Philosophies of Colour Indexing

Join us as we explore the intricate and often misunderstood concept of colour indexing – the practice of categorising people based on physical appearance. This radio program delves into the historical development and implications of race theory, tracing its origins from ancient cultural categorizations to its promotion during the 18th and 19th centuries by figures like Carl Linnaeus and Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. We examine how these classifications, rooted in pseudoscience, have shaped societal perceptions and created psychological barriers.

Through this thought-provoking discussion, we challenge listeners to reconsider the conditioned mindsets that perpetuate divisiveness and inequality. By understanding the nature of perception and the symbolic use of language, we reveal how conflating physical attributes with psychological traits has distorted our view of reality. Tune in to gain insights into how recognizing race as a social construct can help dismantle exclusionary philosophies and foster a more interconnected and interdependent human society.

This is event is one of the sonic contributions to the SOUNDING LABO*R – part of our current exhibition LABO*R. AN INVITATION TO ACTION… A BASIS FOR HOPE. It is a sculpture, a listening station, a sonic space with filled with sound by Jasmina Al-Qaisi, SAVVY Kwata (Kerala), Emmanuel Tanka Fonta, Pisitakun Kuantalaeng, Manuela Garcia Aldana. Lovingly designed and created by Santiago Doljanin and Ola Zielińska. 

Narrowcasting (meaning live onsite in the SAVVY space) takes place on Fridays from 16:00–18:00 & broadcasting on Sundays at 17:00 on SAVVYZΛΛR, streamed online and on Berlin 88.4 FM & Potsdam 90.7 FM.

TANKA FONTA is a visual artist, poet/writer, composer, and philosopher whose works document the variegated expressivity of human consciousness and its expressions beyond the written and spoken word, philosophies and psychology of visual phenomenology, the expressive psychologies of thought, epistemologies of perceptions of intangible and tangible expressions, and the physics of mind and colours. His work also documents the evocative languages of mind, evolving ecologies of thought in its materialised and precipitated forms in mythopoetic narratives, embedded organic thought dictionaries from deep-time, and the evolutionary biographies and historicity of humanity and the visual and sonic imprints of thought on the nature of reality and actuality in the everyday living experiences of humanity. Fonta was born in Cameroon; he lives and works in Berlin.