EVENTS

Manthia Diawara

AI: African Intelligence

mumok, Vienna
12.03.2026

Édouard Glissant: one world in relation

ARTIUM museoa, Vitoria-Gasteiz
14.03.2026

E-Flyer

Presented by Manthia Diawara, together with Jürgen Bock (Maumaus/Lumiar Cité) and Sabeth Buchmann (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna)

Manthia Diawara’s essay film AI: African Intelligence explores the contact zones between African rituals of possession practised in traditional fishing villages along Senegal’s Atlantic coast and the emergence of new technologic frontiers known as artificial intelligence. Reflecting on the confluence of tradition and modernity, Diawara asks how we might move from disembodied machines towards a more humane and spiritually grounded engagement with algorithms. Could Africa be the context from which such improbable algorithms emerge? On 13 March, a workshop with Manthia Diawara and Jürgen Bock will take place at mumok cinema in the context of Sabeth Buchmann’s seminar at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

www.mumok.at




In 2009, Manthia Diawara followed Édouard Glissant with his camera during a cross-Atlantic journey from Southampton (UK) to Brooklyn, New York (USA) on the Queen Mary II. This poetic meditation continued in Martinique, the native home of Glissant. The extraordinary voyages resulted in the production of an intellectual biography in which Glissant elaborates on his theory of relation and the concept of ‘tout-monde’, chaos, violence, equality and justice. A discussion with Manthia Diawara follows the screening and forms part of the ARTIUM Study Centre Programme dedicated to the exhibition ‘Looking Through a Circle in a Circle of Looks’ curated by Catalina Lozano.

www.artium.eus



Manthia Diawara is a prolific writer and film-maker who was born in Mali, West Africa. He is a distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and Film at New York University. Selected films include: Angela Davis: A World of Greater Freedom (2023), A Letter from Yene (2022), An Opera of the World (2017), Negritude: A Dialogue between Soyinka and Senghor (2015), Maison Tropicale (2008) and Rouch in Reverse (1995). His films have been presented at festivals, biennials and a wide range of exhibition venues, including the Berlin International Film Festival, Bienal de São Paulo, Biennale de Dakar, Biennale de Lubumbashi, Centre Pompidou (Paris), documenta (Kassel), Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), Lumiar Cité (Lisbon), Museu de Serralves (Porto), HKW-Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Manifesta (Palermo), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid), Pan-African Film & TV Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), Serpentine Galleries (London) and Sharjah Biennial.

The film was commissioned by GLUON as part of S+T+ARTS, an initiative of the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme. Additional support has been provided by Portuguese Ministry of Culture / Directorate- General of the Arts and Snowball.