Bernard Akoi-Jackson

1922 Revisited: Live Arts Program Presented by @thirdspaceartfoundation In collaboration with @ecc_italy and @aavf Program Curator: @janinesytsma Curatorial Producer: @lehuntnouveau Program partners: @fca_ghana @NEWMEDIA @uarkart @uark.arthistory @ccalagos @theafricacenter Venice Biennale | May 5–9 Thursday, May 7 Kayeyei: Archive embodied Victoria-Idongesit Udondian with Bernard Akoi-Jackson and the debut of Edikan Lo Verde Kayeyei: Archive embodied is a durational performance in which bodies become living repositories of history, labor, and global circulation. Performers continuously layer secondhand garments onto themselves, inspecting, tagging, and wearing each piece as if cataloguing an archive. As the layers accumulate, movement becomes restricted, identities obscured, and the body strained under the weight of material histories embedded in the clothes. 📷: @francescabottazzin_ph Follow for more reflections on 1922 Revisited and announcements about future programs Additional information on the foundation and programs → #1922Revisited #VeniceBiennale @vickolors @benjoonam

AFRICAN ART IN VENICE FORUM Finally, finally, God has done it🔥🔥!!! blaxTARLINES KUMASI, has done it again, repping LIVE @venice.art.biennale exhibiting fascinating artwork which has deeper meaning and connections attached 🎉 #blaxtarlinesKumasi #knustmuseum #knustgh #compoundhousegallery #redclaytamale

A walking Art at the Otumfuo Art Awards 👑 #theasantenation

1922 Revisited: Live Arts Program Presented by @thirdspaceartfoundation In collaboration with @aavf and @ecc_italy Program Curator: @janinesytsma Curatorial Producer: @lehuntnouveau Program partners: @fca_ghana @NEWMEDIA @uarkart @uark.arthistory @ccalagos @theafricacenter Venice Biennale | May 5–9 Tuesday, May 5 Openings and Meanderings: Supplications for More Accessible Futures Bernard-Akoi Jackson in the stead of Jelili Atiku 📷: @francescabottazzin_ph @lordkubolsstudio Follow @thirdspaceartfoundation for more reflections on 1922 Revisited and announcements about future programs Additional information on the foundation and programs → #1922revisited #venicebiennale @benjoonam @blaxtarlines @janinesytsma

Concept sketches for SLOW DOWN: C̶A̶T̶T̶L̶E̶ BATTLE AHEAD, 2026 blaxTARLINES @ Biennale Arte 2026 by Koyo Kouoh blaxTARLINES CURATORIAL TEAM: Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh @iubizzle , George Buma Ampratwum @georgebuma , Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu (Castro) @kwakukissiedu , Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson @tracynkthompson , Bernard Akoi-Jackson @benjoonam , Ibrahim Mahama @ibrahimmahama3 , kąrî’kạchä seid'ou. Curatorial Advisory: Edwin Kwesi Bodjawah @papaedwino , Rosemary Esinam Damalie @esinam_damalie , Dorothy Amenuke @dotamenuke , Michael Adashie, Kwame Opoku Bonsu, Eyram Donkor, Kwabena Afriyie Poku, Adjo Daiki Apodey Kisser @mooncrittersprogramme_ , Yaw Mantey Jectey-Nyarko, Felix Annor-Anim, Emmanuel Antwi. Sketches by Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson Produced with the support of Teiger Foundation @teigerfoundation , in partnership with American Friends of Zeitz MOCAA, APALAZZOGALLERY @apalazzogallery , Mercedes Vilardell, Archive Books @archivebkj , Compound House Gallery @compoundhousegallery , VODO Arts Society @vodoarts , UNDER GROUND Kampala @underground8808 , SCCA Tamale @sccatamale , Red Clay @redclay_studio , and Lara Facco P&C @larafacco_press . #blaxtarlines #blaxtarlineskumasi #BiennaleArte2026 #InMinorKeys

❖𝗔𝗿𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 Our next AnTC session promises many a golden nugget. Come, let us gather around Bernard Akoi-Jackson (@benjoonam )’s practice with a screening of the film, ‘…shika faaη bulemɔ’. Our conversation will be moderated by Lizz Johnson (@el.tayo_ofosuah ). SWIPE to view the synopsis. Bernard Akoi-Jackson (PhD), is a contemporary Ghanaian artist writer, curator and educator who lives and works from Tema/Accra/Kumasi or any place in the world that loosely falls within his post-studio praxis. His multi-disciplinary, audience-implicating installations and performative pseudo-rituals, have featured in exhibitions across the world. Akoi-Jackson has co-curated exhibitions with blaxTARLINES KUMASI. He holds a PhD in Painting and Sculpture from the College of Art and Built Environment, (KNUST), Kumasi, where he also lectures with particular interests in disruption and the revolutionary potential in contemporary art practice.  Within his works, a plurality of the senses is engaged, initiating processes of action and reflexion with a penchant for the disruptive. __ Art and Thought Conversations is organised by FCA-Ghana, Fihankra Review and TheStudioAccra. 1⃞ Poster | Art and Thought Conversations with Bernard Akoi-Jackson & Lizz Johnson | Design by J.R.T. Menson & Abbey IT-A. 2⃞ Synopsis | ‘…deliberately walking the coasts of Gold in G O L D and on our Gold…‘ | Art and Thought Conversations 2026. 3⃞ BTS shot, ‘…shika faaη bulemɔ’ (2024). Courtesy of Bernard Akoi-Jackson.

A few shots from the illuminating panel, Traditions Today: Performing and Processing Toward a Holistic History at the African Art in Venice Forum on Tuesday! @aavf @ebuhlanti_republik @homannla @amapleleafonthewind @wuraogunji @ruby_onyinyechi_draws @benjoonam Evoking In Minor Keys’s considerations of “procession,” what does it mean to make and innovate so-called “traditional” art practices, like West African urban masquerades, in a contemporary environment? How do performance artists allow us to empathize and embody experiences of epistemic repair? Considered together, masquerade and performance art practices offer us paths for seeing how “classical” and “contemporary” art are not separate realms but can be considered part of a continuously evolving field. Presented by African Art Dialogues with the National Museum of African Art Smithsonian Moderator:Khanyisile Mbongwa, Curator of Art in the Public Realm at Amos Rex - curatorial theorist, sociologist, and Sangoma (ancestral-indigenous healer), (South Africa) In conversation with: Hervé Youmbi, New African Masquerades artist/curator (Cameroon) *Amanda Maples, Lisa Homann, and Jordan Fenton (New African Masquerades curators) (USA) David Sanou and Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa (New African Masquerades artists) * (Burkina Faso and Nigeria) Wura-Natasha Ogunji, artist (US-Nigeria; 1922 Revisited: Live Arts Program Participant) ruby onyinyechi amanze, artist (Nigeria-US; 1922 Revisited: Live Arts Program Participant) Bernard Akoi-Jackson, artist, writer (Ghana; 1922 Revisited: Live Arts Program Participant) Photo credit: @lordkubolsstudio

Bernard Akoi-Jackson’s Openings and meanderings: supplications for more accessible futures is presented in the stead of Jelili Atiku’s Eyes No Dey Forget Wetin Heart See. Atiku's work features a mystical figure embodying the earth’s energy, embarking on a ‘Luminous Pilgrimage,’ a deliberate, trance-like journey that weaves through urban landscapes, integrating Orisha rituals with psychogeography and dérive. This immersive experience invites the audience to embody their true selves, confront societal expectations, and tap into the magic within and around them. Through this ritualistic dérive, participants are encouraged to surrender to the city’s rhythms, sensing the emotional resonance of spaces, and allowing the environment to shape their inner landscapes. The performance promotes self-discovery, transformation, and profound connection, addressing cultural identity fragmentation, reclamation, and restitution. Drawing from African art and epistemologies, Eyes No Dey Forget Wetin Heart See reframes the gaze, reimagines narratives, and reclaims silenced voices. It’s an act of historical reclamation, seeking to liberate African art from colonial contexts. By embracing radical and mystical presence, the performance transcends the ordinary, tapping into the mysterious, and finding meaning in the unseen. The Luminous Pilgrimage is a site of resistance, where participants confront dominant narratives, and reclaim their stories. It’s a journey into the heart of the unknown, where the raw essence of being is revealed, and profound connections are forged. @ecc_italy @aavforum @theafricacenter @fca_ghana @ccalagos @NEWMEDIA @uarkart @blaxtarlines

1922 Revisited: Live Arts Program unfolds across Venice as a series of live performances, a screening, and a panel discussion staged at Hotel Monaco, the European Cultural Centre’s Marinaressa Gardens, and other sites throughout the city. Next: Bernard Akoi-Jackson’s Untitled: Flaggings IN MEMORIAM in the BLUES on some CUES and when WAX ain’t so LOST (a sketchy score for some processional gestures and an eventual celebratory discussion) The work unfolds as a series of performative interventions manifest as processional gestures, fictive liturgical invocations, leading eventually to a day of collective re-membering (a gathering). These actions hinge tangentially on observations made from the contemporary public sphere, but are also somehow inspired by visual, textual, and gestural vocabularies culled from a variety of sources. Some of the registers may be recognized as codified vestiges from antiquity, whilst others also emerge spontaneously from present experience(s). The entire experience comprises the employment of strategies of communal/participatory activation of shared public and private spaces. The interventions present over three seasons or sessions: a libation-[al] season involves the pseudo-ritual preparation and cleansing of sites identified and designated for the hoisting of flags and standards; a habit-[ual] season refers to the actual hoisting of flags and indigo-dyed standards at the designated sites; an agyina[-al] season where a collective remembering is acknowledged through discussion and the invocation of an almost eucharistic finale. @ecc_italy @ccalagos @NEWMEDIA @aavf @uarkart @fca_ghana @theafricacenter @blaxtarlines

Getting ready for Bernard Akoi-Jackson's Untitled: Flaggings IN MEMORIAM in the BLUES on some CUES and when WAX ain’t so LOST (a sketchy score for some processional gestures and an eventual celebratory discussion)! @ecc_italy @NEWMEDIA @ccalagos @uark.arthistory @fca_ghana @ccalagos @theafricacenter @aavforum @blaxtarlines #1922revisited When: Saturday, May 9, 12pm Where: European Cultural Centre’s Giardini Marinaressa Looking forward to seeing you there!

Meet the 1922 Revisited Artists! First up: Bernard Akoi-Jackson Bernard Akoi-Jackson is an artist and writer whose performance-based practice employs “disturbed methodologies,” a critical framework that interrogates postcolonial and decolonial conditions. Trained in painting and sculpture at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, he expanded his practice to performance and object-oriented, participatory installations in 2003. In 2007 he began the REDTAPEONBOTTLENECK project, a multidisciplinary participatory work that blends humor and pseudo-ritual as part of a decolonial critique. This and subsequent performances, presented in exhibitions such as An Age of Our Own Making (Reflection II), Roskilde, Denmark; Silence Between the Lines, Kumasi, Ghana; Material Effects, East Lansing, USA; WATA don PASS: Looking West, Lagos, Nigeria, and Malmö, Sweden; and Time, Trade and Travel, Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Accra, Ghana, create spaces for collective inquiry and reflection on the absurdities in colonial bureaucracy and cultural regulation. Akoi-Jackson is also featured in the invitational exhibition in this year’s edition of La Biennale de Venezia as a member of blaxTARLINES Kumasi collective based in the Department of Painting and Sculpture, College of Art and Built Environment, KNUST, Kumasi. @blaxtarlines Follow for more artist features Venice Biennale | May 5–9 Full program →