Video Recording of 'Curating in Africa' (21 October 2010, Tate Modern, London)

I just received the news that the video recordings of October 2010’s symposium Curating in Africa at Tate Modern are now available at the institution’s video channel (four parts). Enjoy.

On a different note, this video of Christopher Ofili may be of interest to some of you.

Press Release: Africa Media Centrum opens Reading Room in Berlin

For those of you in Berlin the following press statement might be of interest. It announces the launch of an Africa Media Centrum in Berlin. According to the press release, the Centrum brings together over 2000 books from and about Africa. Books can be borrowed against a small fee. The reading room will be officially open 18 August 2010 at the Africa Media Centrum, Torstraße 12, Berlin-Wedding. Below, the German language press release.

Einzigartiger afrikanischer Leseraum in Berlin

Die Zahl der AfrikanerInnen in der Hauptstadt steigt ständig, ebenso wie die Zahl der Afrodeutschen. Insbesondere im Berliner Stadtteil Wedding, vor allem im „Sprengelkiez“, lassen sich immer mehr Afrikaner nieder. Hier entsteht sozusagen ein „Klein-Afrika“.

Bisher wird die Wahrnehmung dieses Kontinents allerdings von zum Teil althergebrachten Klischees dominiert: Krankheit, Krieg, Exotik und Tanz. Die Kultur des zweitgrößten Kontinents der Erde wird oftmals nur auf Musik, nicht selten sogar nur auf wenige Instrumente reduziert. Das intellektuelle Afrika bleibt vielen Deutschen, aber auch vielen Afrikanern unbekannt. Dabei gibt es in Afrika nicht nur hervorragende Autoren und Autorinnen, Musiker und Musikerinnen, sondern es gibt auch eine florierende Filmindustrie. Auch europäische Filmemacher entdecken den Kontinent für sich. Den an Afrika Interessierten fehlt es allerdings an leicht zugängigen Medien, anhand derer sie sich über Musik, Filme, Geschichte, Politik und Kultur informieren können.

Das Afrika Medien Zentrum e.V. will diese Lücke schließen. Gefördert durch die Europäische Union, die Bundesrepublik Deutschland und das Land Berlin im Rahmen des Programms „Zukunftsinitiative Stadtteil“ - Teilprogramm „Soziale Stadt“, wird im Afrika Medien Zentrum ein Raum mit Medien aus und über Afrika eingerichtet, der Interessenten zur Verfügung steht. Dabei handelt es sich um Belletristik, Sachbücher, Dokumentarfilme und Zeitungen/Zeitschriften aus und über Afrika.

Jetzt ist es soweit! Nach einer langen Vorbereitungsphase, in der es nicht leicht war, alle Medien ausfindig zu machen, wird der afrikanische Leseraum am 18. August um 18.00 Uhr offiziell eingeweiht. Das Afrika Medien Zentrum in der Torfstraße 12 in Berlin-Wedding lädt dazu alle Interessenten herzlich ein. Ungefähr 2010 Bücher mit Afrikabezug sollen dann dem Publikum zur Verfügung stehen.

Der Leseraum wird montags und mittwochs von 14 bis 18 Uhr sowie freitags von 15 bis 20 Uhr geöffnet haben und die Medien können gegen eine kleine Gebühr entliehen werden.

Hervé Tcheumeleu

Lo'Nam Verlag
Torfstr 12
13353 Berlin
Tel.: (030) 97 89 55 36
Fax: (030) 960 89 997

Update on why I don't use 'primitive' or 'tribe'/'tribal' when writing about African Arts

Aright, just I case you needed another gross example of (Western, again: how ever you want to define that) mainstream ideas of ‘the tribal’, especially with regard to Africa[1] I'll link you to this rather bad piece of music: Kumbaya by Peaceman (aka Sir Ivan aka Ivan Wilzig).

I’m not going to analyse it for you in any depth but I’ve written a comment elsewhere. And there’s some background and discussion on Stuff White People Do, which btw does quite a good job in a critical analysis of a lot of stuff that could be described as ‘white (popular) culture,’ though I suspect as to yet nobody has yet made a serious effort to define this. But, in a quite cynical kind of way, I’m quite impressed with how the director actually managed to combine two major stereotypes about the continent – primitive, though sexy people engaged in everlasting tribal warfare and it’s oh so stunning wildlife – and the white man to the rescue trope in a music video of only 4:30 mins length. He even managed to squeeze in the stereotype of Africans as overtly sexualised beings. And, all this as background for, as my friend put it, the self-staging of some mediocre (judging by this song) techno singer as do-gooder.

See, and its against this background that I feel uneasy with the use of terms such as ‘primitive’ and ‘tribe/tribal’ in writing about Africa. Conceptualisations in Africa, by scholars, politicians and members of the wider public, might of course not carry such derogative connotations but over here they usually do ...

I'm sure there are more of them out there, but I'll leave it at that. They don't deserve the honour, don't you think? …

P.S. And, before you ask, yes I have since figured how to embed a Youtube video but I can’t be asked to bestow the honour (again, after all I posted it on Facebook to get my friends opinion and wrote a comment elsewhere) on this piece of mediocre music with its racist-sexist visual background.

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[1] Yeah, nobody makes the effort to distinguish different countries on that level of argument. Remember, Binyavanga Wainaina’s How to Write about Africa? That comment about writing about Africa as if it was a country, that was no joke. Its not that uncommon. And even those generally not unfamiliar with moving in the international arena might not always be able to distinguish between Switzterland, Austria, Lichtenstein and Burkina Faso, right Mr. Steinbrück?

On a different note, have you followed Nka’s Roundtable Conversations at the Duke UP’s blog? I have read through the latest responses and commentaries over a cup of breakfast tea and really loved this line by Okwui Enwezor (my emphasis)

… All these issues make the important point raised by John [Picton] on the idea of modernity as a conduit through which all manner of artistic inventions have flowed in many directions, benefiting not only European artists (there is such a species, no?) but African, Asian, American artists as well. …

The other week (don’t ask me about the concrete context) they’ve once again been speaking about Africa as a country on the news, on Monday I was asked to characterise African art in its entirety (considering the source, I suspect that question was meant to be a challenge to the art historian in me) … - Now the question: When was the last time you heard somebody in the news talk about Europe (the continent of that name, not the EU) as if it was one country? (Pls., don’t expect me here to seriously consider the tactic oversimplification of the ideological tattle of ‘the West’ against ‘the rest!’) And, when was the last time somebody asked you to sum up European art? That’s right, not German or French arts, Romanesque or Gothic arts but European art. Against this background, forgive me the minute of delight I derived from Enwezor’s beautiful little barb!