C/O Berlin is delighted to announce that the 2024 C/O Berlin Talent Award in the category Artist goes to Silvia Rosi (1992, IT). The brilliant piece of work entitled ‘Protektorat’ will be on display in a solo exhibition from 1 February through 16 May 2025 at C/O Berlin in Amerika Haus in Hardenbergstraße 22–24, 10623 Berlin.
Also on the shortlist in 2024 are the artists Salih Basheer (*1995, SDN), Hiê` n Hoàng (*1990, VNM), Sheida Soleimani (*1990, USA) as well as Yao Yuan (*1988, CHN).
The 2024 C/O Berlin Talent Award in the category ‘Theorist’ goes to curator and author Katrin Bauer (*1992, GER), who will write the first art historical essay on the winning project. The essay, together with an interview with Silvia Rosi, will be part of an artist monograph appearing at Spector Books for C/O Berlin to accompany the artist’s solo show.
Italian artist Silvia Rosi examines her Togolese heritage in ‘Protektorat’ while shedding light on systems of communication and notation in colonial and hegemonial structures of power. Beginning with archival material from the national archives of Togo, she highlights the extensive spread of Western systems during the colonial occupation of Togo by the German Reich, and by British and French forces.
The story in ‘Protektorat’ is told by means of multiple visual forms and on several sensory levels: still and moving images accompanied by sound enable the viewer to see and hear how local languages, traditions, and visual culture became overwritten and repressed under colonialism. The protagonist of these works is always Rosi herself, allowing her to effectively embed her personal experiences within the collective storyline.
Rosi’s complex approach of exploring the documentary side of photography in postcolonial discourse using varied and innovative methods convinced the jury unanimously.
Since 2018, the C/O Berlin Talent Award has been themed upon ‘New Documentary Strategies’. The aim is to support and encourage a critical approach to traditional documentary narratives and visualizing it in the form of exhibitions and publications. C/O Berlin is the only institution in Europe to offer a funding program aimed at the next generation of artists and theorists.