Diasporic Life: A Lingua Franca of Black Aliveness
“In wat van jou de mens is,
mens, ooit kronkelvrij Geweest.” —
“In that which of you is human,
human, has ever been without contortions
twists & bends.”— Edgar Cairo
Diasporic Life: A Lingua Franca of Black Aliveness is an ongoing artistic, collaborative research project that looks into the meaning, conceptualization, multiplicities and complexities of Black Aliveness across Europe. The project centers the Black imaginative world and the ways it enchants everyday Black life in Europe—beyond the shadows of violence. How do “we” keep each other alive? In what ways does Black Aliveness manifest itself in the visual and sonic cultures, Black people build for ourselves? And what methodologies, dreams and processes (re)shape the practices and daily lives of Black artists, activists and cultural workers?
Alive from June 6th – July 26th, 2025, the first iteration of this manifestation shape-shifts into a constellation of artworks, film screenings, artistic and research propositions, conversations, listening sessions, speakeasies and sonic lectures. Featuring a range of transgenerational Black diasporic artists, writers, thinkers, activists and organizers including Sonic WAVE Studio powered by Afrikadaa collective (Pascale Obolo and Flavien Louh), Sarah Maldoror, Sofia Yalla, Alexandra Mitiku, Anthony Ngoya, Barby Asante, Momtaza Mehri, Juliana Huxtable, Sorana Munsya, Norman Ajami and many more. With Diasporic Life: A Lingua Franca of Black Aliveness we aim to divulge the conversations around Black cultural production by zooming into how Black Aliveness and social life in the Diaspora(s).
This project is accompanied by I & I, which is a Speakeasy for Wayward Life. Inspired by the sonic and social rhythms of diasporic life—born in basements, living rooms and street corners from Amsterdam to Berlin, Lisbon to Brussels. I & I opens its doors each week with a broad program of listening sessions, DJ sets, readings and performances. More than just an installation, the space acts as a tribute to hidden Black spaces—where communities gather over basslines, gossip and laughter.
I & I plays with the energy of a DIY house party, the Shebeen, the Blues dance. Spaces of resistance which inspire care and celebration. A place where artists, writers and musicians come together to embody the textures of Black diasporic life.
Diasporic Life: A Lingua Franca of Black Aliveness functions as an experimental platform for (un)doing, memories, presences and togetherness for Black diasporic beings, and builds upon the manifestation Diasporic Life: Black Togetherness as a Lingua Franca, which was curated and organized by Barby Asante and Amal Alhaag in 2018-2019 at 198 in Brixton, London and Framer Framed, Amsterdam.