Produced and curated by The Institute for Hybrid Cultures, Contemporary Ritual was a commissioned live performance presented within Africa Basel 2026 in Basel.

The work explored and recontextualised traditional feminine rituals: the intimate, sacred ceremonies and thresholds women navigate in preparing for marriage. It was co-created and performed by Valerie Asiimwe Amani, whose practice moves across performative video, text, textile and installation. Amani is one of four artists representing Tanzania at the 61st International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia (2026), in the national pavilion Minor Frequencies: The Inner Life of a Nation.

The performance sits directly on TIHC's mandate: activating space, bridging cultural heritage and producing dialogue through live collaborative research rather than display.

• Curation & production — Dillon Jerry Mugume, Director, TIHC
• Performed & co-created — Valerie Asiimwe Amani
• Presented within — Africa Basel, 2026 edition

As an official sponsor of Africa Basel 2026, The Institute for Hybrid Cultures (TIHC) supports the fair’s Conversations platform, championing critical discourse, material heritage, and non-extractive design futures across the edition.

TIHC’s engagement across the programme encompassed live activations—including the production of Contemporary Ritual—alongside lead contributions to the fair’s panel schedule, highlighted by After Production: From Ancestral Craft to Post-Industrial Fashion.

Moderated by Seiko Mbako, the session brought TIHC Director Dillon Jerry Mugume alongside designer Rafael Kouto and Perry Oosting, CEO of Vlisco. Together, they interrogated how cultural knowledge, sustainability, and ancestral craft can forge new innovation paradigms beyond extractive, linear production models.