What are the processes of creation, writing, and research deployed by artists? Is it possible to conceive a genealogy by mapping the operative concepts, processes, and methodologies explored?
For one evening, artist Natacha Nisic shares the fruits of her work in progress through a selection of archival documents,films, drawings, and photographs.
In front of the Humboldt Forum’s imposing glass entrance in Berlin, Natacha Nisic accompanies a delegation from Hawaii and a German shaman, Andrea Kalff, who have come to demand the return of the goddess Kihawahine. Half-woman,half-serpent, she once resided in the ponds surrounding the historic town of Lahaina, which was completely destroyed by wildfire in 2023. The circumstances surrounding her arrival in Germany are the subject of varying accounts: a physician who arrived in 1887 to treat leprosy reportedly seized more than 500 ritual objects from the island. By stepping into the museum in this manner, we open the door to a multitude of narratives stemming from this spoliation. The project LAULIMA, Thousand Hands aims to create the conditions for a polyphony of voices, chants, stories, and gestures,bringing into stark relief the loss of culture and identity suffered by the Hawaiian community.
“This theatre of memory, as I envision it, extends far beyond the borders of the Pacific. Like a wave, it serves as a conduit for destinies, generations, and a world where living beings—human and non-human—meet, converse, and listen to one another. For it is about transcending catastrophe and tragedy, working from within, pulling at the threads of suffering, and laying it bare to better tame it. Will the goddess Kihawahine answer this call?” — Natacha Nisic
An artist and filmmaker, Natacha Nisic explores the relationship between images, ritual, and memory across their historical and individual implications. Her work questions the nature of images and narratives through diverse media,including Super 8, 16 mm, video, photography, and drawing. She examines the representation of extreme violence,notably in the publication Les fumées – Carnets d’un génocide, Rwanda 1994 – France 2018 (Creaphis, 2023). Her recent exhibitions include the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the Centre Pompidou, and Bienalsur in Argentina. For Arte’s La Lucarne, she directed Andrea’s Sky (Le Ciel d’Andrea, 2013) as well as Plutôt Mourir que Mourir (2014), centered on the First World War and art historian Aby Warburg. In 2021, she was awarded the Hans und Lea Grundig Prize for founding the Crown Letter collective, dedicated to the international visibility of women artists. She is a former fellow of Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto and Villa Medici in Rome
