EXPO: ZWARTE IBIS - An Exploration of Black Intimacies

Over the past two years, we have embarked on a collective exploration of the complex nature of intimacy within Afo-diasporic communities across the Netherlands, taking the Amsterdam Bijlmer area as a symbolic center of Black Life.

We dared to ask ourselves and research participants what happens when we turn inward. How do we navigate intimacy and what emerges from entering into the intimate space?

The intimate space contains many interacting feelings, including vulnerability, connection, and a sense of safety. Our study of intimacy is an invitation to talk about the different layers of (colonial) trauma, anger and grief, but also joy, humor, love, need, and desire, which are all present in the collective Black experience.

Amid the white cube, in which Black* people’s exterior worlds have been exhibited, gazed at, and questioned, our Black Box installation at CBKZuidoost invites you to engage with our collected materials. Let's reflect on our personal and collective preconceptions of Black intimate life, and explore the transformative potential of the intimate space for Black communities.

*Throughout our work, Black refers not only to an assigned racial categorization, but to a negotiated identity, a politics, and a (collective) culture all at once.

INSTALLATION BijlmAIR #2023 @CBKZuidoost

As part of the AIR in Zuidoost 2023 exhibition, our installation includes a collection of research and production materials, including audio fragments of our Kitchen Table Talks (2022), collective notes from our writing recidency in CBK's studio in Heesterveeld (February 2023) and behind the scenes footages from our film shoot in the summer of 2023.

The installation is a sensory sneak preview of Zwarte Ibis the film, which will premiere on 12 and 13 January 2024.