Migrants Day is dedicated to the theme of Afrofuturism as a political and cultural movement, and also deals with the issue of the current refugee crisis.
This multi-day cultural and artistic programme explores one of the three main themes of the European Capital of Culture programme – migrations, and a special emphasis is placed on the Global South and the subject of race. Migrants Day presents Afrofuturism as a cultural and political movement which has the most populous global diaspora – that of Africa – as its focus. The history and roots of the Afro-American community were systematically eradicated from white, slave-owning consciousness, and what began as the abduction of people from Africa between the 15th and 19th centuries, has developed into a post-colonial way of considering the modern world. Afrofuturism represents the need of the communityto build myths about the origin, to reclaim its stolen past and reshape its future, and to be inspired by science fiction, music and technology.
The Afro-American arts collective Black Quantum Futurism (US) comprised of activists Rasheedah Phillips andCamae Ayewa presents an audio-visual performance. Camea Ayewa is known to the wider audience as the experimental musician and poet Moor Mother, and presents herself to Rijeka’s public with a musical performance dedicated to Afrofuturism.
With the setting up of a permanent installation in the centre of the city, the Azerbaijani artist from Paris Babi Badalovdeals with the subject of the recent refugee crisis, whilst Italian theorist and activist Franco Bifo Berardi gives a poetic performance about the tragedy of the “holocaust in the Mediterranean” in the context of Europe and its values, and there is also a discussion with Slovenian philosopher Gal Kirn.