Nduka Mntambo [KK] "Performing Dissent: Resonances of Resistance"

Nduka Mntambo [KK]

In this presentation, I offer a visual abstract tracing the emergence of a cinematic dialogue with the subversive South African playwright, painter, and performer Gamakhulu Diniso. This artistic research inquiry positions Diniso's oeuvre as a living, performative archive - a site where reenactments and video archives become vehicles for probing the contested terrains of representation. Through the lens of moving image practice, histories from the margins are brought into relief. The project traverses the boundaries of performance art, painting, and literary expression, interrupting and disrupting dominant narratives of contemporary South African identity. By straddling these disciplines, the research invites a reconsideration of the modalities of resistance, challenging the conventional frameworks through which South African cultural memory is constructed and mediated.

Bio

Nduka Mntambo is a multidisciplinary artist and academic whose work weaves together urban spatial practices, experimental filmmaking, and artistic research. His research examines the intersections between cinematic artistic practices and the lived realities of urban life within the 'global south’. Nduka is Head of the Master’s programme Artistic Research in and through Cinema at the Netherlands Film Academy.