Rue Princesse - 02. - 04.09.2010 at HKW in Berlin
Rue Princesse is the legendary entertainment strip in the West African metropolis Abidjan. The cultural encounter and appropriation of the Rue Princesse is coming to Berlin after a festival in Abidjan in September. A festival project by Gintersdorfer / Klaßen in collaboration with Aenne Quiñones and Franck Edmond Yao aka Gadokou la Star
Participants: AlexandLiane, Marc Aschenbrenner, Anelka Chanel, Gotta Depri, Cornelia Dörr, Ted Gaier, Gob Squad, Hauke Heumann, Nadine Jessen, Prince Kreol, N'Soleh, Peter Ott, Melissa Logan, Jacques Palminger / Carsten Erobique Meyer, Jochen Roller, Shaggy Sharoof, Franck Edmond Yao aka Gadoukou la Star and others
Rue Princesse is the legendary entertainment strip in the West African metropolis Abidjan. In the last ten years, a young generation of DJs, dancers and videographers have developed a strikingly urban way of life and an individual style; despite extreme economic, political and social hardship – a style that began in the streets and combines ideas from a wide variety of backgrounds. Abidjan is a city of intense ethnic, cultural and economic exchange and is now comparable to other world metropolises. The Rue Princesse is thus an exemplary melting pot of the current West African cultural scene and enables us to see where different aspects of cultural production intersect and connect.
The insistence of the people on having entertainment, live-animation and dance created a space of resistance and assertiveness during the civil war-like crisis. At the same time, the Pentecostal churches supplanted the theaters and cinemas with serious cultural programs, by transforming the religious mass into thrilling multimedia spectacles of archaic-modern marvels, and turning the church-goers into participants. The cultural encounter and appropriation of the Rue Princesse is coming to Berlin after a festival in Abidjan in September.
Monika Gintersdorfer: "For five years, we have been working with a German-Ivorian team: the young men from the Ivory Coast pursue a dual career as showbiz stars in West Africa and as performers in our plays in Europe. Franck Edmond Yao is playing in ‘7% Hamlet’ at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin and as Gadoukou la Star has promoted an album by Couper Decaler in Abidjan. The point of departure for the plays is the perspective of performers from the Ivory Coast, who never expected Germany or German artists and theatergoers would become a point of friction for their worldview. Melissa Logan (Chicks on Speed) and Nadine Jessen as Girlmonster will meet Coupr Decale rapper Nash in Abidjan, DJ Shaggy Sharoof and Ted Gaier animate in the trendy Club La Fleur on the Rue Princesse, the filmmaker Peter Ott will be confronted with the political-mystical arguments of government loyalists and (ex)rebels."