C& Magazine Special Edition: Detroit

<p>How do we give shape to the many connections we have as part of a global diaspora? How do we create our own language? What are our shared histories and do we remember them the same way? Does someone from Detroit define herself as part of a Black Diaspora with the same implicitness as someone from Berlin? Where does Afro-German identification with Black America fit in here? And what about allyship?</p> <p>Last year in December, five young writers from the US and four young writers from Germany got together at room project in Detroit. During a three-day workshop they asked themselves and each other these questions: What do we share? And where are we completely different? Tutored by Taylor Aldridge, the founder of Arts.Black magazine, and given input by Legacy Russell, curator at Studio Museum Harlem, the group dug deep. The three days were a rare moment in which a young generation of African American and Afro-German cultural producers came together to create a space where the coherences as well as differences of Black history and present-day life in Germany and the US were acknowledged, shared, and reflected.</p> <p>The result of this encounter is the current issue you are holding in your hands. After the C& Special Print Issue #Nairobi, this edition is the second issue with content mainly by young arts writers. The result is a print issue that brings together eleven amazing voices tackling the above questions through very different approaches: from interviewing older-generation artists such as Carl Nielbock and Ransome Stanley to underlining that generation’s importance in art history through short biographical notes on late artists, such as Mildred Thompson, Oliver Harrington, and Ben Patterson. From biographical and poetic pieces to discussing the intersection of art and technology and reflecting on US-American pop culture as an important reference point – yet one which will never be fully comprehensible without an American cultural background. As a senior writer and thinker, Legacy Russell brings all these strings together by contemplating on what a Black archive actually is. We are very impressed and inspired by the contributions for this C& Special Print Issue, which was made possible within the framework of the German campaign Wunderbar Together – The Year of German-American Friendship. Wunderbar Together is initiated by the German Federal Foreign Office, implemented by the Goethe-Institut and supported by the Federation of German Industries (BDI). This campaign works to highlight the decades-spanning foundation of common values, interests, and goals between the two countries. Now, have a look and enjoy delving into the reflections of this very special encounter.</p>