Spring Term '19 Artist-in-Residence: Daniel Kojo Schrade

In his latest :listenings series of paintings, Daniel Kojo Schrade explores the entangled histories of Africa and Europe through the medieval epic poem Percival. His chosen character is the enigmatic bard Kyot, oral source of Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, a 25,000-verse epic poem written in the early years of the 13th century.

Kyot introduced Eschenbach to the story, which emphasizes multiple characters from the African continent. Schrade’s :listenings series is dedicated to this bard who remains an enigmatic character as nothing is known about his origin or biography. Underlining Kyot’s initiating role in the development of the epic poem, Schrade claims that the name “Kyot” may be derived from the title “Griot.”

Griots are West African poets, musicians and historians and present epics that tell about historical events and characters. In doing so, they preserve the orally passed down knowledge and history, a means sensible to time, modification, and oblivion.