THE ILLICIT GIN INSTITUTE ASSEMBLIES
Zina Saro-Wiwa has been working with local palm wine spirit from Ogoniland since 2013 when she moved back to the Niger Delta to make art. This moonshine is known locally as kaikai and historically as “illicit gin”.
In this spirit, Saro-Wiwa has identified a potent vehicle for storytelling about the region. In 2020 she opened her experimental palm wine distillery and began producing small batch botanical palm wine spirits inspired by the landscape and also the medicinal histories and epistemologies of the Ogoni people. She established The Illicit Gin Institute as thinktank to research and explore the history, implications and future of this type of distillation in Ogoniland and around Africa.
An Illicit Gin Institute Assembly is a living, evolving performance piece created by Zina Saro-Wiwa as a way to share and express her findings on African illicit gins, botanicals, spirituality and science. The Assemblies include a performance lecture, video art, silent tastings, sound baths, storytellings, academic talks, food, cocktails, dance and fellowship. Zina says: “For me these Assemblies are portals where we encounter the subcutaneous layers of life. Where flora is alive. I am introducing a West African cultural approach to alcohol consumption which is ritual, medicinal, mindful and moderate. My Assemblies are an opportunity to explore the very idea of 'spirit’. The history of distilled spirits is alchemical and to me occupies a very powerful nexus at which spirituality and science meet. In many ways I feel this illicit gin is the perfect vehicle to explore the place of spirits and spirituality in the natural world. And the events do feel spiritual but they’re also very warm, rigorous and engaging. It is social medicine.”
The first three Illicit Gin Institute Assemblies took place in September, October and November 2021 at the magical Schindler House in West Hollywood and were produced by the incredible contemporary art and food incubator Active Cultures. We are deeply grateful to the Active Cultures team and the MAK Center for Art and Architecture for all their support in birthing this performance piece. If you would like to attend a future Illicit Gin Institute Assembly, please follow us on instagram @theillicitgininstitute and look out for our announcements. If you are an institution interested in hosting an Assembly please email admin@mangrovearts.org.
