“a most beautiful experiment”
wani toaishara
2 Mar → 11 May 2024
Opening Event, 2 Mar, 5 – 7 am
Writing workshop, 8 May, 6 – 8 am
West Space is thrilled to premiere a new film installation by wani toaishara.
Grounded in the understanding that light and time are filmic materials, a most beautiful experiment responds to artist Jean Depara (1928-1997)'s historic documentation of Kinshasa's nightlife through film installation, blending past and present in a form of temporal collapse.
There is a shared belief amongst the Shi, to whom wani toaishara is Indigenous, that the past exists in front of us because that is the only direction in which we can see. We look forwards to the past, our future somewhere behind us. Existing at the point in which past and present meet, a most beautiful experiment is not only an attempt to explore embodied, personal and political memories of the future. Having materialised these future memories in film, it is also an attempt to correct them.
"This work is an attempt at materialising Black life, love, and resilience as art forms in and of themselves, democratising access to the tools of freedom-making, and claiming space to unpack liberation as both an independent and a collective act." — wani toaishara
Presented in partnership with Multicultural Arts Victoria for PHOTO 2024 International Festival of Photography, and supported by Centre for Projection Art. Find a transcription of the spoken word in the work in the gallery.
Responding to a most beautiful experiment
Wed 8 May, 4 → 6pm
West Space x un Projects invite emerging writers to collectively experiment through writing exercises and discussion around wani toaishara's work. Look closely, connect with peers, exchange ideas. Register here.
wani toaishara is a Congolese artist living and working in Naarm/Melbourne. Across photography, performance, installation and film, wani's practice explores Black life and representation, dislocation and Indigeneity as well as the effects of colonialism on Africa and its diaspora, often using his personal history to create intimate and personal works. The use of urban spaces in his films is significant in the way he transforms banal spaces into dramatic stages for exploration and reflection.