EMERGENCIA The Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar presents an installation in Umeå Stadsbibliotek downtown. A large pool filled with black water holds the African continent, which slowly rises up from the water only to sink again and disappear into the dark. In connection with the installation Emergencia Bildmuseet has produced a book with the same name. Eighteen of the most noticed writers from Africa has been invited to reflect over the future and living conditions of the continent.
The authors are: José Eduardo Agualusa, Ama Ata Aidoo, Mia Couto, Achmat Dangor, Aly Diallo, Gaston-Paul Effa, Nawal El Saadawi, Buchi Emecheta, Nuruddin Farah, Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo, Antjie Krog, Marlene van Niekerk, Pepetela, Christiane Ramanantsoa, Jean-Marie Vianney Rurangwa, Aminata Sow Fall, Véronique Tadjo and Yvonne Vera.
WAITING, Jaar's portrait of refugees on the border of Rwanda and Zaire, a giant photograph spotlighted in a dark room, is made to look like a frozen scene in a film. A scene where the audience gets involved as a viewer from the other side of the border.
EPILOGUE is a three minute long sequence without sound. The film begins all white and a portrait of a refugee emerges slowly and then again slowly fades away.
