Synthetic Geographies.

Show or exhibition


Piper, K. 2004. Synthetic Geographies. Der Black Atlantic, Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt, Berlin, Germany.
Title of workSynthetic Geographies.
CreatorsPiper, K.
Description

‘Synthetic Geographies' was a series of site-specific installations that were commissioned as part of the project Der Black Atlantic' at the Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt, Berlin. Der Black Atlantic was an exhibition and German language publication exploring notions of diasporic exchange generated from Professor Paul Gilroy's book The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double-Consciousness, 1992, in relation to developing pan-European black presences.
‘Synthetic Geographies' was based on research into the historical location of the Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt in the Tiergarten as part of the greater cityscape of Berlin and as a metaphor for interrogating the broader theme of imperial expansion, using the Berlin Conference of 1885 as a pivotal moment. The resultant mixed-media installation employed multi-screen video projection and tent manufacturing material to echo the original use of the site dating from 1745 as the ‘Zeltenplatz' or ‘place of the marquees'.
One installation of the series was developed in collaboration with Professor Tina Campt, author of Other Germans: Black Germans and the Politics of Race, Gender and Memory in the Third Reich (Michigan 2005) and the Berlin based historian Nicola Laure al-Samarai. This was thematically based on the oral histories of three Afro-Germans who lived through the Third Reich. An English language version of this piece subsequently toured to the John Hope Franklin Center, Duke University, Durham NC, (November/December 2005) and was a key element of the conference ‘Gendering Diaspora and Race-ing the Transnational', at Duke University in November 2005.
Der Black Atlantic was accompanied by a publication [ISBN 3-9808851-5-1], to which Piper contributed a series of eleven artists' pages exploring the digital animation/photo sequence Go West Young Man, together with a set of nine double-page visual collages, which explored Black Atlantic exchange, transformation and retention through cultural and narrative artefacts.

Output mediaCD-ROM
Research GroupDiasporas
Exhibition titleSynthetic Geographies.
First publicly available date
Print12 Aug 2004
Publication process dates
Deposited13 Nov 2008
LanguageEnglish
Permalink -

https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/80xyz

  • 61
    total views
  • 0
    total downloads
  • 1
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Music devised for the film Viva Voce by Keith Piper
Piper, K. and Spinks, T. 2024. Music devised for the film Viva Voce by Keith Piper. London, UK Tate Britain.
A Ship Called Jesus Redux
Piper, K. 2021. A Ship Called Jesus Redux.
Outside Narration
Piper, K. 2021. Outside Narration. Gallery 8. Graves Art Gallery 03 Sep 2021 - 31 Dec 2022
Jet Black Futures II
Piper, K. 2022. Jet Black Futures II. The New Art Gallery Walsall 14 Jan - 24 Apr 2022
Jet Black Futures (Monograph)
Piper, K., Dalal-Clayton, A. and Robinson, D. 2022. Jet Black Futures (Monograph). UK New Art Gallery Walsall.
Unearthing the Banker's Bones: notes on tricksters and robots
Piper, K. 2017. Unearthing the Banker's Bones: notes on tricksters and robots.
Code/Code II
Piper, K. 2015. Code/Code II.
Robot Bodies
Piper, K. 2015. Robot Bodies.
Keith Piper: Body politics. Work from 1982 - 2007
Piper, K. 2019. Keith Piper: Body politics. Work from 1982 - 2007. Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, UK 10 Oct - 01 Dec 2019
Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 [Selectors]
Drew, B., Moran, K. and Piper, K. 2018. Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 [Selectors]. Liverpool School of Art & Design 14 Jul - 09 Sep 2018
An Artist’s Story [object and video work in a group exhibition "Speech Acts"]
Piper, K. 2018. An Artist’s Story [object and video work in a group exhibition "Speech Acts"].
Rites of return politics of memory and diaspora
Piper, K., Kempadoo, R. and de Miranda, M. 2016. Rites of return politics of memory and diaspora. Rites of Return Politics of Memory and Diaspora - Talk. Hangar, Lisbon, Portugal 30 Sep 2016
Artistic strategies from the 1980s and beyond: Keith Piper
Piper, K. 2017. Artistic strategies from the 1980s and beyond: Keith Piper. Artistic Strategies from the 1980s and Beyond: Keith Piper. Tate Modern, London 07 Mar 2017
Special relationships: debates about black art in America impacted a later generation of black British artists
Piper, K. 2017. Special relationships: debates about black art in America impacted a later generation of black British artists. Apollo: The International Art Magazine. Oct 17, pp. 118-119.
Jet Black Futures I
Piper, K. 2017. Jet Black Futures I. Beaconsfield Gallery, Vauxhall 20 Sep - 29 Oct 2017
Installation work in 'Hope is Strong' exhibition
Piper, K. 2018. Installation work in 'Hope is Strong' exhibition. Millennium Gallery, Sheffield 17 Feb - 10 Jun 2018
Unearthing the bankers bones
Piper, K. 2016. Unearthing the bankers bones. Bluecoat Liverpool 28 Oct 2016 - 22 Jan 2017
Getting into character: encounters with 'tricksterism' in contemporary depictions of the American slave plantation
Piper, K. 2013. Getting into character: encounters with 'tricksterism' in contemporary depictions of the American slave plantation. Art Across the Black Diaspora: Visualizing Slavery in America. Rothermere American Institute and the Art History Department, University of Oxford 24 Jul 2013
The Blk Art Group research project 2012
Piper, K., Smith, M. and Johnson, C. 2012. The Blk Art Group research project 2012. Keith Piper.
A short sprint
Piper, K. A short sprint. Lake gallery, Birmingham 03 - 17 Aug 2012
Donald Rodney in retrospect
Piper, K. 2008. Donald Rodney in retrospect.
A future museum of the present
Piper, K. 2010. A future museum of the present.
Forest fields
Piper, K. 2008. Forest fields.
Lost Vitrines.
Piper, K. 2007. Lost Vitrines. Victoria and Albert Museum. 2007
Crusade.
Piper, K. 2004. Crusade. Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis, USA, 2004.
The Mechanoid's Bloodline/Robot Bodies III.
Piper, K. 2001. The Mechanoid's Bloodline/Robot Bodies III. Regina Gouger Miller Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA. Apr 2001