Instagram Takeover: Dr. Njoki Ngumi x The Conflictorium

Our very own Dr. Njoki Ngumi will be doing a weekend Instagram takeover over the next two days (Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd August 2020) on the page of our dear friends, the folks at the Conflictorium! The Conflictorium is a vanguard participatory museum situated in the city of Ahmedabad, India. Their work centers a deep and multidimensional understanding of conflict, and engaging culture and the arts in mapping and understanding of temporary and permanent grey areas. It asks many important questions, embracing many artistic forms (a lot like we do, as the NEST) to work through, with, and across differences, thus holding space for diverse solutions, ways of thinking and possibilities. This is increasingly important in a world where it is easier to forget nuance, erase complex realities and embrace binaries for political, economic, social and even spiritual convenience. 

We met the folks at the Conflictorium a couple of years back, in the shared context of being members of the Prince Claus Fund's Next Generation cohort of artists, artivists and cultural workers. We are real fans of the museum's founder-director, Avni Sethi, a dancer and interdisciplinary practitioner who is one of the most incredible thinkers we know, and of the scintillating, bold work she does in partnership with the whole team.

Njoki will be sharing her perspectives on how the arts can create room to honour conflict as a transformative force, thus engaging community expressions and catalysing social change, as a reflection on our collective work and practice. Catch her on the Conflictorium's Instagram account all weekend: say hi, ask her questions and hang out!