Artists from Cameroon work together with local actors from Decolonize Cologne in Cologne to performatively trace traces of the colonial past in Cologne’s Südstadt district. Decolonize Cologne ‘s decolonial district tours combine ritual performance, sacred dances, songs of freedom, spaces of reincarnation and healing. Discourse is combined with happening.
“A post-colonial perspective means showing that colonialism had a global impact and thus also had a lasting influence on German society and coexistence here and is not only to be located in the supposed periphery. It means showing that today’s global inequalities, mechanisms of domination and oppression have emerged historically and have developed over a long period of time. We find many of these traces in our everyday lives and cityscapes, which are both visible and invisible at the same time: Street names, monuments, businesses or exhibitions.” Decolonize Cologne
In Dschang in western Cameroon, the choreographer, performer and dancer Zora Snake and the artists from Modaperf (Mouvements, Danses & Performances) Toutou Ditchou and Larissa Ebong are researching colonial traces in public space in order to make these traces visible. In Cologne, for example, Gustav-Nachtigal-Straße in the so-called Africa Quarter, named after a colonial perpetrator, bears witness to the colonial past.
Under the artistic direction of Zora Snake and in cooperation with Decolonize Cologne and the Rauten-strauch-Museum – Kulturen der Welt, the Cameroonian artists are now dedicating themselves to a collective search for traces in Cologne and making them tangible for the audience. Different perspectives, research and mediation approaches come together and the collaboration itself becomes a decolonial practice, also with regard to transcontinental relationships of trust.
Zora Snake himself will dedicate a main focus to the colonial traces in Dschang at the international Modaperf Biennale in Cameroon from November 26-30, 2025 under the motto “Promoting Unity”. This is a reminder of those forgotten in the anti-colonial struggles in Cameroon. He also plans to involve German actors in this.
Decolonize Cologne was founded in Cologne in 2018 by three historians. In colonial-critical district tours and lectures, Merle Bode, Linda Jalloh and Azziza B. Malanda talk about Germany’s colonial past and its continuities. Decolonize Cologne is the winner of the Cologne Culture Prize 2021 in the “Young Initiatives 2021” category.
Decolonize Cologne takes a different perspective and brings to the fore what was not covered in our school textbooks, for example: History(ies) of anti-colonial resistance, the influence of colonialism on Western knowledge, making women visible as actors and perspectives of Black and People of Color who came to Germany as colonial migrants, for example: “It’s not just about social structures that have an economic, political and cultural impact, but also about ourselves: What stories and connections do we have to colonialism, what images/ideas did we grow up with, what roles did our families play? We position ourselves in relation to colonial history and its traces in the present, because we also represent (sometimes unconsciously) social power structures and are shaped by them: This means that in our team we speak from racism-critical Black German as well as critical white German perspectives. We are academics and consider an intersectional-feminist analysis that takes a critical look at gender and class relations to be important.” www.decolonize-cologne.de / @decolonizecologne
Zora Snake is a choreographer, performer, dancer, founder of the Zora Snake Company and the international Modaperf Festival in Cameroon. He was born in western Cameroon and grew up in the big cities of Douala and Yaundé, close to civil society, which marked the beginning of his dance career. From hip-hop dances to contemporary creations, Zora Snake has attracted attention at numerous urban dance competitions and was invited to the École des Sables with Germaine Acogny in 2014. Zora Snake transforms the public space into an art school where his work as a creator, choreographer and performer in his country Cameroon resonates in Africa, Europe and the world, pushing the boundaries of freedom of expression. His artistic vocabulary also extends to theaters, museums, galleries, street and indoor festivals, forging links between the visible and the invisible. A way of transforming the sacred in man through his remarkable ritual performances. His work, both poetic and political, is nourished by the connection to the ancestors and the cosmogonies of resistance, a legacy of today’s communities for our future generations. He has won numerous awards and collaborated with renowned choreographers, including Serge Aimé Coulibaly, Fabrice Murgia and Amanda Pina. He has been invited to the Sens Interdits Festival, the Cité Internationale des Arts, the Palais de Tokyo, the Humboldt Forum Berlin and the Center Pompidou Paris, among others. He gives workshops in Africa and Europe and is a trainer at Charleroi Danse in Brussels. His production Shadow Survivors was premiered in Nancy. He is currently working on his new production Le Combat des Lianes at the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles.
Toutou Ditchou | Toutou le conteur (The Storyteller), born in Bangangté, is a Cameroonian artist who worked as a storyteller at the University of Dschang while studying oral literature at the Département d’Etudes Africaines up to his doctorate. Together with street children in Bafoussam and in collaboration with various orphanages, he has developed numerous performances for public spaces that combine song, dance and fairy tales. Toutou opened the MODAPERF 2023 International Biennale with his latest creation Masquisard.
Larissa Ebong, born in 2001 in Bertoua / Cameroon is an uncompromising dancer and performer who has been shaking up the landscape of performance art in Cameroon since her first official appearances. Ebong has performed on the most important stages in Cameroon and beyond, including at the Modaperf Biennale, the international festival de performance KIN’ACT in Kanshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo or as part of the Rencontres Internationales d’Art Contemporain in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
ARTISTIC DIRECTION & PERFORMANCE Zora Snake | PERFORMER:INSIDE Toutou Ditchou, Larissa Ebong | CONCEPT district tour Decolonize Cologne | TECHNOLOGY Sam Misse | PRODUCTION africologne & Compagnie Zora Snake | SUPPORT FASO DANSE THEATRE (Paris) | COOPERATION Decolonize Cologne / Merle Bode, Linda Jalloh, Azziza B. Malanda; Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Cultures of the World Cologne; Initiativkreis Erinnerungsort Afrika-Viertel Köln-Nippes