Recommendations of the Editorial team
Under the motto “Imagine Togenthernness!” In 2025 you want to bring people, ideas and visions together again in Hamburg. For this, the operators build: Inside the Reeperbahn Festival on “a curated conference program that takes up current social, political and cultural developments”. With Onejiru Arfmann, the organizers have made exactly the right handle inside. The artist and entrepreneur, born in Nairobi, has been committed to visibility, empowerment and the networking of Afrodias -Poric women for years. As the initiator of the convention, she wants to make Afrofuturistic utopias noticeable on Festival Friday, and thus begins a new chapter of the cultural dialogue.
How did the idea of the African Futuristic Convention come about?
That was a process of development and observation. As black artists, we implemented educational projects early on, as with my band Sisters Keepers. We noticed that we reach a lot of people through music and performances. But I noticed that Black Female Empowerment is only an issue if there can be tragedy, i.e. clicks. In 2021 I founded Future Female Africa, a network for Afrodias -Poric women to pass on and grow their expertise. Because African and diasporic women have the power to make great things, they are just not made visible. Our work works very well in connection with the creative industries. Last year we made an interactive convention on nutritional justice, which was very large for us, which is why I am totally happy to be represented with the other Sheros of our network at the Reeperbahn Festival.
The convention is under the “Push the Red Button -Activate Change” campaign and focuses on menstrual health and hygiene. Why?
Menstruing people are very stigmatized, especially in African countries, but here too there are no good conditions in Europe. Menstruating are discriminated against, whether on an economic, health or cultural level. In our convention, menstruation is understood as a means of social change, as a political statement that must be heard and made visible, apart from the prevailing narrative. Because we understand period as politically, creative and powerful.
What do you mean by this?
Menstruation is political because we have to bring the topic to the social agenda. It is creative because we create new approaches, for example through dance, fashion or art. And it is powerful because we enable life with it.
What opportunities does Afrofuturism offer for the future design of empowerment?
Afrofuturism enables Africa’s visions and utopias to be made possible. “Black Panther” showed this well, for example. We use Future Female Africa as an Afrofuturistic vehicle to promote the voices that are otherwise not considered. And that has worked really well so far.
The convention focuses on “Future Frequencies” – an immersive program with lectures, performances and artistic contributions. What can participants expect from a visit to you?
I don’t want to reveal too much, we have a surprise for our visitors on the day of the convention: planned inside. But the program is designed so that every person is picked up, no matter when it comes. We combine different means to deal with social change and gender, i.e. body movement, dance, music, fashion, art – all in the interdisciplinary approach. In this way, heavy topics such as menstrual health can be easily experienced. With this we want to promote dialogues, create visibility and enable new entrances. There are no solutions without dialogue. We hope that the participants will ultimately inspire and inform the room.
The African Future Convention is more than a festival format, it is a look into a possible future. If you get involved, you may not only experience an exciting program, but a utopia that is already lived in the Sheros of Future Female Africa. The Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg opens its goals from September 17th to 20th and allows visitors: Inside a diverse program of musicians: inside and performances from all over the world, workshops and panel discussions. The African Futuristic Convention will take place on September 19.