Exhibit B tackles controversial and sensitive issues; however I’d like to assure audiences that it aims to subvert and challenge racial or cultural Otherness, not to reinforce it.
Exhibit B involves performers demonstrating the brutal reality behind colonisation accompanied by text that reveals the historical context of each scenario. The piece aims to explore the relationship between Western powers and Africa, ranging from exposing the abhorrent historical attitudes to race during the colonial era to questioning how far our society has moved on by holding up a mirror to contemporary issues such as the current treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers. It provokes audiences to reflect on the historical roots of today’s prejudices and policies and how these have been shaped over centuries.
Visitors to the performance are forced to confront the reality of this dehumanizing treatment with the performers directly meeting the eye of audience members. The reaction from those who have taken part in the piece has been very positive and the company who toured the piece internationally has collected many moving testimonies from these performers. The final room of the installation contains some of these testimonies, with performers reflecting on both their involvement in the piece and providing their personal experiences of racism and prejudice they’ve experienced in their own lives.
Previous performances of Exhibit B, such as in Amsterdam, Brussels and most recently Edinburgh, have attracted a diverse and politically engaged audience and it has been seen as a watershed work that provokes discussion about racism and the historical roots of prejudices. The reception from both audiences and critics has been overwhelmingly positive with the Times, Guardian and the Evening Standard all giving the performances in Edinburgh 5-star reviews and reflecting the power of the production in confronting “the appalling realities of Europe’s colonial past” (Guardian review) while raising important contemporary questions about treatment of immigrants and the objectification of individuals.
The subjects tackled by the Exhibit B are of course hugely emotive and I would encourage you to experience the piece itself in order to fully engage with the content. As an organisation that presents an international programme to a diverse audience I can assure you that the neither the Barbican nor our partners in this project, Nitro and UK Arts International, would programme a production that promoted racism in any way.
I do hope you are able to see this important work during its London run.
Best wishes,
Toni Racklin
Head of Theatre, Barbican
A further response from our partner in presenting Exhibit B
Brett Bailey’s work focuses on human injustice and the abuse of power. It is a theme that runs through all his productions and is especially present in Exhibit B, which illustrates what happens when we objectify others, as a prerequisite of permitting atrocities.
Brett is a South African who has grown up in an environment which has repressed the majority of its people. As an artist, his impetus has been to unearth not just the injustices of apartheid, but to hold a mirror to the effects of European colonisation throughout the continent.
His work is neither sensational nor voyeuristic. It is powerful, responsible and extremely moving. The Guardian review calls it “unbearable and essential”. It is both of these things.
UK Arts International has been presenting politically engaged and culturally diverse work since 1992. Exhibit B is no exception and I sincerely hope people will leave their prejudices on one side and experience this important piece of work.
Jan Ryan
Director – UK Arts International
Response from Brett Bailey, director of Exhibit B
Nowhere do I term Exhibit B a ‘human zoo’. Exhibit B is not a piece about black histories made for white audiences. It is a piece about humanity; about a system of dehumanisation that affects everybody within society, regardless of skin colour, ethnic or cultural background, that scours the humanity from the ‘looker’ and the ‘looked at’. A system that emphasises difference rather than similarity. A system that gave birth to the hegemonic regime of separation in which I grew up, and which continues to haunt the people of my country. The kind of systems we need to guard against.
Testimonies of performers who have previously taken part in Exhibit B
Lazara Rosell Albear
(performance artist and musician, Brussels)
Performing in Exhibit B was one of, if not the most, powerful experiences of my career due to the combination of different factors. As a performer it was a big challenge to sit still for 110 minutes or more during a period of different days. This restriction may seem insurmountable but it’s overcome by the realization that your real power comes from your soul, your heart and your state of mind and the connection between them.
There is also the factor that as a black person I’m not only representing my generation but all my ancestors and their pain and struggles which we carry, by way of saying, in our genes and are still feeling today, maybe on a less violent but subtle way, but nevertheless penetratingly deep. This becomes your backbone or the armour holding you and keeping you in focus.
Erasing the distances: another important aspect is the proximity with the audience and the quasi-individual contact with them. A contact that is made through the eyes. It’s through the eyes that we perceive the world (among other senses). It was sometimes very confronting to experience some of the public reactions. But the thoughts of staying true to myself and of showing generosity and compassion and offering them a positive energy gave me strength.
They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. One really has to be honest and drop all the barriers (emotional, psychological, preconceptions, misconceptions) that block the radiance of the soul. The public should be able to perceive it too. One should become a mirror for the spectators. In a mirror you see your own reflection. We are all equal.
In the project we are playing a role but at the same time we are playing ourselves. This can be tricky, so one has to remind oneself of this fact. It was an amazing exercise. The breath, breathing deep was very helpful. It’s also the air that we breathe that connects all of us. We are all sharing the same air.
I find that Exhibit B combines performance art, the visual arts, activism and spirituality in one project and this is a combination I had never experienced before. It made me grow not only as an artist but as a person in my daily life. The piece speaks about the future as well by making the audience conscious of lost or less known episodes of our collective memory with the hope that those horrendous times will never be back.
S.R. “Kovo” N’Sondé
(historian, academic, Berlin)
The human zoos in Paris, during the 1931 colonial exhibitions still have the record attendance for a public event. Millions of persons participated in this monumental and racist “mise en scène” which aimed to support the imperial and colonialist French ideology of the time. The irony is that the remembrance of human zoos disappeared from common memory until these last years. Fortunately Didier Daeninx in literature, Abdelatif Kechiche in cinema and Brett Bailey with Exhibit B, give keys to remember and think about what happened, not only in France, but in all the occidental world. Participating in Exhibit B was for me not only a political act but also an existential experience: in the Berlin audience – mostly white and European – some persons full of culpability were trying to apologize, looking for compassion in my eyes. Some were crying, submerged in the cathartic dimension of the situation, and the beauty of the choir. Some others were still in search of alterity. Outside a Berliner activist association, black and white activists, were holding a protest against the event. There was a free debate after. I felt like an afro-punk star but I’m still happy that so many people felt concerned by such a serious matter. Anyway, there are still stolen heads of human beings in Paris, Berlin and London, so still a lot of work to do.
Veronica Booysen
(activist, social worker, originally from South Africa, now living in Ghent)
Performing in Exhibit B was a whole new confrontation with who I am as a person, my roots and my future. As I have been growing up in a protective environment, I never really felt the damage of what a system like Apartheid could cause. My parents always tried to protect us by not sending us to shops and sending us to schools where everybody was treated equally. Since I was 16 I finally entered the real world and immediately engaged myself to fight for what is right. At the moment I live in Europe and I am very much involved in local politics. I am candidate for the federal elections in Belgium.
I strongly believe that we are here to make a difference in what this shitty world can offer humanity. I was very fortunate to be chosen to be part of Exhibit B. Still think about my experience as one of the most intense experiences in my life, and I have had some intense experiences before, like living on the streets as a homeless person in Spain, being chased away with dogs and being hungry and having to beg for food. I wanted to do this to know what it is to be homeless and spit on…If I have to choose between a rich and luxurious lifestyle and a homeless and “poor” life, I choose the latter…
Cole Verhoeven (performer, activist, Amsterdam)
I was very skeptical of the work, the intention of the project and of the director for the greater part of the audition. I don’t accept any work that feels stereotypical or exploitative in any way. Often performers on stage are enjoying themselves and the experience more intensely than the audience members. This piece is about being less comfortable but giving the spectator HUGE gifts: the gift of recognition of suffering, the gift of validating as opposed to denying black experience.… I also don’t think I’ll ever be a part of something so monumental. But for all the physical discomfort, the piece gave me a real injection of power, a booster shot, and ignited even more my activist spirit.
Junadry Leocaria
(dancer, Amsterdam)
I am proud to be part of Exhibit B, because this exhibit educates people and makes then aware of a painful history. A history that not many dare to tell but needs to be told so we know our ancestors story, how they sacrificed themselves knowing that one day we will be free and honor them. I believe that Exhibit B is a healing process for the audience and for the actors because nobody walks out the exhibit untouched. It does something to you whether you like it or not.
Lucinda Sedoc
(performer, Amsterdam)
Exhibit B was more than a performance for me. It was for a few days my lifestyle. Working with Brett opened my eyes as a person. He showed us stories that need to be told, because nobody knew that they were there. I was a part of something that is not in books, maybe wasn’t even on the news but it was there, it’s all true. Being able to be a part of that was at first hard.
My story was the slave woman on the bed! At first I was mad and I hated every white man who looked me. But in due time, this hate became pride! Pride because I was not just a woman that was hurt. I was a woman who stood for something. I played a strong woman, a good wife and a good mother. People felt it, and I know this, because they were crying for me, and I would look back at them and tell them just with my eyes that it’s ok! It’s ok because they know now! It meant a lot to be a part of this project! And believe it or not, in all my theatre or stage or acting, performing Exhibit B was for me the best thing ever! I’m honoured that I was a part of this, Exhibit B is not just a performance this is life!
Gideon Everduim
(activist, performer, hiphop musician, Amsterdam)
Exhibit B is a journey not only for the ones in the installation, but also for the public, people who already knew the story of our ancestors, and people who never knew the Transatlantic slave trade story.
For them it’s a journey of emotions where you at the end will strengthen yourself, go outside and share your emotions with family and friends. Going to work will never be the same because of the obligation you feel.
Because of the awareness of past, present and future coming all together this journey as a whole did so much for me as an artis tand forme as a human being!
I truly believe that the installations definitely change people perspective on how we treat each other.
Bernadette Lusakalalu-Mieze
(nurse, Brussels)
Exhibit B has awakened me about the horrors of the past that are part of our history, not only the history of black people but of white people as well. We live with this wound, on one side those who feel victims and on the other side those who feel guilty.
Joseph Kusendila
(film maker, performer, Brussels)
Exhibit B is strength, dignity, silence but also respect, love, passing through the time. I don’t want to make a list of complaints, of stories. The only story that I have to tell is the one of History, the one that you have read.
William Mouers
(singer, Namibia)
I can honestly say that the experience has changed my life in such a meaningful way. Being from a small unknown country like Namibia, I have never felt more proud of my roots and where I’m from. Being part of the exhibition has taught me the value of friendships and what it means to be an individual coming from an oppressed past. I always thought that people from Africa had it worse than others. Although that may be true in some respects, I discovered that people from all over the world have had it bad in different situations. But it is how you as a person learnfrom that situation that counts the most. The exhibition has been a healing experience for me as well, it has taught me the value of forgiveness and what amazing bridges forgiveness can build for humanity. It provides us with a once in a lifetime chance to take hands and move towards a brighter future without allowing the past (no matter how hurtful it may be) to hold us back.
‘Exhibit B press release’ was originally written and published by the Barbican, London, 2014. Reprinted with permission from the Barbican and Brett Bailey./