In Curaçao’s Karnaval, King Momo, a corpulent figure of collective catharsis, embodies cyclical truth: temporary structures recur, endings contain beginnings. Death is transition; ancestors remain active participants. Past and present interpenetrate.
For Kevin Osepa, the Belly of Momo is both subject and strategy. A porous philosophy mirroring Buro Stedelijk itself. Both are interiors of becoming: places for showing up together, for experimentation, for holding chaos as sacred. The belly holds contradictions without demanding resolution: mourning and joy coexist, carrying ancestral resonance.
The power of the stomach as a muscular site of opacity. Eating soup together becomes a methodology. Communication beyond words, communion without explanation. This is sensory knowing, embodied encounter, wisdom passed between bodies in shared space. Maternal knowledge challenges myths of solitary genius, insisting on art as relational practice, as care work.
Collaborations are crucial: sound artist Rozaly, multidisciplinary artist Lakisha Apostel, and many others are part of this work. While bearing Osepa’s name, his mother’s presence, her image, thought, touch and practice, is woven throughout.
