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REMINDER: Performance-Festival Bwa Kayiman—Lakouzémi. Über Souveränität als relationale Praxis, 1.–3. August 2025

28.7.2025

Bwa Kayiman—Lakouzémi

On Sovereignty as a Relational Practice

Performances, Dance, Rituals, Lectures, Conversations, Poetry, Music, Food, Films, Installations
1–3 August 2025
Programme: hkw.de/BwaKayiman 
Accreditation: presse@hkw.de

Bwa Kayiman, the annual festival at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, returns in 2025 for its third edition under the title Lakouzémi: On Sovereignty as a Relational Practice. From 1 to 3 August 2025, the three-day programme brings together performances, dance, music, ritual, food, lectures, and installations to explore sovereignty as a relational practice rooted in community.

In Haitian Creole, the word lakou is used to describe more than a physical piece of land or a small yard; it also refers to the locus where all important aspects of community take place. Entailing cohabitation and long-term sustenance organized around a shared small plot of land, the lakou model often involves a matriarchal and multi-generational familial structure.

Through endeavours like the lakou, the Haitian people affirmed their sovereignty, radically imagining anew social institutions and relations that rejected colonial systems and customs in favour of reciprocity, mutual care, rootedness, and respect for plurality.


Following two successful editions in previous years, Bwa Kayiman returns in 2025 with diverse formates that reflect on how sovereignty is practiced, asserted, defended, and manifested. The highlights of the weekend include, among other things, food offerings Patois Gathering from Asia to the Caribbean and a concert.

On 1 August, in a new chapter of the ongoing Tongue and Throat Memories programme, the Toronto-based Chef Craig Wong’s food offerings draw upon his Jamaican and Chinese family background, summoning the cuisine and conviviality that originated through the presence of Asians in the Caribbean.


On 2 August, Jowee Omicil and Boukman Eksperyans play in a double bill concert that simultaneously closes both HKW’s Sonic Pluriverse Festival and the second day of Bwa Kayiman. In his album Spiritual Healing: Bwa Kayiman Freedom Suite, Omicil tells the story of rebellion and freedom. Mixing mizik rasin (roots music) with electronic instruments and many other Afro-diasporic rhythms, Boukman Eksperyans has long inspired spiritual, political, and social resistance in Haiti. 

 

With contributions from:

Alada, Awam Amkpa, Laura Beaubrun, Ken Bugul, Boukman Eksperyans, Julien Creuzet, Black Pearl de Almeida Lima, Jean D'Amérique, Silvia Garde, Séléna Hollemaert-Awadé, Yann-Olivier Kersaint, Makeda Monnet, Ésery Mondésir, Cyrielle Ndjiki, Jowee Omicil, Ana Pi, Évelyne Trouillot, Lyonel Trouillot, Yeser Sipriano, Slim Soledad, Wole Soyinka, Chef Craig Wong, and others

Semra Ertan begegnen

On 3 August, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) hosts an intimate gathering to honour the life and legacy of Semra Ertan (1957–1982), a poet, migrant, and activist who died at just 25 years of age. The event creates a space for reflection and remembrance through artist performances, live music, and readings of her poignant poems in the garden named after her at HKW.

Semra Ertan, a powerful voice against racism and discrimination, used her art and poetry to confront social injustice and name the struggles that are still faced by marginalized communities in Germany. She remains a symbol of defiance and solidarity in the face of ongoing injustice. This event invites the public to gather in solidarity to celebrate Ertan’s courage, creativity, and enduring impact. Through this commemoration, hosted with Initiative in Gedenken an Semra Ertan, her message is kept alive, inspiring ongoing conversations about identity, resistance, emancipation, and dignity.

Join us for this tribute to a remarkable figure whose voice continues to resonate today.

 

Programme

Friday, 1.8.2025

What Happens to A Dream Deferred

Ésery Mondésir

Video Installation

Lydie Dooh Bunya Space

 

Diaspora Daydreams

Yann-Olivier Kersaint

Installation

Sylvia Wynter Foyer

 

18:00 

Invoking Eleguá, Ogún, and Obatalá: Guiding Spirits of Connection, Justice, and Clarity 

Silvia Garde, Yeser Sipriano 

Blessing, Ritual

Miriam Makeba Auditorium

In Haitian Creole and Spanish


18:30 

Souveraineté, de quel côté es-tu? [Sovereignty, which side are you on?] 

Wole Soyinka, Évelyne Trouillot

Keynote Conversation

Miriam Makeba Auditorium

In English and French, with simultaneous translation in English, French, and German


20:00 

Quatuor & Quantum—Larmes marées de la lune

Julien Creuzet & Ana Pi, in collaboration with Séléna Hollemaert-Awadé, Makeda Monnet, Cyrielle Ndjiki

Performance

Miriam Makeba Auditorium

In Martinican Creole and French with English subtitles

 

21:00 

Patois Gathering from Asia to the Caribbean

Chef Craig Wong

Food Offerings

Lili Elbe Garden
Tickets €20
Doors open 20:30

 

22:30 

Plidetwal [rain of stars]—Enacting Lakouzémi, a Poetic Assembly

Jean D'Amérique, Ken Bugul, Lyonel Trouillot, Évelyne Trouillot

Poetry Readings

Angie Stardust Foyer

In Haitian Creole and French, with partial English translation

 

23:30 

VIBRATIONS, TRANSLATIONS

Slim Soledad with Alada and Black Pearl de Almeida Lima

Performance

Angie Stardust Foyer

In Portuguese and English

 

Saturday, 2.8.2025

What Happens to A Dream Deferred

Ésery Mondésir

Video Installation

Lydie Dooh Bunya Space

 

Diaspora Daydreams

Yann-Olivier Kersaint

Installation

Sylvia Wynter Foyer


16:00 

Looking back to move forward: Boukman Eksperyans, resonance to the dissidence

Manzè & LòLò Beaubrun (Boukman Eksperyans), Ésery Mondésir

Conversation

Safi Faye Hall

In French with English and German simultaneous translation

 

17:00 

Una Sola Sangre, a Kongossa on the Many Paths of Return

Ésery Mondesir, Lyonel Trouillot, Ken Bugul

Film Screening, followed by Kongossa

Safi Faye Hall

Una Sola Sangre (2020), dir: Ésery Mondésir, 40', in Haitian Creole and Spanish with English subtitles.
Conversation in French, with English and German simultaneous translation

 

from 18:00 

Patois Gathering from Asia to the Caribbean

Chef Craig Wong

Food Offerings

Paulette Nardal Terrace

food for purchase on site


19:00 

Jowee Omicil, Boukman Eksperyans

Jowee Omicil
Boukman Eksperyans

Concerts

Miriam Makeba Auditorium

Evening ticket €23/19

 

Sunday, 3.8.2025

What Happens to A Dream Deferred

Ésery Mondésir

Video Installation

Lydie Dooh Bunya Space

 

Diaspora Daydreams

Yann-Olivier Kersaint

Installation

Sylvia Wynter Foyer

 

13:00

Semra Ertan begegnen

Adi Liraz, Anguezomo Nzé Mboulou Mba Bikoro, Berivan Kaya, Cana Bilir-Meier, Zühal Bilir-Meier and Initiative in Gedenken an Semra Ertan

Pavillon (Semra Ertan Garten)

In German, with performances in English, German, and Turkish

 

16:00

Yanvalou—Ceremonial Dance of Water, an Initiation to Lakou

Laura Beaubrun (Boukman Eksperyans) and others

Movement Lecture, Dance and Singing Workshop

Angie Stardust Foyer

In English and French 

 

19:00

The Man Died, dir: Awam Amkpa (European Film Premiere)

Film Screening, followed by a Q&A with the director

Film Screening, Conversation

Safi Faye Hall

In English

 

Bwa Kayiman

Over two centuries ago, the enslaved people of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) 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.

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). 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.

 

Partner

Quatuor & Quantum—Larmes marées de la lune
Julien Creuzet & Ana Pi
Commissioned by Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), co-produced by Na Mata Lab, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), and Hartwig Art Foundation.

With the kind support of the Institut français and the French Ministry of Culture.

 

Visit Information

Opening Times
Wed.–Mon. 12:00–19:00

Free admission on Mondays. 
Extended opening hours during evening programmes.
 
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.

 

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