The Norval Foundation presents Grada Kilomba living installation “A World of Illusions” in its Cape Town, South Africa spaces through January 9, 2023.
Using performance, music and dynamic set design, Grada Kilomba creates unprecedented idyllic images to explore issues of race, orientation and personality.
Following the 32nd Sao Paolo Biennale, the tenth Berlin Biennale and the Palais de Tokyo in 2021, this is the first time that “A World of Illusions” will be presented on the African continent.
The artist Grada Kilomba fundamentally reconsiders the old Greek legends that are usually presented to us as global, and transmits new narratives. She arranges the characters of Narcissus and Echo, Oedipus and Antigone, combining performance, theater, movement and music, giving body, voice and structure to her own basic composition.
Drawing on African oral practices, Grada Kilomba assumes the role of the contemporary griot, a narrator who allows exemplary stories to speak directly to current issues centered on politics.