ADKDW - AN ACADEMY OF THE ARTS OF THE WORLD!
What is the Akademie der Künste der Welt (Academy of the Arts of the World, ADKDW)? - The ADKDW is a laboratory of experimental knowledge production and artistic research, constituted by a global network of members. Between North and South, and East and West, in local, regional and international collaborations, it materializes again and again. In this sense, ADKDW is certainly many things. But it is above all two things: on the one hand, an academy dedicated to the arts of the world; and at the same time, an academy of the arts that belongs to the world. One thing, however, is certain: in 2012, an institution was founded in Cologne that was ahead of its time in terms of its structure and content.
The ADKDW is now marking its 10th year of existence in 2022 with the renewal and extension of its international residency program (ADKDW Residency) and in the form of the newly emerging Decolonial Studies Program (DSP), including its own publication series. Both take place in the context of wide-ranging transcontinental collaborations. In terms of content, our program this year is also supported by national and international collaborations: the exhibition and publication project Potosí Principle - Archive looks at the continuity of over 500 years of the principle of exploitation of the Global South by the Global North, and the world economic markets that feed on it, from the perspective of the legendary silver city of Potosí. Together with CHIMURENGA, a pan-African arts and culture platform working out of Cape Town, South Africa, ADKDW presents Liberation Radio, a live broadcast program on the emancipatory history and function of music, sound and radio. The discourse series On Violence takes place in collaboration with HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin and is dedicated to the question of visibility and invisibility of different forms of violence in today's society with prominent international guests. An accompanying Reading Group invites to deepen the contents of the lecture series through joint reading and discussion. Later this year, starting from NTU / CCA Singapore, as well as the Goethe-Instituts Singapore and Jakarta, and together with a broad network of institutional collaborations, we initiate Climate Crisis and Colonialism - a project on the history and impact of German colonialism on the environment and on the lived realities of indigenous nations in contemporary Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Last but not least, we'll be celebrating our 10th anniversary in the fall with an event at its best - smart and sexy, dedicated to the arts and belonging to the world. That though, will be a surprise!
The ADKDW would like to thank the City of Cologne and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia as well as its artistic and institutional partners for their cooperation. Above all, we thank the ADKDW members for their commitment, support and the many bridges to the whole world. I personally owe a great debt of gratitude to the ADKDW team: Without the staff, none of this would be possible. Together we are an academy of the arts of the world - the ADKDW!
