Perverse Decolonization?

New nationalisms, toxic patriotisms and systems of exclusion have been on the rise for the last decade, reinforced by technology and rooted in colonialism, slavery and class oppression. Our time offers a unique twist on these age-old structures: rhetorics of decolonization are now weaponized by autocratic regimes, just as they are normalized in the phantasmagoria of cultural practices. It is this paradoxical and entangled situation that we, perhaps somewhat emotionally, started to refer to as “perverse decolonization.” This book is the result of a (self-)critical project of discussions, workshops, exhibitions and meetings in Cologne, Poland, Israel, Hong Kong and Chicago. Its conversations and essays question the twisted and oppressive climate in a world where true decolonization has yet to begin.

This publication concludes the research and discussion project Perverse Decolonization, which has been carried out since fall 2017 by the Akademie der Künste der Welt (Academy of the Arts of the World) in cooperation with international partner institutions and thanks to the support of the German Federal Cultural Foundation (KSB).

With contributions by Avital Barak, Saddie Choua, Cosmin Costinas, Ekaterina Degot, Natasha Ginwala, Andrzej Leder, Georgy Mamedov, Walter Benn Michaels, Joanna Rajkowska, David Riff, Aneta Rostkowska, Joshua Simon, Jan Sowa, Hito Steyerl, Mark Terkessidis, Mi You

Co-Published by Archive Books / Berlin and Akademie der Künste der Welt / Köln, 2021
Edited by Ekaterina Degot, David Riff and Jan Sowa
English edition, 160 pages
ISBN: 978-3-948212-48-3
14,5 x 20,5 cm