ይስከን: Yeskèn: Coffee Ceremony

This presentation of Ainslee Alem Robson’s practice in dialogue with Mayumi Hamanaka at Kala within her installation “ይስከን: Yeskèn: Unsettled Grounds” is invitation to pause and reflect on vessels of intergenerational memory that are non-conventional sites of archive–such as coffee, food, restaurants in immigrant neighborhoods, and community elders.

“Yesken” in Amharic refers to the time it takes for coffee grounds to settle at the bottom of the jebena (clay pot) in the traditional cultural practice of brewing coffee from raw green beans. The jebena is unfiltered, the grounds must settle, and the time it takes cannot be rushed. This is a collective moment of pause.

In this context, the Ethiopian coffee ceremony becomes a stage, a methodology of resistance and reflection–opening an aromatic portal for cross-cultural discourse on memory at different scales, empire, histories of resistance to colonialism, and the constitution of an archive.

Space is limited please RSVP

This installation is supported by Meyer Sound, Cafe Colucci / Brundo Spice

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Event Details

Date: October 3, 2026

Time: 2:00 pm–4:00 pm

Kala Gallery
2990 San Pablo Ave