Opera Village Africa

The opera village from an aerial perspective

Next to the school are the houses for the teachers

The Opera Village Africa is a partially realized project of an intercultural place in Burkina Faso , which is being built 30 km northeast of the capital Ouagadougou . The patron is the Federal President a. D. of the Federal Republic of Germany Horst Köhler . The idea of the opera village goes back to the artist, theater and filmmaker Christoph Schlingensief .

background

Behind the idea is the film and theater director Christoph Schlingensief , initiator and visionary of the “Opera for Africa” project. With the construction of the Opera Village, the artist wanted to fulfill his wish for a place for intercultural and international encounters. A place where people of different origins can express themselves creatively and artistically and exchange ideas with one another about creativity. With the opera village, Schlingensief also wanted to change the view of the stereotypical image of starving children and suffering people in Africa that prevails in the western world. That is why the opera village should develop into a platform that initiates a post-colonial discourse, with which new and differentiated images of Africa can emerge. Schlingensief envisaged three pillars for the opera village, each of which was supposed to support education, health and culture. Since the foundation stone was laid in spring 2010, the first two pillars have been implemented with the construction of the school and an infirmary. Half a year after laying the foundation stone, Schlingensief succumbed to cancer. His wife Aino Laberenz took over the management of the Festspielhaus Afrika non-profit GmbH . Burkinabians and Germans sit on the advisory board. a. Amelie Deuflhard , Peter Raue , Matthias Lilienthal , Claudia Kaloff and Antje Vollmer .

concept

Artistic concept

The Africa Opera Village sees itself as a global art project with the vision of bringing art back to the heart of life. The term “ opera ” stands for a unifying art form that creates emotional, political and society-changing qualities. The Africa Opera Village is intended to stimulate awareness of the different cultures and, as a feedback, the European-influenced access to art through learning from other cultures is to be expanded and made more direct. Schlingensief himself wanted the concept of art to be redefined: “I urge all of us to throw our ideas about art overboard and invest in the wealth of such a place. We'll start with school. She should be the center. What an art when children and young people who can attend a class let us share in their knowledge! What a party when they take their own pictures, build instruments, write stories, start bands. And what an opera when a newborn child screams in the infirmary we want to build. "

The artistic projects of the Opera Village Africa are created by the people who are committed to the Opera Village and develop them further in the process. As a joint project, it is promoted with the people living there, depending on their needs and possibilities, new constellations arise, the Opera Village Africa becomes an independent organism. The model of the snail shell was formed as a symbolic image. It stands for the slow growth of a large organism that takes an open path that cannot be determined in advance. Even in the development phase, the Africa Opera Village offered a space in which cultural encounters, workshops and exchanges could take place and where they can continue to develop today.

Architecture concept

Kéré's special roof construction technology allows the air to circulate

Diébédo Francis Kéré , the architect of the opera village, and Christoph Schlingensief agreed on the central questions that should accompany the construction of the opera village: What do the local people expect and need? What building materials is there?

Francis Kéré brings together his knowledge from Europe with his knowledge of the circumstances and the people in Burkina Faso and trains the local workforce with the help of his employees so that they can deal independently with the resources that are available. Kéré has rehabilitated the use of natural materials such as clay , sand and stone on site and combines the traditional building methods of his country with new ecological and sustainable concepts. There is an abundance of clay, but for a long time it was considered a "poor building material" and not suitable for building. People know from experience that an earth building usually does not survive a rainy season . That is why they strive for expensive building materials that are difficult to handle on site, such as cement . Kéré has now developed a technique to mix the clay in such a way that it can withstand the rain - with minimal use of electricity and water and only about 8 percent cement. These adobe bricks can be produced locally despite the lack of electricity and water. In this way, the people on site can set up the projects independently and then maintain and repair them. During the construction of the infirmary, for example, more than 100 workers from the region were employed and trained in carpentry, lock work and masonry in cooperation with Grünhelme eV . In this way, an organically functioning opera village with a self-sufficient ecological system is to be created that ensures sustainable management of natural resources. Francis Kéré designed special building modules for the Africa Opera Village, according to local possibilities and needs, which guarantee long-term and versatile use. Its air conditioning creates a constant, comfortable temperature without electricity, by designing the buildings so that windows and courtyards with the effect of supply and exhaust air become a natural cooling system.

With the support of numerous sponsors and friends from Europe and Burkina Faso, these modules are now gradually being built by the local workers and located in the form of a constantly growing snail shell around the central square, where the festival hall and festival area will one day be. In order to facilitate the progress of the construction work and to organize it better, Christoph Schlingensief and Francis Kéré with their team from Europe and Burkina Faso divided the construction of the opera village into three phases.

Construction phases

First construction phase (realized)

First the modules were built that create the most important prerequisites for training and the independent discovery of one's own possibilities. In October 2011, less than a year and a half after the foundation stone was laid, the elementary school began operations. Around 300 children are taught here, in classes of 50 children each, which is well below the average for a normal Burkinabe school. In addition to the usual subjects, emphasis is placed on the children's cinematic, musical and performing creativity. A sound studio and a film projection room are available for the children. According to UNESCO , the learning outcomes of the Opera Village Primary School are well above the national average. The absenteeism is also significantly lower. The Ministry of Education repeatedly emphasizes the exemplary character of the school model for the Burkinabe education system. The first construction phase comprised a total of 16 buildings, including residential complexes for the teachers, workshops and a canteen. The canteen is run by the mothers of the students and takes care of the 300 or so children and most of the construction workers. The focus is not only that the children get enough to eat, but also that food can be taken home when needed.

Second construction phase (realized)

The infirmary

The second construction phase began in April 2012 with the construction of the infirmary. The infirmary was completed in April 2014, and the second construction phase was completed with the official opening on June 7, 2014. The infirmary includes an ambulance, a pharmacy, a dental clinic and a maternity ward. In order to adapt the infirmary to the needs of the local people in advance, a cooperation was established between Operndorf and the University of Witten / Herdecke, which analyzed the local needs by means of two research trips. On the basis of the research carried out by the University of Witten / Herdecke , an infirmary was created that meets the international standards of the WHO . The infirmary provides an initial point of contact for around 5000 people and takes the pressure off the district hospital four kilometers away. The new building will especially benefit women. If they had to give birth at home beforehand, medical care and initial medical care for the newborns is guaranteed in the infirmary. In contrast to many other aid projects, this clinic is looked after by Burkinabe doctors and financed by the Burkinabe government as part of the sustainable and holistic approach of the project. During the opening ceremony, the infirmary therefore became the responsibility of the State of Burkina Faso.

Background to the infirmary
Like the other buildings in the opera village, the infirmary was designed by the Burkinabe architect Francis Kéré. The award-winning architect (including Aga Khan Award winner) created a spatial separation between health and illness. As is customary in Burkina Faso, in the event of illness the whole family moves into quarters and takes care of and cooks for the sick family member. For this purpose, partially roofed and green inner courtyards were installed in the building. Together with the windows, these allow the building to breathe. Francis Kérés building uses the effect of the exhaust and supply air for a natural cooling system. Cool, pre-filtered air flows into the building via two inner courtyards, while the smaller inner courtyards with openings upwards create a chimney effect and remove hot air.

As with the other buildings in the Opera Village, the main building material for the infirmary is clay, which was made into bricks on site. Old trees were also integrated into the planning and construction. These were supplemented by trees that were planted on the occasion of the topping-out ceremony as a symbol of community between the opera village and the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. More than 100 workers from the region were employed during the ten-month construction work. In cooperation with Grünhelme eV these were trained in the trades of carpentry, locksmith work and masonry. So that the opera village can be self-sufficient in the long term, an alternative energy supply by means of a solar system is being planned for the hospital ward.

Third construction phase (in planning)

The focus of the third construction phase is the construction of a cultural meeting place (festival hall) in the middle of the site, this forms the heart of the project. The Africa Opera Village is conceived as a place that unites art and life. The 'Festspielhaus' is therefore designed as a multifunctional building that is both a place for gatherings and art, but can also serve as a marketplace or school auditorium.

Projects

Events

Since October 2012 a monthly cultural program has been taking place in the Opera Village Africa. The program includes theater performances, concerts, workshops and film screenings. In addition, the opera village of Africa appears time and again in the (inter) national art and culture scene.

German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2011

At the 54th international art exhibition in Venice, the German pavilion showed a solo presentation by Christoph Schlingensief. His plans for the opera village Africa were displayed in the left wing. The pavilion was awarded the Golden Lion for the best national contribution. There was also a panel discussion about the opera village on the u. a. Aino Laberenz , Francis Kéré and Chris Dercon attended. The latter named the Opera Village Africa in an interview (January 2012) as currently the most exciting museum in the world. In the future, museums would also be art schools and centers of social activities.

Documentation crackling time

Crackling Time is a documentary film by Sibylle Dahrendorf about the opera village Africa. For the documentary, the filmmaker accompanied the project from May 2009 to October 2011. The film shows Schlingensief's search for a suitable place, which he first looked for in Cameroon and finally decided on Burkina Faso, how the opera village is starting to grow and, like in 2011, the elementary school is opened. At the same time, Dahrendorf documents the development of how the Operndorf project is becoming less and less anti-Bayreuth and more and more concrete help. Sibylle Dahrendorf accompanied Schlingensief, who was already suffering from cancer, up close and showed his vision and his tireless efforts to create the project. With Schlingensief's death in August 2010, the film loses its protagonist, but with the Opera Village his dream lives on. Crackle of Time came to theaters in June 2012. The Süddeutsche Zeitung praised the crackling of the time as a "great homage to this great lost art village savage" and the time described "a feeling that never leaves you once you have come into contact with the artistic nature of Schlingensief."

Photo workshop "Take a picture"

In January 2013, the photographer Marie Köhler traveled to the Opera Village Africa for four months to offer a workshop for children in collaboration with photographers from Ouagadougou. The aim of the photography project was to open an artistic dialogue. For this purpose, the children of the opera village were given their own cameras. Because of the high temperatures, it was only possible to work with analog cameras, so it was also possible for the children to take pictures twice. Children documented their daily environment in over 15,000 photos and documented their natural everyday life without any prejudice. The results were published in an illustrated book Mach dir ein Bild in cooperation with the Kettler publishing house. The results also resulted in the photo exhibition of the same name, which could be seen in the Opera Village Africa, as well as in the Goethe Institute in Burkina Faso, in Berlin and at various art and cultural events such as the Kontakt Festival in Bamberg or at the Millerntor Gallery in Hamburg.

Donation auction "Auction 3000"

To support and support the opera village Africa, the opera village team around Aino Laberenz organized the charity donation auction "Auction 3000" on March 8, 2012. 84 works donated by prominent artists and galleries were auctioned in the Berlin National Gallery at Hamburger Bahnhof . The auction was moderated by the art patron Peter Raue and musically accompanied by the singer Patti Smith . The highest price at the auction was a work by Sigmar Polke at 66,000 euros . An original Schlingensief costume from the Vienna Burgtheater brought in 20,000 euros, as did a door plaque that Patti Smith had dedicated to her close friend Schlingensief. The campaign raised more than one million euros. The money secured the continuation of the project.

Visit of the patron Horst Köhler

Since the beginning of the project, Federal President a. D. of the Federal Republic of Germany Horst Köhler Patron of the Opera Village Africa. In May 2012 he visited the Opera Village Africa for the first time and inaugurated the soccer field, which was then completed.
During the Africa Days of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Horst Köhler also spoke about the Opera Village. In this context he also expressed his wishes for the opera village: “What I wish for: that we recognize the kink in western optics. Let us feel insecure. Don't make your own yardstick the measure of all things. Learn to understand Africa from its context. Let the irritation and friction that this creates become a productive force. And listen. Listen again and again. "

Festival au Désert

In autumn 2013 the Festival au Désert took place in the opera village . The annual event is considered one of the most important and largest cultural events in West Africa. Radio Eins described the festival as a kind of “Woodstock Malis”. Because of the politically unstable situation in Mali , the Opera Village invited the 2013 festival to its site in Burkina Faso. This ensured the existence of the Festival au Désert. In addition, the opera village organized the cultural exchange and brought the Festival au Désert to Berlin in January 2014. From January 8th to 10th, the desert festival was held outside West Africa for the first time. Events took place in the Volksbühne Berlin , in the Academy of Arts in Berlin and in the Babylon cinema .