It is 1969. American jazz trumpeter Don Cherry meets South African bassist Johnny Dyani in Sweden. Two years later, Cherry, Dyani and the Turkish percussionist and drummer Okay Temiz take the stage in Paris for a live performance that becomes the album Blue Lake. Charged with the spirit of improvisation, Blue Lake plays like a raw meditation—urgent, unfiltered, alive.  

Years later, the Johnny Dyani Quartet records Song for Biko in Copenhagen. It is a rallying cry for Steve Biko, the South African activist who was assassinated by the apartheid government in 1977. Cherry’s trumpet threads through the piece, accompanying it with melodic, unbound emotional resonance. 

 In the wake of the 1960s Black Civil Rights movement, the wave of African independence and the rise of Pan-African solidarity, Cherry and Dyani are intertwined through sound. Their collaboration is one of many meetings of Black life. 

 Remnants begins here. What lingers in the archive? What breaths of Black life persist in its folds? What are the aural, visual, and tactile traces that hold both beauty and tension? ​Remnants​ pulls together a poetic constellation of gestures by living and departed artists, where pasts and presents meet in chorus. 

Curated by Tawanda Appiah.

The exhibition is supported by The Aage & Johanne Louis-Hansen’s Foundation, The Augustinus Foundation, The Beckett Foundation, The Knud Højgaard Foundation, The Obel Family Foundation and New Carlsberg Foundation.

Don Cherry (1936–1995) was one of the most influential jazz musicians of the late 20th century, known for his pioneering role in free jazz. Born in Oklahoma City, USA, he was a founding member of Ornette Coleman’s groundbreaking quartet of the late 1950s. Primarily a trumpeter, he also played other instruments, blending musical genres through improvisation and a passion for non-Western traditions. Cherry lived in Sweden for many years, collaborating with his wife, the Swedish artist Moki Cherry, blending art, music, and community.  

Doug Crutchfield (1938–1989) was an American dancer and choreographer, best known for his extensive work in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Lund, Sweden, where he taught and performed for nearly 24 years. He taught at the Royal Danish Ballet School, the Copenhagen International School of Ballet, and at Lund University. His practice was rooted in classical ballet and modern dance traditions. 

Nina Cramer (1993) is an art historian and PhD candidate at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Arts and Cultural Studies​​.​​​​​ ​​H​​​er current research explores artistic practices and discourses of the African diaspora in Denmark from the 1980s to the 2020s.

Ellen Nyman (1971) is an actress, performance artist and theatre director. She is also a PhD candidate in Performing Art​​s​​ at Stockholm University of the Arts​,​ where she is​​ currently working on her research project ​​Performative ​​​S​​​​​​trategies, ​​​D​​​​​imensions of ​​​E​​​mancipation​​.     ​

Kudzanai Chiurai (1981) is an artist who lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe. He incorporates various media into his work, which ​     ​largely focuse​​s​ on cycles of political and economic inequality​     ​ and ​on ​conflict resolution in post-colonial societies. He has held numerous solo exhibitions and ​     ​participated in various group exhibitions. 

Simnikiwe Buhlungu (1995) is an artist from Johannesburg, South Africa, currently based in Amsterdam, ​​the Netherlands​​​​     ​​. Interested in ​processes of ​knowledge production​ ​—​ ​how it is produced, by whom and how it is disseminated​ ​—​ ​Buhlungu locates socio-historical and everyday phenomena by navigating these questions and their inexhaustible potential answers via research-based methodologies. Through this, she maps points of cognisance which situate various layers of awareness as reverberating​​​​ ecologies.

Wonga Mancoba (1946–2015) was a Danish-South African painter and draughtsman who lived and worked in Paris. His work brings together stories of memory, struggle, folklore​ and the complexities of modern urban life. Though distinct from the work of his parents, the sculptor Sonja Ferlov Mancoba and painter Ernest Mancoba, his practice remained in dialogue with their legacy. Through letters, public transport imagery, and advertising motifs, he created a world where past and future collide. 

Tawanda Appiah is a Zimbabwean curator, writer and researcher based in Malmö, Sweden. His research-cent​ ​red practice often revisits history to make sense of the contemporary milieu. He is the curator at Skånes Konstförening and was formerly the Curator of Education at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. Appiah has curated several exhibitions, public programs and interventions including ​FLIGHT​ (Malmö Konsthall, 2023).