The Current IV: Caribbean
Convening #2 "…telling of oceanic transformations"
January 10 – January 11, 2025

Design: Pardo
Flotation #2; Bocas del Toro, Panama, June 30–July 7, 2024; The Current IV Caribbean: “otras montañas, las que andan sueltas bajo el agua” (other mountains, adrift beneath the waves), Curated by Yina Jiménez Suriel (2023–2025). Photo: Nadia Huggins
TBA21–Academy
Research
Programming

EN/ES

CONVENING #2


A two-day multidisciplinary festival curated by Yina Jiménez Suriel, Curatorial Fellow of The Current IV: Caribbean: "otras montañas, las que andan sueltas bajo el agua" [other mountains, adrift beneath the waves].

“The festival Convening #2: … telling of oceanic transformations begins in the geological system of the Blue Mountains because they witness both the oceanic perspective of the region and some of the emancipatory processes of the human species that have made it their home, as is the case of the Marronage through the Cuna Cuna Pass, one of the most important trails for that process to take place in the island.”

—Yina Jiménez Suriel
Inspired by the continuous movement of the tides and the Earth’s crust and reflecting on improvisation~freestyle as a practice related to the experience of Marronage, the festival invites us to challenge a land-based understanding of the Caribbean from an oceanic perspective. 

The festival presents an extensive program of activities that are free and open to the public of all ages, including workshops, roundtable conversations, a hiking trip to the Blue Mountains, film screenings, and other activities that explore the links between art, gastronomy, geology, and biology. Establishing a dialogue between local, regional, and international practices, the program of Convening #2 on January 10–11, 2025, in Port Antonio, Jamaica, will showcase the Jamaican cultural and artistic ecosystem, including Annie Paul, Oneika Russell, and Ina Vandebroek, together with a diverse lineup of international guests, such as Nohora Arrieta Fernández, Monique Johnson, Tessa Mars, and Yewande Yoyo Odunubi. 

The practice of convening—coming together—is one of the most essential methods of opening up the research of The Current to a broad audience. This Convening is the second public moment of gathering of TBA21–Academy's curatorial fellowship program The Current IV Caribbean: otras montañas, las que andan sueltas bajo el agua [other mountains, adrift beneath the waves] led by Dominican curator Yina Jiménez Suriel and represents a return to Jamaica after ten years of TBA21's collaboration with the Alligator Head Foundation, as well as the tenth anniversary of The Current program itself.
CURATOR
Yina Jiménez Suriel
 
LOCATION
Alligator Head Foundation, Portland, Jamaica
 
PARTICIPANTS
Nohora Arrieta Fernández, Monique Johnson, Tessa Mars, Annie Paul, Oneika Russell, Ina Vandebroek, Yewande Yoyo Odunubi
 
ABOUT THE CURRENT IV
The Current IV: Caribbean: "otras montañas, las que andan sueltas bajo el agua" (other mountains, adrift beneath the waves)

Curated by Yina Jiménez Suriel, The Current IV, 2023–2025, intends to contribute to the emancipatory processes in the region that have sought to bring its inhabitants closer to the Ocean and that began in the high mountains above sea level. The project will focus on identifying, studying, and spreading the knowledge of the aesthetic strategies and tools generated from the Maroon experience in the Caribbean through the production of aesthetic thought, based on the premise that this approach will bring us closer to inhabiting the mountains that are below the level of the Caribbean Sea, as they were aesthetic practices that sought to reconcile the human body with the constant movement — the Ocean.
 
ABOUT ALLIGATOR HEAD FOUNDATION
Alligator Head Foundation is a Jamaican-based project focusing on the intersection of science, art, and community. It is dedicated to supporting cultural production and commissioning projects that raise ecological, economic, and social issues to the general public and the local community.