Sorry for the short notice but that only came in today:
THURSDAY 26 NOVEMBER, 7-9PM
Artist Talk
Sonia Boyce talks about her project Devotional – a celebration of Black female singers in British entertainment – and her involvement in the Remembering Olive Collective.
Works by the two artists exhibited at Galerie african-painters.com, Berlin (Germany). This is the gallery’s blurb in German, followed by my quick translation:
In unseren letzten Ausstellungen standen Polaritäten im Mittelpunkt. Heute freuen wir uns über erstaunliche Ähnlichkeiten. Der eine ist Autodidakt, der andere hat sein Diplom an der Hochschule für Kunst und Design in Auchi erworben. Der eine lebt in Accra in Ghana, der andere in Lagos, Nigeria. Das sind gerade mal knapp 400 km Luftlinie.
Vielleicht ähneln sich ihre Arbeit gerade deshalb. Mit Spachteltechniken lassen sie westafrikanische Alltagsszenen erstehen, zum Teil höchst filigran, zum Teil erst mit einigem Abstand erkennbar.
In dieser Ausstellung zeigen wir einen Ausschnitt der "Roof-Top-Series" von Tony Okujeni und Szenen über den alltäglichen Kampf um Überleben von Alfred Mensa.
Tony Okujeni schaut von den Dächern hinunter auf das wimmelnde Marktgeschehen. Er spielt mit den Farben, um mit großem Geschick unterschiedliche Stimmungen zu unterschiedlichen Tageszeiten einzufangen.
Alfred Mensa befasst sich mit den Menschen und Plätzen, die er seit frühester Jugend genau kennt: die Arbeit der Fischer an Accras Stränden, die Straßen mit ihren fliegenden Händlern und die traditionellen Feste der Ghanaer.
Our last exhibition focused on polarities. Today we are appreciating surprising similarities. One of the artist is self-taught, the other received his diploma in Art and Design from the Auchi Polytechnic. One of them lives in Ghana, the other in Lagos, Nigeria. That is only about 400 km apart.
Maybe that is why there works share many similarities. Using their palette knifes they create scenes from West African daily life, some of them very delicately done, others only recognizable from a distance.
In this exhibition we showcase a selection of works from Tony Okujeni’s ‘Roof Top Series’ and scenes depicting the daily struggle for survival by Alfred Mensa. Playfully he employs colours to capture the atmospheres at different times of the day.
Alfred Mensa is concerned with people and places he already knows since his earliest youth: the work of fishermen at Accra’s beaches, the roads inhabited by hawkers and Ghana’s traditional celebrations.
Not in all instances comfortable with their choice of words and actually not thinking that the two artists’ works, as they are illustrated in the catalogue, have much in common apart from, yes, all illustrating life in West Africa, all being executed by African artists … Anyway, here the link to the exhibition’s website again and here you can download the exhibition catalogue (in German though).
[A]s I write, the organizers are still not sure that my colleague from University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Dr. Frank Ugiomoh will show up to give his paper Saturday morning (he is the only non-European invitee living outside of Euro-America). The problem? Well, it turns out the German Embassy in Nigeria seems unenthusiastic about granting him travel visa. So when really smart folks talk about the ease of movement across borders in the age of globalization, they must not be from countries below the visa line (think of the migrants from these countries dying in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe). Or when people like James Cuno argue that "global" museums must be defended for their role in safeguarding and making accessible to the whole world mankind's artistic heritage, I say to him, yea right! Because your idea of the whole world does not include the millions like Dr. Ugiomoh who must go through severe psychological torture to get legitimate access to fortress Europe/America. This sucks!
And yes, this of course ties in tightly with the question of who speaks for and about contemporary African arts in the global (academic) arena that was touched upon in the recent Nka roundtable. – A conference on GLOBAL art history and Dr. Frank Ugiomoh is the ONLY ‘non-European invitee living outside Euro-America’?! I’m sure, rather than bad faith, practical concerns related to scale, funding, uncooperative clerks in German embassies abroad etc. might have played a significant role here. However, there’s clearly something amiss, if a conference explicitly addressing a topic on a global scale only invites one speaker based outside Europe/US America! Also, to be completely honest with you, I'm missing the voices of artists in the conference programme. And, we all know there is quite a number of expatriate artists (part-time) based in Germany and neighbouring countries who might have some intersting ideas to contribute. And that without the hassle of obtaining visas or the costs of international flights if that really is where the problem lies. In fact, they might even be able to present in German. They might just not tick the 'acknowledged expert in their field' box quite as well. - But isn't that just yet another barrier for a truly 'global' discussion about art history, one that goes beyond the (academic) elite?
[1] I guess the organizers of conferences in the English- and French-speaking world can often reasonably assume that all participants are sufficiently fluent in the conference language. I’m not quite sure where I stand on this. I don’t think it's a coincident that there does not seem to be an English-speaking conference website. So, I suspect that was meant to be a German conference to an extent. Which is fair enough, is it? After all, expecting everybody to learn English (or French) in order to follow a conference held in Germany is also somewhat arrogant as well, or? (I’m still not sure how I feel about a workshop I attended while in Germany aimed at the departments’ research community that was almost exclusively held in English. Not a problem for me, but a friend of mine.) But, of course, he’s right, if you invite international speakers (which the topic seems to require), you might want to provide translation. Politeness, you know.
What I like about it: They actually let some of the veterans talk instead of talking for them … See some of the criticism of a recent exhibition on the topic shown in Berlin/Germany here. [Sorry, that’s mainly in German]
I’ve recently been reading a bit on the textile industry in Nigeria and here BBC Worldnews came yesterday with that very hopeful report from Kenya.
Sorry that I have not figured how to embed this video so here’s the link to the BBC’s site: Kenyan catwalk fashion takes off
Many of the obstacles raised here remind me of arguments I have read about the fashion and textile industry in Nigeria as well. But if Kenya can do it, come on Naija!
Via the newsletter of the Department of African Studies, Humboldt University Berlin: An invitation to participate in the demonstration on occasion of the start of the three-month country-wide campaign ‘125 Years Berlin Africa Conference – remembering, reappraisal, reparations.’ The campaign does have an English language website and while part of the English site is still under construction, here’s the link to the appeal.
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
das Bündnis „125 Jahre Berliner Afrika Konferenz – erinnern, aufarbeiten, wiedergutmachen“, dem auch der Berliner entwicklungspolitische Ratschlag angehört, ruft dazu auf, am 15. November, dem historischen Beginn der Berliner Afrika-Konferenz, an der Auftaktdemonstration zur dreimonatigen bundesweiten Kampagne teilzunehmen.
Ort: Gedenktafel zur Berliner Afrika-Konferenz, Wilhelmstraße 92, Berlin-Mitte
Zeit: Sonntag, 15. Nov. 2009, 14:00 Uhr.
Die Route geht über die „M...straße“ zur Neuen Wache. Kurzfristige Änderungen werden auf unserer Webseite www.berliner-afrika-konferenz.de bekannt gegeben.
Unterstützen Sie das Bündnis zum 125. Jahrestag der Berliner Afrika-Konferenz in der Öffentlichkeit. Erinnern Sie an die Verbrechen des Kolonialismus und Rassismus, setzen Sie sich für ihre Aufarbeitung ein, fordern Sie Wiedergutmachung!
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Armin Massing
--
Berliner Entwicklungspolitischer Ratschlag e.V.
Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte
Greifswalder Straße 4
10405 Berlin
Fon 030-42 85 15 87
Fax 030-49 85 53 81
E-Mail: buero@ber-ev.de
Web: www.ber-ev.de
Some interesting news from the Goethe Institut Liaison Office in Kano:
D’Beat Africa Art & Entertainment
In today's newsletter we want to draw your attention to a project of a group of young ambitious web designers based in Kano, Nigeria: d’Beat Africa Art & Entertainment provides a web platform where talented gems of African art can showcase their talent online, it's platform promotes upcoming art, artists, models, designers, and any other form of entertainment.
Check http://dbeatafrica.com/goethe-
Watch a short film produced by young filmmakers of Northern Nigeria at a workshop conducted by German film director Till Passow at Kano Liaison Office in August 2009: "9ja Power. The Power of Nigeria".
Go to http://dbeatafrica.com/home.html
Also, BABYLON, a European programme set up to provide a forum for European ‘minority’ film makers to ‘speak to each other and to the widest international audience, providing access and inclusion’ is extending its scope to West Africa:
EUROPE MEETS AFRICA: Babylon International launches its 2010 programme with a major new initiative linking filmmakers across continents.
In a major new initiative funded by the European Union’s MEDIA International and the Nigerian Film Corporation, European filmmakers will have the opportunity to work together with African colleagues on script and story development, production technique, and access to the international marketplace via BABYLON’s network of industry consultants, funders, international sales agents and distributors.
Workshops based in the Netherlands and Nigeria will develop fourteen selected projects from outline or first draft phase, seven each from West Africa and from Europe. The selected producers and writer-directors will meet on both continents to compare working notes, to share creative aims through the development of their projects and to expand their industrial networks across two continents.
Building on the successful model established over its first three years, BABYLON will retain and expand its European workshops while adding a crucial new phase in West Africa.
The first workshop will be held in Europe during the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Jan 30th-February 4th); the second in Africa at the Nigerian Film Institute in Jos culminating with a presentation during the Zuma film festival in Abuja (April 27th - May 5th).
Developing its founding purpose of uniting filmmakers of Europe's diasporic minorities in the search for new voices and new markets, BABYLON invites all interested European filmmakers to spearhead a new European approach to other audiovisual cultures by forging film communities with their colleagues in West Africa, who are cordially invited to share their talent and experience with the film industries of Europe.
All European and West African filmmakers with a proven interest in working cross-continentally are invited to submit their proposed projects to BABYLON by Friday November 27th 2009.
· Applications must be submitted electronically and by post by November 27th 2009
· A reading committee will study the submitted material and recommend a shortlist
· The shortlist will be debated by the active co-producers
· Fourteen projects will be selected, each to be represented by a producer/writer-director duo
· The successful fourteen projects will be notified by December 18th 2009 (with four standby places retained for confirmation by January 8th)
· Preparatory workshops for European candidates will be announced shortly
· Two places will be reserved for professional observers without project wishing to accompany the workshop (eg distributor/script editor/film administrator etc)
· The charge per individual participant will be Euros 500
· All tuition fees and materials are included in the cost
· Hotel accommodation, breakfast and lunch are included on workshop days, plus certain dinners by invitation
· Participants are responsible for booking and paying for their own flight/rail transport and for local transport costs. Scholarships towards the cost of flights are available on request.
Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
5-7 May 2010
In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS) extends a special welcome to scholars working on all aspects of African studies at its next annual conference in
Ottawa on May 5-7, 2010. The Institute of African Studies at Carleton University is hosting the conference with support from the African Studies Research Laboratory at the University of Ottawa. The Ottawa area, of course, is bilingual. Our aim is to attract both Anglophone and francophone scholars from Canada as well as an international group of specialists and, in so doing, facilitate discussion and dialogue across disciplines and among scholars based in both the North and South. This Call for Papers intends to provide a forum for addressing and presenting academic research and policy proposals that examine the histories, debates, policy issues, and current practices related to African matters.
CAAS contributes expertise, research, and informed debate concerning a wide range of African "matter" related to sociocultural issues, the arts, political economy, the environment and transnationalism, among others. Since 1970, CAAS has demonstrated how African issues matter to a wide range of Canadian and international publics in academic, policy-making, programming, and many other circles. Although the interest of these different publics in African matters has waxed and waned over time, the expanding recognition of African contexts and initiatives to a growing range of transnational practices (from humanitarianism to peace-building; markets to social movements; climate change to food security; religious dynamism to health and education policies; sports to music and cinema; migration and diasporas to the forging of the Atlantic world) means that the continent is becoming more prominent in the attention, imagination, and actions of more and more publics.
Beyond the growing interest in Africa in Canada, however, this conference welcomes investigation and discussion on the vast array of other topics of interest in African Studies. For example, Africa Matters provides participants with the opportunity for sharing research and debate concerning the study of issues related to Africa and African diaspora from events as wide-reaching as the slave-trade, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and current conflicts to the minutiae of everyday life, such as schooling practices, religiosity, and media consumption, etc.. We encourage the submission of research papers in English or French in these and other areas.
Closing date for submitting paper and panel abstracts is: January 31, 2010
Conference Fees:
Regular Scholars: $200
Scholars coming from Africa: $100
Students: $100
We hope to have the on-line payment option available by December.
For further information about the conference and CFP, please see the CAAS website: http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~
For information on submitting paper and panel abstracts (Form A), registration (Form B) and Graduate Student Financial Assistance (Form C), click on 'forms' to the left.
If you have any questions concerning abstracts, registration, or payments, please contact caas@ualberta.ca
If you require other information concerning the conference, please contact caas2010carleton@gmail.com
Accommodations: Information about registering for accommodations in Ottawa will be posted on the CAAS website as soon as it becomes available.
Via Bisi Silva’s blog who in turn found it at the new Invisible Borders Blog.
Inspired by the 8th edition of the Bamako Photography Encounters 2009, 10 Nigerians made up of photographers and writers decided to make a road trip to Bamako from Lagos: in a black Volks Wagen Mini bus rented from Photo Garage in Lagos. This project arose as a result of an urgent need to address the notion of dividing borders between countries in the African continent. It might sound paradoxical that while travelling by air might seem a lot faster and much more stress-free, it indeed suggests a feeling of immense “distance” between places, given that one might call the singular borders suggested by the airport terminals as “virtual”, not tangible, providing a rather fictitious notion of displacement in real time; more so due to the absence of land scapes and other elements which serves as visual testimony to distance covered. Therefore this project is an attempt to acquire a much realistic sense of the similarities and difference between peoples suggested by cultural and geographical lines.
The project has been termed “Invisible Borders”: a reference to the non-geographical demarcation, but rather that which could be easily missed especially if looking at the lines in the map, or flying over by air.
The most essential aspect of the project is not the final destination, but the journey; therefore the participating photographers will produce works in form of photography and video while on the go which will be exhibited during the main events of the Festival in Bamako.
Participants include:
Uche James Iroha, Lucy Azubuike, Emeka Okereke, Amaize Ojiekere, Uche Okpa Iroha, Ray Daniels Okeugo, Unoma Geise, Chris Nwobu, Nike Ojeikere, Charles Okereke.
Dates scheduled for Travel are as followed:
3rd of November: Participants leave Lagos,
6th of November: Participant arrive in Bamako
15th of November: Participants leave Bamako
18th of November: Participants arrive in Lagos.
Borders Involved:
Nigeria/Benin (Seme), Benin/Togo (Grand Popo), Togo/Ghana (Aflao), Ghana /Burkina fasso (Paga), Burkina Fasso/ Mali.
This should be an interesting journey to follow, shouldn’t it? Oh, in case you were interested in the Bamako programme, here it is. Also, check the website of the Maison Africain de la Photographie (hope I got the spelling right, my French is practically non-existent).
The new online journal Islamic Africa invites essays, short pieces, notices and reports on research in progress for publication:
Islamic Africa: Call for Articles
Islamic Africa is a new peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal published online by Northwestern University Press in collaboration with the Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa (ISITA) at the Program of African Studies of Northwestern University. Incorporating the journal Sudanic Africa and retaining its focus on historical sources, bibliographies, and methodology, Islamic Africa covers the field of Islam in Africa broadly understood to include the social sciences and humanities. The new journal seeks to promote the scholarly interaction among Africa-based scholars and those located institutionally outside the continent. The first issue will appear in Spring 2010.
Islamic Africa invites scholars to submit essays, or short pieces, notices, and reports on research in progress to be considered for publication. Such submissions should make original contributions to knowledge. The material must not have been previously published, or be currently under review elsewhere. Submissions are welcome from any discipline in the social sciences and the humanities; the geographic focus includes the entire African continent, as well as the adjacent islands and the diaspora.
Submissions should be sent electronically in both Microsoft Word and PDF formats to: Gianna Mosser, Managing Editor, Islamic Africa, islamicafrica@northwestern.edu
Gianna Mosser
Managing Editor
Islamic Africa
Northwestern University Press
629 Noyes St
Evanston, IL 60208
