Songs from a Forgotten Past, CentroCentro, Madrid, Spain: We Are Here is a series of five artists’ film programmes co-curated by Tendai John Mutambu and British Council, the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, in collaboration with LUX, an international arts agency that supports and promotes artists’ moving image practices. In the programme some of the UK’s most outstanding emerging and established artists disrupt old narratives and encourage new global discussions on topics such as climate change, national identity, marginality, intimacy, community and the future of our cities.

Songs From a Forgotten Past is one of the series in We Are Here. How can we see the world from the perspective of the marginalised and stand by them in solidarity? Can marginalisation be undermined by reframing its representations? The works in Songs From a Forgotten Past move beyond idealisation and romanticisation. Instead, they point towards the potential to write new narratives that critically recast old images, perspectives and tools of analysis. They remind us that among failed historical projects lies the potential for new visions of the future.

Ayo Akingbade, Calle 66, 2018, 13 minutes (LUX)Duncan Campbell, Arbeit, 2011, 39 minutes (LUX) Susan Hiller, The Last Silent Movie, 2007, 20 minutes, 41 segundos (British Council)John Akomfrah, The Silence, 2014, 17 minutes (British Council) Luke Fowler, Depositions, 2014, 24 minutos, 32 seconds(LUX) Samson Kambalu, I Take My Place in History, 28 seconds, I Take the Stairs to 1952, 56 seconds, Cathedral, 28 seconds, Superfly, 36 seconds, 2016 (British Council)Rehana Zaman, , I, I, I, I and I, 2013, 14 minutos, 25 seconds (LUX)

Tendai John Mutambu is a writer, curator, and film programmer currently based between Bristol and London. Recent projects include: Artist in Focus: Marwa Arsanios for Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival, UK (2019); Twenty-two hours at ICA London for the 62nd BFI London Film Festival, UK (2018); and Sriwhana Spong: A hook but no fish for Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre, NZ (2018). He has written for Runway Journal of Contemporary Art, Frieze, Ocula Magazine, the British Film Institute, LUX Moving Image, and several exhibition catalogues.