“We should flatly refuse the situation to which the Western countries wish to condemn us. Colonialism and imperialism have not paid their score when they withdraw their flags and their police forces from our territories.” (Frantz Fanon, ‘Concerning Violence’, page 101)

The anti-colonial struggles in and of different geographies are not events from the past, but an ongoing reality – especially in the Global South. We, therefore, choose to look at “neocolonialism” through studying and encountering different art works, together with theoretical texts and writing pieces from artists and theorists who tackle, debate and critique their colonized realities via film. This course is planned to be an open dialogue (via public screenings) and close look (in the block seminars) at different audiovisual material where transnational solidarity and resistance are portrayed.

In an accompanying text for Philip Rizk's piece Terrible Sounds at the 35th São Paulo Biennial, the artist asks the questions: “How would I move to the sounds of colonialism? How would I move to the sounds of neo-colonialism? But most important of all, how would I move to the sounds of neither?”. Inspired by Rizk's questioning, and expanding them taking into account the different material we will be in contact with, we also ask: how do we encounter images and sounds of either and still move beyond neither? Philip Rizk is planned to be a guest artist in this seminar.