Togo: Forging New Connections

Adama Ayikoué earned a Maîtrise in Modern Literature with a focus on theater studies, semiotics, and communication from the Université de Lomé, as well as a master’s degree in development studies with a focus on cultural heritage management from the Université Senghor in Alexandria, Egypt. He is the Director of Cultural Heritage at the Togolese Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and the Arts and teaches at various universities and institutes in Togo. In addition, he works as a culture and art critic and as an exhibition curator.

Kokou Azamede is a scholar of German language and literature and cultural studies at the Université de Lomé in Togo. He earned his doctorate at the University of Bremen and worked as a postdoctoral fellow and visiting researcher at German universities. His research focuses on transculturality, German missionary and colonial history, and German colonial photography in West Africa.

Anani Dodji Sanouvi  is a transmedia artist, dancer, researcher, and educator. He lives in Portugal and regularly works in Africa, Europe, and South America. Sanouvi explores the interactions between his Ewé epistemology and contemporary life. He holds a master’s degree in dance from Bennington College and is closely affiliated with the Graduate College at the Berlin University of the Arts. Sanouvi is the recipient of prestigious fellowships and awards.

Tété Azankpo is known for his monumental works. He creates a dialogue between cultural heritage, the social changes of the colonial era, and the ecological challenges of the present. The artist prefers to work with reused enamel bowls. Using wire, he “heals” the rifts that divide the world’s societies. He plays a central role in the contemporary Togolese art scene. His works have been exhibited in numerous African and European countries.

Verena Rodatus is a curator at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin and is responsible for the collections from West, Central, and South Africa. She is closely involved in restitution processes related to artifacts from Nigeria and Cameroon. Her research in Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Benin has resulted in two publications, including her dissertation Postcolonial Positions? The DAK’ART Biennale in the Context of the International Art World (2015) and the anthology From the Kingdom of Dahomey to the Postcolonial State: Case Studies in Benin’s Art History. From 2015 to 2021, Verena Rodatus worked as a research assistant in the Department of African Art at the Art History Institute of Freie Universität Berlin.

Gitti Salami was a professor of global art history at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, and currently serves as a volunteer at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, where she is co-curator of the exhibition *Tisser de Nouveau Liens*. She earned her Ph.D. in art history from the University of Iowa. Extensive field research in Nigeria’s Cross River region, funded by the U.S. Department of Education and numerous international fellowships, led to various publications on Yakurr culture and African festival practices, as well as to the anthology she co-edited, *A Companion to Modern African Art* (2013).