Alienation

↑ — Robert Ssempijja

People United Magazin

The project Alienation takes you on a journey of self-discovery of what a home is and where we belong. It reflects on knowledge about oneself through the lens of colonialism and decolonisation. It questions the paths that have been chosen and what has been taken for granted.

The piece investigates the colonial foundations which underpinned the architecture of Kampala City and its contemporary impacts. As a young child, Robert used to know this city inside out. This was home, this was where he belonged, and this was his world. The older he got the more questions he had. But the answers never seemed to fully add up to any logic. The more questions he had the less he could feel connected to the city. The streets had names which he couldn’t relate to. The neighbourhoods were divided by the size of the wallet and henceoften also by the colour of skin. The weight of the city’s colonialyears and the people’s endurance formed by its structural design hadstarted to build up. A weight that every new generation will have tobear, whether they know it or not. A question started to crystallise:“How can we expect to grow and thrive as a city and as people when thefoundation we have was neither built nor meant for us?”

Robert Ssempijja

Robert Ssempijja is a Ugandan contemporary artist and dance researcher with a career in formal and informal dance settings as well as a person who works in the era of post colonialism and decolonisation, and travels between the worlds to find a way to build a sustainable scene for contemporary dance in Uganda. Since he has practiced his art in three different continents with different companies, projects and choreographers such as Christoh Winkler (Germany), Nora Chipaumire (New York/Zimbabwe), Qudus Onikeku (Nigeria), Patrick Acogny (France/Senegal) and many more he can develop new aesthetics and forms of art.

Robert is also curious about how the body creates and transfers information as well as secrets into movement which build up the body’s own vocabulary. He assumes that our bodies are comprised of information archives which are activated when it comes to movement. In his interesting creations of art, he uses a combination of Ugandan traditional dance, breakdance and techniques of contemporary dance.

Concept & Performance

Robert Ssempijja

Set Design

Robert Ssempijja Joseph Tebandekel

Music

Öz Kaveller

Costume

IGC fashion

Directed by

Director Teflon

Is playfulness important in creation?

Sometimes it can be a source for creativity to flow.

What are you struggling with in life? And which one was your most important one?

My past and my childhood. Sometimes I still feel like it’s hurtingme.

Can art exist without pain or is it a form of coping mechanism for you?

It is a form of coping mechanism, but it doesn’t exclude me fromcreating when I’m happy.

Is art work or your work art?

My work is art.

Do you think you could stop making art?

It’s like telling me to stop breathing.

When mixing all kinds of art forms—where do you locate the body in your work?

Is the body the fundament of all or is it the surface of projectionthat makes intellectual processes visible? It’s the fundament of all,because the body is an archive.

Are you a body or do you have it? Body over mind or mind over body?

If the mind has understood it then the body just conceives it. Butwhen the body leads, the mind can follow to new heights.

Do you think that the spheres female and male are still relevant categories that we humans need to define society?

I think so, especially in the society I grew up in.

In nature the spheres male and female are already vanishing, getting distinct. How do you define (your) gender fluidity?

I don’t have gender fluidity. Although I’m comfortable enough inmy masculinity to also embrace my femininity.

The art world is still a male dominated sphere that acts in patriarchal hierarchies. What is your experience with that?

It’s very hard to find female choreographers to work with. In Ugandawe don’t have many women practicing dance. In my experiencemost projects are dominated by men, but who usually fall shortin comparison to those actually doing the work. But in terms ofprestige and power the role of leading is never shared.

When working on a new project—does it originate in your mind or body?

Both.

What do you see when you close your eyes?

I see trees in a forest. It makes me calm.

Where do you feel connection? In your body, mind, heart, head?

In my soul.

Do you feel closer to people when making art with them?

If it gets me more time to know them better.

Is your art like an intimate partner or is it a process you birthed?

It believe it’s a process.

Do you feel or produce art?

I feel.

When do you feel lonely?

Every day when my wife isn’t by my side.

When do you feel powerful?

When I’m creating and when my wife is with me.

Do you feel powerful by yourself or within your community

Both.

Is art necessary?

No doubt.

What makes you happy?

Creating art and my wife.

Were you born an artist or merged into one? Are you an artist?

I was just born. Who am I to put a stamp on myself?

Is art your answer to the world or to yourself?

Both.

Where do you carry your feelings?

Sometimes in my art.

Can you let go of emotions when you processed them through art?

The political ones I can’t.

What makes you stop in your tracks?

The state of the world makes me lose motivation and I don’t wantto carry on sometimes.

And what gets you going again?

When I see something good happening around the world.

Are you an idealist or realist?

Depends on my mood.

What opens your heart?

Love and nature.

Is your mind ever quiet?

Not even when I’m sleeping.

Do you experience moments or are you the moment?

I experience moments.

Breathe in—breathe out. What’s your first thought now?

Relaxed.

How is your relationship with money?

Progressing.

Are you producing your own art?

Yes.

How is your relationship with the performance art market?

I’m learning.

How is your relationship with nature?

I believe in nature.

Do you believe in society?

Yes.

Do you believe in politics?

Never.

Your politics of intimacy?

I’m here.

How is your relationship with mortality?

I believe in reincarnation.

How is your relationship with death?

Without death, no life.

Your own death?

When it comes, I’ll be ready.

Somebody else’s death?

It’s part of nature. If it happens, it happens.

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People United Magazin

Gefördert vom Fonds Darstellende Künste aus Mitteln der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien im Rahmen von NEUSTART KULTUR