, and Amelia Umuhire
Safi Faye Hall

19:30
Stars Above the Alligator Forest 19°45'N 72°12'W Sunday 14 August 1791 23:18 UTC
Performance and Reading by Jean-Ulrick Désert
In English, French, and Creole
Sylvia Wynter Foyer

19:45
Invoking Zaka, the Spirit of the Land
Closing Blessing by Carole Demesmin
Sylvia Wynter Foyer

Partner

Bwa Kayiman is supported by the Federal Foreign Office.
With the kind support of Institut français.

Visit Information

Opening Times
Wed.–Mon. 12:00–19:00
Extended opening hours during evening programmes.
Free admission on Mondays and on every first Sunday of the month (Museumssonntag Berlin). 

Childcare with programme
HKW offers free childcare for many of its programmes. For further information visit hkw.de

Current information about visiting and accessibility.

Weltwirtschaft Restaurant is open daily, from 12:00–00:00 on weekdays and 10:00–00:00 on weekends.

Contact

Jan Trautmann

Pressesprecher
Lead Communications Officer
Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW)
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
10557 Berlin

T: + 49 (0) 30 397 87 157
presse@hkw.de