a_GOLDEN[R]AGE…(?) a_CRUCIBLE(?): an alchemistic and slightly tongue approach to history in cheek... with what courage does one, in a_GOLDEN[R]AGE… singly ride a_GOLD[en] carriage through a_CRUCIBLE on the Plein in plain sight… (2021)
From May 2021, Bernard Akoi-Jackson was resident in the Thami Mnyele Foundation Studio in Amsterdam for a month to create work in response to the Golden Coach. In an interactive installation in the Regentenkamer, fact and fiction are intertwined and visitors can undergo an 'alchemical' transformation into gold via a short crash course in Dutch and world history.
The performance of Akoi-Jackson during the opening week of the exhibition is also part of aGOLDEN [R] AGE… (?). The film shows how the artist reenacts the route that the Golden Coach made in the the center of Amsterdam after the marriage ceremony of Willem-Alexander and Máxima on 2 February 2002. Through ritual and play, Akoi-Jackson aims to critique the mere celebratory function of the Golden Coach.
This work has been realized with thanks to the Thami Mnyele Foundation and the Thami Mnyele Residency Award.
Bernard Akoi-Jackson (Accra, Ghana 1979) researches and comments on amongst other concerns, consequences of colonialism, mainly in African contexts. His work - installations, photography, film, poetry, dance and performance - make in-depth reflections on serious issues through humour and light-hearted commentary.