Not a straight line – post B.C.

A pure coincidence. An opportunity to reflect, again. A virtual line, an explanation to be found in history books discloses the connection between the toponym of a Berlin street in the Wedding district and an art exhibition on the other side of the city, in Neukölln. These two areas share today also similar patterns in terms of urban development and challenges: they both register a high rate of immigrants and naturalized Germans and are experiencing a relatively fast process of gentrification. Maybe a Togostraße, my current domicile, or a so-called „African district“ exists in other European countries. Certainly in those with a past as colonizing powers. Indeed, here another coincidence: in such an area I used to live in Rome as well. Libya, Eritrea and Ethiopia instead of Togo, Namibia or Cameroon but still same dynamics between intruders and locals. With this set of thoughts in mind, on a gloomy and cold Saturday afternoon of end January 2015, I made my way to the Savvy Contemporary e.V., a laboratory of form-ideas which aims at fostering the dialogue between „western art“ and „non-western art“.