Chino Amobi in conversation with Kodwo Eshun, Fatima Wegmann and the CCC Students.

Zero Seasons: Eroica and The Apophatic

Chino Amobi’s science fiction narrative, “Eroica”, a thriller in the Epic tradition, situated between history and myth, unfolds as a cinematic Gesamtkunstwerk: an immersive stage comprised of graphic flags, a light display, video projections, fashion, sculptural props, an overlapping sound work and a revolving cast of live performers, with Amobi’s most recent series of paintings superimposed atop the maximalist display. In the same vein, Amobi’s series of oil-on-canvas still life paintings of exotic floral species are titled after cities where Amobi has performed: Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Tokyo, et. al. He approaches painting with the same vernacular as his music compositions, and vice versa; using sound as a means of immersing the listener into the space of an apophatic landscape, envisioning each moment in his musical arrangements as a painting. So too, his paintings frame visions of life bursting forth in a fevered neon dream with sonic vibrations: the exotic bloom a proxy for his entranced audience on the dance-floor, at the height of ecstasy, at the peak of inflorescence.

The objective of the CCC Public Seminar is to offer a transversal platform to the CCC students and to all students of HEAD as well as the general public with specific focus on debating research practices of urgent relevance for the field of contemporary art practices. The CCC Public Seminar thus shall contribute to the contemporary need to think together to think differently in times of political turbulences on planetary scale. In 2020/21, the CCC Public Seminar is conceptualized by the Theory Fiction seminar and engages with science-fiction, cosmologies, spirituality and alienation as artistic/curatorial urgencies.

Chino Amobi
Born from parents of Nigerian descent in the American south (b. 1984, Tuscaloosa, Alabama), Richmond, Virginia-based Amobi bridges the fields of contemporary art, electronic music, literature, film and fashion with experimental ease. Working across these platforms enhances the richness of each medium; indistinguishable, they dissolve together in unity.

Fatima Wegmann
Fatima Wegmann is an artist, researcher and DJ (aka ven3mo) based in Geneva. She is interested in exploring notions of transformation and enchantment through a pluridisciplinary practice intertwined with poetry, music and science fiction. This allows her to invest a space of experimentation in search of emancipatory discourses and healing processes. During her performances, she likes to create her own narratives playing with contradictions such as utopia/dystopia, science/magic, history/mythology, fantasy/reality, as vectors of interconnectivity and collective liberation of the imaginary. In 2019 she graduated from the MA Research Programme CCC (Critical, Curatorial, Cybernetic), at HEAD – Geneva.