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Martin Wöllenstein - Flowing Upstream

Internacional

Associated Authors:

|   Martin Wöllenstein  |  

Martin Wöllenstein - Flowing Upstream

Perve Galeria is pleased to present Flowing Upstream, a special project of Martin Wöllenstein (b. 1991, Germany), on Somerset House Courtyard in London, within the framework of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair 2026, which will take place October 15th to 18th.

Developed in collaboration with Supreme Masqueraders Society (Ghana) and the Impari (Germany), and curated by Carlos Cabral Nunes, Flowing Upstream is a multidisciplinary project that explores the circulation of materials, cultural practices, and value between West Africa and Europe.

The project starts with discarded costumes from Ankos Masquerade in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana, one of the largest carnival traditions in West Africa. Every year, thousands of costumes are collectively produced for the celebrations, only to be subsequently discarded or dispersed. Wöllenstein works with these materials, transforming them into a new spatial and visual structure.

Instead of treating the costumes as historical artifacts or documents, Flowing Upstream recovered them as a living archive of collective work, memory, creativity, and cultural exchange. Disassembled and regrouped into patchwork textile structures, the costumes transform into modular architectural elements, creating an immersive environment where the boundaries between sculpture, installation, performance, and social space are continually reconfigured.

The title Flowing Upstream refers to the movement of materials against established global flows. By transporting discarded textile materials from Ghana to a European context, the project reverses the dominant direction of global waste circulation and proposes an alternative model based on transformation, collaboration, and value sharing.

Works available in the Collection

Flowing Upstream

Dates: October 15-18
Thursday, October 15th - Press and VIP preview
Friday, October 16th to Saturday, October 17th - 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Sunday, October 18th - 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Location: Court of Somerset House, Strand, London

 

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