we are going to mars

a choreographic concert

Commissioned Work for Company Christoph Winkler
A series of abstract animations based on motion capture data.

The choreographic concert We Are Going to Mars expands on two earlier video works of the same name by Company Christoph Winkler, which premiered online in November 2021.

In a hybrid of video, dance, and music, the artists explore the forgotten history of the first African space program in Zambia and its reception over the last fifty years. At the same time, they draw a bridge to the visionary work of Afro-American musician Sun Ra, who, in the 1960s, coined the legendary credo: "Space is the Place."

Now, for the first time, Company Christoph Winkler performs the specially composed soundtrack live. The band Mourning [A] BLKstar revisits and reinterprets elements of the story in a richly textured sonic landscape. Within this associative sound space, the dancers introduce their own choreographic miniatures. Together with the music, these physical gestures form a free, collage-like narrative about the longing of the “Afronauts” for Mars—and all that the Red Planet might symbolically represent.

The story behind it is as unusual as it is powerful:

In 1960, Edward Mukuka Nkoloso founded the Zambia National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy, aiming to create an independent African space program and enter the global space race between the USA and the Soviet Union. On a remote farm, Nkoloso and his “Afronauts” trained using handmade equipment. They built a rocket—the D-Kalu 1—intended for launch on October 24, 1964. The planned pilot was 17-year-old Matha Mwambwa, the only woman on the team.

International media treated the project as a curiosity, dismissing it as fantastical or absurd. But a decade ago, a resurfaced video of their training triggered a global reassessment. Whether the project was a genuine scientific effort, a satirical critique of Western imperialism, or even a covert training ground for independence fighters remains unresolved.

What is certain: the term Afronauts has since become a powerful symbol of Black self-determination, imagination, and resistance—qualities clearly visible in the archival footage from the 1960s, and resonant in the artistic reinterpretation presented in We Are Going to Mars.

text by Company Christoph Winkler

A production by Company Christoph Winkler in co-production with Sophiensaele. Funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe and by the Performing Arts Fund of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

CREDITS

Concept

Christoph Winkler with:

Lois Alexander, Symara Johnson

Bria Bacon, Oluwafemi Israel Adebajo

Ridwan Rasheed

Music

Mourning [ta] Blkstar

Costume

Marie Akoury

3d Animation

Martin Boettger | Studio.TS