Idle Wanderings 
A Journey through Mbombo: Dream Echoes  


What becomes possible when we rest? What do our dreams unravel? A figure in a pastel puffer suit meanders across chimerical plains, reveling in the rosebud sweetness of each inhale and the soaring wings of each exhale. In collaboration with Het HEM's artistic platform, The Couch, Metro54 hosts a video game showcase featuring the work of the artist Sondi. We are thrilled to bring you a program that merges gaming, art, live performance and a critical examination of rest and a look towards its political potential.

This evening will explore Mbombo: Dream Echoes, a video game conceptualized by artist Sondi that delves into the radical potential of rest and dreaming as forms of resistance. Set in an unfolding, vibrant dreamscape, the game raises profound questions about the potentiality of the dreamscape as a collective refuge. 

A panel discussion will take place featuring Sondi, writer and artist Marly Pierre-Louis who provided research and narrative support for the game, Thierno Deme, a programmer from Metro54. This conversation delves into the research and themes behind the game, touching on rest in capitalism, Black rest,  if rest can actually be a form of resistance and who gets to be afforded rest.

The evening concludes with a performance by Anja Ngozi, who created the soundscape for the virtual nap space environment on the website of The Couch. Let the soothing sounds transport you into the serene world of Mbombo: Dream Echoes.


Mbombo: Dream Echoes
Mbombo: Dream Echoes is a video game that challenges traditional video game conventions of productivity in exchange for reward. Instead, it favors idle wandering, playful curiosity, and deep connection. The game attempts to render Black bodies beyond extraction—with play, pleasure, and discovery as newly forged tools of liberation. Each experience and encounter in the game sheds a layer, heals a wound, and reveals wisdom and ways of knowing that were once obscured and repressed in the name of capitalism, colonialism, and slavery.

RSVP via rsvp@metro54.nl 

Date: 12 September 2024
Time: 19:00
Location: Westerdoksdijk 597
Entrance: Free