The contemplation of time can be thought of as a dance that fast- forwards and rewinds physical memory, thus enabling a turnaround and a return, an assurance of words and sounds, a re- sensing of loneliness or solidarity, of energy, sweat, images, gestures and bodies. James Gregory Atkinson’s artistic practice emerges through time-based media and considerations arising from his involvement with film, photography, performance, dance and music, in the production of his own images and the examination of external images appropriated as objets trouvés.

In his first institutional solo exhibition, Atkinson illuminates a neglected part of African-American–German history on personal, social and political levels. Along with his specially produced video 6 Friedberg-Chicago, which was filmed in the former US Army base in Friedberg, Atkinson presents a non-linear archive of texts, images, objects, multi-media sources and eye-witness accounts relating to Black soldiers in Germany and their children born here. The archive was developed in collaboration with the art historian Mearg Negusse and the sociologist and political scientist Eric Otieno, and enables a different reading of history that allows users their own interpretations in the sense of a ‘counter-memory’ (Hal Foster).

Curated by Rebekka Seubert, the exhibition was on view until March 13 at Dortmunder Kunstverein.