Cameroon’s Bonaventure Ndikung is Sonsbeek 2020 director

The decision to elect Ndikung as director for the exhibition was unanimous.

“The selection committee was very impressed with Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung’s proposal for Sonsbeek 2020," said Charles Esche, a member of the international selection committee.

"Ndikung is already known for his innovative, conceptually strong and convincing curatorial practice. He has a proven track record of exhibition making with SAVVY Contemporary, as well as his crucial contribution to the recent documenta 14 in Kassel and Athens.

"Ndikung often takes a surprising approach to curating, incorporating sound, performative and discursive frames into his projects. What makes his work special is that he does not approach an exhibition scientifically but much more as poetry and rhyme. He compares his working method as a curator to a musical jam session.

"Thus his interest in the sonic as memory, knowledge, a story—both about the past and the present. He wants to make the exhibition experience tangible through space, rhythm, movement and words: a visit as choreography. The board looks forward to what promises to be an exciting Sonsbeek 2020 that does justice to the rich and significant history of the exhibition.”

Ndikung said the exhibition would be "a choreography of sonic movements" and a significant part of his work at the coming exhibition will "engage with an expanded and augmented musicality that invites and encourages different modes of listening". A source told Music In Africa that a number of songs, including the Hugh Masekela classic 'Stimela (Coaltrain)', will serve as entry points to the exhibition.

Long a music enthusiast, Ndikung has been involved in projects involving an exploration of the form. He contributed to the documenta 14 radio station's Everytime A Ear Di Soun and was featured on the Radio as a Cultural Hub project. He is currently a guest professor for curatorial studies and sound art at the Städelschule in Frankfurt, Germany.

Ndikung's appointment puts him in a position occupied in the past by Wim Beeren, Saskia Bos and Valery Smith. In 2001, the late Belgian curator, Jan Hoet, was named artistic director. He was followed by Anna Tilroe in 2008. Ruangrupa succeeded Tilroe in 2016. A change in the calendar since that edition has seen Sonsbeek turn to a quadrennial event.