King Kong Editions presents a limited edition by @willwalidfredo , curated by @lorenzoxiques .
IMPERFECT LOVERS (MANUEL CALAFATE – JOHANN HAMMES) (2025) opens a portal across time and geography—merging 19th-century Afro-Brazilian resistance with WWII dissidence in a Berlin forest. The work emerges from Fredo’s maroonage project, where they invited @beccy.korang , @softchaosssss , and alfobuenolima to perform a collective ritual of imperfect solidarity, summoning forgotten archives to resist the rising tide of authoritarianism.
King Kong Editions, a curated program by King Kong Studio, publishes limited museum-quality prints on Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta Satin 300, digitally signed and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
The edition and full interview are now available via our webshop—link in bio.
Will Fredo, “Imperfect Lovers (Manuel Calafate, Johann Hammes)”, 2025
Oil on steel machete, 10 × 3 × 60 cm
The steel machete features an oil painting of the lips of Manuel Calafate on one side and of Johann Hammes on the other. Referring to the power and danger of speaking truth to authority, the paintings are based on an archival portrait of Hammes and the lips of Bukassa Kabengele, the actor who plays Calafate in the movie “Malês”.
This sculpture is part of my work cycle “Imperfect Lovers”
More on the project:
In 1835, Afro-Brazilian Muslim abolitionist Manuel Calafate plotted the Malês revolt, the largest uprising led by enslaved people in Brazil. Though unsuccessful, many fled to Bahia’s forests to form self-governing communities known as maroon societies, palenques or quilombos. These groups which existed across Latin America often united Black, Indigenous, and at times poor white people in overcoming oppression. In “Imperfect Lovers: A Ritual for Johann Hammes” a metaphysical maroon group performs a ritual of a speculative invitation to a new member, Johann Hammes, the German metalworker and soldier who sabotaged the Third Reich. Filmed in the Murellenberg forest where Hammes was executed 80 years earlier, the performance draws on maroon concepts including camouflage, opacity, and circular time. By embodying the machete - a tool and symbol of maroonage - the performers Will Fredo, Alfonso Bueno Lima, Rebecca Pokua Korang and Tere Stout connect distinct geographies and timelines of imperfect forms of solidarity that are still taking shape across our fragmented world.
On show in “@berlinprogramforartists Exhibition 2025 – A place never fully held” at @kwinstitutefcontemporaryart (Auguststr 69) AND @kunstraummitte (Auguststr 21) until 11 Jan 2026, curated by Lara Scherrieble
Image credits: Imperfect Lovers: A Ritual for Johann Hammes, 2025, Installation View, BPA// Exhibition 2025 - A place never fully held, KW Institute for Contemporary Art and Kunst Raum Mitte, 2025. Photo: David von Becker
Thanks to everyone who came to our opening‼️
The BPA// Exhibition continues at @kwinstitutefcontemporaryart AND @kunstraummitte (Auguststr 21) until 11 Jan 2026
BPA// Exhibition 2025 – A place never fully held. Curated by Lara Scherrieble
Featuring: Umut Azad Akkel, Felisha Carenage, Will Fredo & Alfonso Bueno Lima, Rebecca Pokua Korang, Tere Stout, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, Tra My Nguyen, Stanton Taylor, Rexy Tseng, Prateek Vijan, Hana Yoo, Julija Zaharijević
Dates: 6 Dec 2025 – 11 Jan 2026
Venue: KW Institute for Contemporary Art and Kunst Raum Mitte
Address: Auguststraße 69 & 21, 10117 Berlin
El Parque Intercultural de Quetzaltenango, ubicado en una antigua zona militar en Guatemala, es hoy un espacio vivo dedicado a la memoria, la creación y la comunidad.
A través del arte contemporáneo, archivos, performances y acciones colectivas, artistas, sobrevivientes y organizaciones transforman un lugar marcado por la violencia estatal en un territorio de encuentro, reflexión y futuros más inclusivos.
Lee el texto completo de Will Furtado, editore en jefe de C&AL, en nuestra página web.
PT
O Parque Intercultural de Quetzaltenango, localizado em uma antiga zona militar na Guatemala, é hoje um espaço vivo dedicado à memória, à criação e à comunidade.
Por meio da arte contemporânea, arquivos, performances e ações coletivas, artistas, sobreviventes e organizações transformam um lugar marcado pela violência estatal em um território de encontro, reflexão e futuros mais inclusivos.
Leia o texto completo de Will Furtado, editore-chefe da C&AL, no nosso website.
Fotos 1,7: Juan Esteban Calderón
Fotos: 2,4: Isabel Mendoza Manzano
Fotos 3,4,5: Cortesia
“Meta race play and historical rescue” is an essay I wrote for the publication “Willem de Rooij - Dirk Valkenburg: A Critical Analysis of Visual Culture in the Early Modern Netherlands”. In it I compare the erotics in the Dutch painting of a plantation scene in Suriname to @isaacjulien ‘s bdsm film to argue that for racial transgression to be actually queer there must be the production of subjectivities that challenge the exact system that deemed the act a transgression in the first place.
Published by @amsterdamuniversitypress the launch happens on Thursday, 16 April 2026 at Hartwig Proxy, Amsterdam, hosted by Centraal Museum Utrecht and Hartwig Foundation.
Many thanks to @willem.de.rooij for inviting me to expand my thinking, Karwan Fatah-Black and @njh.julie for their editorial support and trust, Isaac Julien for his visuals of possibility and Ariane Cruz for her daring book “The Color of Kink”.
Link in bio to read my essay in full on my Substack
*** UPDATE *** no spots left! Please dm your email for future dates!
The world is switching from globalisation to internationalism where cultural and political power is reciprocal and multi-directional. Given this, cultural sensitivity and cultural humility can make the difference between building new alliances and othering the very people you want to connect with. In order to create alliances with people from different cultures it is essential to know how to talk and write about people and cultures that are different to ours.
In this two-session workshop we are going to analyse cases of communication and writing styles to be avoided and learn the steps to take before attempting to write about other cultures.
Moving from stereotyped analogies towards ancestral and current forms of multicultural relation building, we are going to discuss texts that employ different forms of cross-cultural communication by authors such as bell hooks, Susan Sontag, Sara Ahmed, François Vergès, Gloria Anzaldúa, Maggie Nelson, Virginie Despentes, Paul B. Preciado and Édouard Glissant.
The journey will lead to a practical exercise where each participant will write about a cross-cultural exchange from a prompt.
This workshop is aimed at professionals who intend to work internationally, and want to explore culturally aware ways of seeing and exchanging with others.
Small group, places are limited.
9 & 16 May 4-7pm CET 59-Eur- per participant
My name is Will Fredo Furtado and I’m an Afro-Indigenous non-binary artist, writer and editor with 10+ years of experience in the culture industry. Currently the Editor-in-Chief of @contemporaryand.americalatina I publish on international art and culture in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
I have given critical thinking workshops in Europe, Africa and the Americas and have taught courses with institutions such as London’s Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins, Inclusartiz Rio de Janeiro, Tasawar Tunis, Berlin’s UdK, NYU, and Berlin Biennale.
Reserve a spot on my.weezevent.com/wwto
Or link in bio
Thank You!!
Escrevi sobre a forma como artistas negres e indígenas estão renegociando a presença de suas obras no mercado de arte e as questões filosóficas que isso levanta.
Link na bio ou abaixo
/ptbr/america-latina-magazine/texts/not-for-sale-how-black-and-indigenous-artists-are-rewriting-the-rules-of-the-art-market
Escribí sobre la forma en que artistas negres e indígenas están renegociando la presencia de sus obras en el mercado del arte y las cuestiones filosóficas que esto conlleva.
Link en la bio o abajo
/es/america-latina-magazine/texts/not-for-sale-how-black-and-indigenous-artists-are-rewriting-the-rules-of-the-art-market
I wrote about the way in which black and indigenous artists are renegotiating the presence of their works in the art market and the philosophical hangovers that come with it
Link in bio or below
/en/america-latina-magazine/texts/not-for-sale-how-black-and-indigenous-artists-are-rewriting-the-rules-of-the-art-market
I made an Art Edition in collaboration with @kingkongmagazine which is now available to purchase online! Link in bio. This series consists of a high-quality print from my latest project „Imperfect Lovers“ which was born out of my long research on dissident movements in Germany and Brazil and it’s my most important work to date. This is just the start of this work cycle which I want to extend to movements in Spain in the 1930s which have been disregarded by the „reconciliación nacional“ project of forced amnesia. Purchasing my prints would support me in continuing this research and connecting it to the present.
Each work is produced as a museum-quality fine art pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag® Baryta, digitally signed by me and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity, and released in strictly limited editions.
DM for any questions you might have.
Shout out to @lorenzoxiques for the invitation
Thank you all
To launch the Art Edition I did for @kingkongmagazine Lorenzo Xiques asked me some questions. Link in bio for full interview and info on the Edition!
Thank you for the invitation @lorenzoxiques 🫶
