The Secretariat for the International Conference on African Culture and Development (ICACD) invites you to submit abstracts / presentation ideas for ICACD 2009 – www.icacdafrica.org Academics, artists, cultural and development workers, Government agencies and policy makers and all people committed to working to see Culture included on all development agenda are encouraged to submit their abstracts or ideas. ICACD 2009 will be held in Accra, Ghana November 15th to 18th 2009. Closing dates for submission of abstracts/ideas is Friday August 20th, 2009. Click here for more details.
The Craft Trade - Bringing the Art to You
Marlene Chitonga of The Craft Trade Company is setting up an art agency in the UK to bring contemporary African art to the European market. She has made contact with a variety of galleries that would be interested and she’ll also be looking to work with art exhibitions and events. She now requires to develop links or contacts with African artists with work that is competitive on the international market. She is after pieces that are abstract, contemporary, with bright colours, distinctive and unique. Click here for more information.
Genesis - Animation Workshop In Nairobi
The Association of Animation Artistes, presents ‘Genesis’ the premiere Digital Animation event for Kenya, featuring presentations by Kenyan animation and producers as well as industry professionals from South Africa, United Kingdom and New Zealand. The event opens August 15th 2009 from 9am-5am at the British Council, Upper Hill, Nairobi, Kenya. Topics on discussion will include: The history of African animation, Creative motion graphics in Adobe after effects, screening of animated films in Africa amongst others. Click here for more information on the workshop and how to participate.
Spier Contemporary 2010
The Africa Centre is proud to announce the launch of the Spier Contemporary 2010, the largest biennale art competition and exhibition in South Africa. The inaugural 2007/08 exhibition received over 2,500 submissions from around the country, exhibited 95 artists in Cape Town and Johannesburg, hosted 25,000 visitors and awarded R1,000,000 in prize money. The Spier Contemporary 2010 has opened its call to all artists living in South Africa to begin thinking about how they would like to reflect their experiences, aspirations and visions through new work submitted to this competition/exhibition. Read more here
The Locative Cinema Commission
The Art and Technology Network, and Sundance Institute’s New Frontier initiative have announced the formation of The Locative Cinema Commission, a joint venture to stimulate and showcase the creation of a locative cinema project. The Commission is presently soliciting for proposals. The selected artist/s will realize their proposed project during a residency at The Banff Centre, Canada, to be completed by July 2010. They will also receive a $4,500 (four-thousand five hundred dollar) commissioning fee, related production funds, and will present their work at the 2010 01SJ Biennial from September 15 – 19, the 2011 edition of New Frontier at the Sundance Film Festival from January 20-30, and the 2011 Banff Summer Arts Festival. Click here for more details.
Art Mobility Fund
Art Moves Africa (AMA) is an international non-for profit organisation aiming to facilitate cultural and artistic exchange within the African continent. AMA offers travel funds to artists, arts professionals and cultural operators living and working in Africa to travel within the African continent in order to engage in the exchange of information, the enhancement of skills, the development of informal networks and the pursuit of cooperation. The next deadline for application is 1st September 2009. Click here for more details.
On my way back from Lagos to Maidguri I had another stop-over in Abuja and I used the day there to meet up with Hussein Akar, the owner of Signature Gallery in Abuja. He wasn’t around when I first popped by on Thursday on the way from the airport to Ella’s place but I was able to make an appointment for the next day. I was a bit nervous about meeting him because, despite the recommendation to see him by his uncle at the Signature Gallery in Lagos and Nabil’s friends, I wasn’t really quite sure whether I had enough questions for him to justify disturbing him. However, it turned out to be a really useful and interesting discussion. In fact, he was kind enough to call one Zaria graduate during our conversation to pass on one of my questions and provided me with his number and that of somebody at the Society of Nigeria Artists before I left. At the same time, his emphasis on Zaria graduates, Lagos as an important place of residence for artists from different parts of the country and also t
When I flicked through the papers this morning – online, if you must know – I came across an article in the Daily Trust that extolls the virtues Usman dan Fodio and his generation of northern Nigerian political leaders. It sets them up as good examples of leadership and argues that current President of Nigeria Muhammad Buhari should take inspiration from them to solve the current crisis of leadership in his government. Now, I don't want to get into political arguments here. I only mention this article – here, in a space that I said I'd use to organise my thoughts for my art historical writing – because it was illustrated by a photograph of a smiling elderly man. The caption underneath the photograph identifies the man in the picture as 'Shaikh Usumanu Danfodio'. Now, the founder of the Sokoto caliphate may not have been the only Sheikh named Usman (or Osman or Usumanu) in the family. However, the article makes it pretty clear that it is him that the author
Once again I have been procrastinating for few minutes to get over a temporary writing blog and what did I find? Look, the iconography of the Sheikh Ahmad Tijani poster I have collected in Kano has been more influential in West Africa than I originally would have thought. Granted, this is again an image from Senegal, a country with a strong tradition of Sufi Islam and adaptation of imported religious prints into new media, behind glass painting, followed by the subsequent extension of this artistic practice to include a variety of other religious and profane subject matter … anyway, its related to my research so I’m excited about it! So here you go, this is what I found: I guess, the choice of this image speaks of its ubiquity and iconic power in Senegal at least – iconic, here, in the sense of the image’s potential to symbolise not only the depicted person but also the ideas and philosophy associated with his name. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find out when the boo
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