~a long read~
Goodbye 2023 love letter
We are coming close to the end of the year, and what a year it has been!
It was the transition period from previous curators Gökçe Ergör, Reem Kadhum and Cherry who have cared for Les Complices* for several years. As of this year, a new curatorial team was formed with Paloma Aayla, Engy Mohsen, tracy september, Thi My Lien Nguyen, Trinity Njume-Ebong and Kay Zhang.
This year hasn’t been the easiest, but it was definitely filled with exciting, fruitful and enriching moments. It has been an honor, sharing these moments with you. Therefore, we would like to do a recap of what we did!
To kick things off at Les Complices* along with the new team, we celebrated the Sommerfest 2023 in August over two days. The team curated, organized, but–most importantly–figured how to work together!
From that point, we began our Food Tuesdays series, taking place on the first Tuesday every month. Our first guest was Miao Zhao’s who contributed through preparing Dumplings. It was a way to have a deeper appreciation for the importance of cultural identity and the role of food within that. Our very own Thi My Lien Nguyen and Paloma Ayala created a vegan Phở which marked these events as a way to encounter our chosen community, but also to reflect and position ourselves as a curatorial team composed of women of color with diasporic backgrounds, putting our common care practices in the forefront. The most recent event was the Maqluba Gala hosted by our very own Engy Mohsen alongside Hiba. We felt that hosting this event is important at the current moment. Maqluba was the excuse for us to come together, to create space for our community, and support the Palestinian struggle for liberation. We see value in all forms of resistance and how each of us can contribute from their own position.
For our last food event this year, we will have West African food by our very own Trinity Mesimé and her dear mother Vivian. They will prepare the Cameroonian fried dough dish “Puff-Puff Pass”.
We will have the MA transdisciplinary students from ZHdK exhibitioning from December 15th - 17th in the space. The show is part of the Vessels Lab by Caro Bauer and Nicole Frei – We want to see you there!
From our team residency in October, we found ways of working and establishing our political positioning. We were able to go through the wishes from the Jonathan Lorand’s Wishing Space that was held during the Sommerfest and come up with our next year's programme! For the upcoming year, we have a special line up of events and an exhibition. A little teaser… it’s about LOVE. Additionally, we’ll host small events and gatherings around the theme!
We were very happy to participate at this years VOLUMES event, celebrating and bringing back Komplizines!
We were also very delighted to host Erotica Poetry by María Elisa Chavarrea Chim who is a Mayan poet, teacher and speaker from the Yucatán peninsula, Mexico and Frau Diamanda who presented their work on Travesti speculations and writings on the run.
Last but not least, a big thank you to you, for the immense support and a special shout out to our current members! If you are interested in becoming a member (and supporting us ;-)) ☞please sign up here.
You can always check our website for latest updates and news about our events and we’ll keep sending you love letters with all needed information about upcoming happenings. See you soon at LC*!
We warmly hold you
Take care of each other
Be kind and stay safe
With love,
Paloma, My Lien, tracy, Engy, Trinity and Kay
