alter_NATIVE_me

Johannesburg calling.

2012-02-20T11:40:00.000-08:00

A MAZE. calling.

We are seeking for curious, playful and adventurous artists and indie game developers from the sub Saharan region to participate in A MAZE. Interact 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

A MAZE. Interact is an experimental and visionary media art festival, which will take place from 29th of August to the 2nd of September in several locations in Braamfontein, Downtown Johannesburg.

Since 2008 A MAZE. is celebrating the convergence of games, art and society. It is a series of events as well as a conceptual format that offers a regularly emerging platform for interdisciplinary and intercultural exchange. Creatives are encouraged to break down the conventional computer game and surpass established digital or analog concepts of play.

The goal of the A MAZE. Interact Festival in Johannesburg in South Africa in 2012 is to create an annual platform for African and European media artists and game developers. A MAZE. Interact targets the collaboration between artists and the exchange on an artistic, academic and cultural level.

Besides a general interest in the broader field of Gaming and Playing, contributions by the selected artists towards one or several of the allocated modules are very welcome.

*Exhibition:
The exhibition will show artistic computer games, interactive and playful installations, video documentations of public intervention and games.
*Conference:
The conference focuses on the topics "Mobility, Public Space, Games and Play".
*Workshop:
The workshops teach practises of engineering by using open source tools for artistic approaches.
*Public Gaming/ Interventions:
Playful game concepts with amazing and wired rule sets which engages interaction in the public and focuses on social and economical issues.
*Performance:
Performative interventions, music or dance performances, using electronics and micro-controllers in public/ stage, mixing music with realtime visuals, circuit bending.

A MAZE. provides the playground. You are welcome to play with this enviroment and make this festival to a powerful game/ platform for social/media critical discourse with international participants and publicity. Please check us out at www.amaze-festival.de and contact me thorsten@amaze-festival.de

The call is open from February 16, 2012 till June 1, 2012.

Our partners are Goethe Institute Johannesburg, Witwatersrand University, University of Johannesburg, Praekelt Foundation, VANSA, Trinity Session, Transmediale, CIANT, Coded Culture.

The A MAZE. team and I am looking forward getting in contact with you and your artistic outcome.

All the best,

Thorsten S. Wiedemann, A MAZE. festival director

FELA from the archives of TheNews : See the Exhibition at Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos opening today as part of FELABRATION 2011

2011-10-12T04:01:00.000-07:00

You are Invited to see the exhibition:

FELA from the archives of TheNews

part of FELABRATION 2011
courtesy of CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS, Lagos
and curated by The Felabration Organising Committee

of PHOTOGRAPHS
from the photograph archives of Independent Communications Network Limited
publishers of TheNews, PM News, and Tempo

By
Various photographers

The Exhibition opens 11-10-11 1700hrs
and runs until 16-10-11 2200hrs

@*Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos*
9, McEwen Street, Sabo
Lagos, Nigeria.

THE WORKSHOP SERIES

2011-09-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

‘The Workshop Series’ will provide a forum for debate on the link between the arts and social engagement in Egypt. Designed and co-ordinated by the Townhouse, the series will stage seminars, guest speakers and ongoing art projects revolving around a particular theme (see the descriptions of the individual workshops below). Each workshop will promote a highly collaborative, participatory engagement in order to develop a rolling conversation resulting in the production of individual works to be presented at Townhouse and disseminated to the general public. The workshops are designed to cater to those interested in a wide and diverse range of mediums including but not limited to film/video, design, creative writing as well as traditional and alternative forms of cultural production.

The Workshop Series will consist of four workshops of approximately nine months duration beginning in October 2011. Participants will commit to one day a week excluding official holidays. Some workshops will be conduced in Arabic only, others in Arabic and English, please see the descriptions below.

All workshops will be documented and results published in a comprehensive catalogue at the conclusion of The Workshop Series in 2012.

Workshop 1 – ‘Multiple Truths’

(Arabic & English)
Application Deadline: Friday, September 30th, 2011.

Freedom of speech may have once been considered a nebulous concept in Egypt, maintained at an unreachable distance. Yet with the ongoing events since January 25th, the Egyptian population has diminished that gap and now stands face-to-face with the possibility for individuals to speak their minds freely. However, for a country whose people have navigated their lives under the influence of suffocating censorship, the task of accepting and comprehending an encompassing notion of freedom of speech can be a daunting one.

Workshop 1 – ‘Multiple Truths’ will address freedom of speech not as a simple solution but instead as a powerful tool that requires responsibility and awareness on behalf of both the source of output and the consumer thereof. Rumor is one example of communication that has become intertwined with truth, as it is undeniable that while certain rumors were intended to inspire, others have brought about confusion, confrontation, and violence. ‘Multiple Truths’ will offer the framework to explore rumor and other aspects of self-expression in relation to truth through discussion and the artistic process.

The emphasis of this workshop being the future of Egypt and its relationship with truth and rumor, ‘Multiple Truths’ will encourage the participants to take a closer look at their surroundings and create dynamic and relevant works of art with seemingly uncontroversial objects, to question assumptions on the appearance and purpose of said objects.

In addition to the above-mentioned media, sound will also be encouraged as a means to further exemplify the complex relationship between interpretation and what is broadly accepted as uncontested fact.

Workshop 2 – ‘Stories from a Generation’

(Arabic only)
Application Deadline: Sunday, September 25th, 2011.

This workshop will focus on developing a discourse on human rights, civil society and social issues in Egypt. The aftermath of the events of January 25th have provided a unique opportunity to expand the discussion and appreciation of rights issues. Workshop 2 – ‘Stories From A Generation’ will take a bottom-up approach, encouraging the participants of this workshop to reflect first on their personal, everyday experiences and to then extrapolate from those starting points a sense of how rights discourse can be relevant to society at all levels, including the most basic. By the conclusion of this workshop, each participant will have written a short story in Arabic, to be published collectively by Townhouse and distributed to an audience of NGOs, schools and other civil society actors.

The potential benefits of attending this workshop and to Egyptian society as a whole are substantial. Participants of ‘Stories from a Generation’ will not only develop significant critical thinking skills and a comprehensive awareness of the everyday impact of human rights, but they will also be equipped to take their gained knowledge and apply it to an extensive understanding of society. Egypt is currently undergoing a period of great change, and, if seized now, the numerous opportunities for civil society discourse and leadership could have a considerable and lasting effect on the future direction of Egypt.

Eligible participants of ‘Stories from a Generation’ must meet the two requirements of being fluent in written Arabic and having recently graduated from university (although there are no restrictions regarding from where or in what subject one must have graduated). The instructors of this workshop will be drawn from a variety of professions, including writers and activists and will encompass a specialist in Arabic composition who will assist the participants in writing their stories fluently and expressively.

Workshop 3 – ‘The Fluidity of Symbols’

(Arabic & English)
Application Deadline: Friday, September 30th, 2011.

While a symbol may be of definite origin and proven to have served an original purpose, it can just as well transform into a charged force of propaganda that is entirely detached from these beginnings, either though active appropriation or the organic evolution of images and ideas. Building upon both broader connotations and subliminal power as it makes its way through a community, a symbol is much more than a mere product of its creator. Within Egypt, symbols that are currently in use originate from a range of sources that span no less than multiple millennia – and the profusion of their current meanings is just as varied as the individual users themselves. These interpretations, whether intentionally or passively acquired, in turn influence the way in which one reads a symbol and perceives its implications. Workshop 3 will explore ‘The Fluidity of Symbols’ within Egypt and the relationship between symbol-based propaganda and the people of this country. With the events following January 25th, the red-white-black of the Egyptian flag has become the prime example of a symbol whose meaning is reliant on context. The revolutionaries use it to promote the dawn of a new era in Egypt, while the opposing side flies the flag in support of Mubarak’s regime and what the country once was. There is one flag and one Egypt, but the use of this national symbol is subject to ever-multiplying conceptions of Egypt.

This plurality of meaning is relevant not merely because of our copious interaction with symbols, but also because of the current culture of appropriation and replication. To enhance the understanding of how symbols evolve and can take on significant social meaning, Workshop 3 – ‘The Fluidity of Symbols’ will focus on understanding the reason why particular symbols are actively used as, or naturally become, avenues of expression over others.

The objectives of this workshop include the cultivation of meaningful, productive debates relating to the links between symbols and their representative power. Specific focus will be given to considering the social meaning of symbols and their place in contemporary Egypt. These theoretical aspects of the workshop will lay the groundwork for participants to appropriate and refashion symbols in a practical manner.

Workshop 4 – ‘Accessible Advocacy: Tackling Sexual Harassment in Egypt Through Mobile Phones’

(Arabic only)
Application Deadline: Friday, September 30th, 2011.

When the inaugural Cairo Festival for Mobile Film took place in 2007, its significance lay in the reality that filming in the public space was not considered socially acceptable in Egypt, at best. Yet the success of this event, as well as that of mobile phone video workshops and festivals of its kind, which have since taken place internationally, testify to the medium’s growing potential and importance in today’s social climate. Previous to January 25th, individuals would use the camera feature on their mobile phones with utmost discretion, not only due to social confinement, but out of the justified fear of random and unproportionally harsh crackdowns by government and police on those who would be singled out as having made such recordings in public. There has been a drastic change in this regard, as countless ordinary people have since used and continue to utilise their mobile phones as a means of documenting events ranging from peaceful marches to police brutality in the streets. Mobile phones are able to bring the proof and magnitude of these events to wider audiences due to the accessibility of both the medium itself and the footage it can capture. These devices are now seen as vital tools used to focus in on and expose social issues by making the captured videos available to a public unprecedented in scale.

Workshop 4 – ‘Accessible Advocacy’ will utilise this environment, which has become sensitized to the use and importance of mobile phones, to address and tackle the widely documented presence of sexual harassment in Egypt. During this workshop, the participants will discuss how harassment plagues current day Egypt and the ways in which this can be questioned and highlighted in brief videos. The workshop offers an opportunity for serious debates across gender boundaries and for both to have a better understanding of how individuals experience and interpret sexual harassment. The videos shot within this framework will be recorded and edited on the mobile phones of the participants. Technical instruction on editing techniques and other aspects of filming with a simple device will be offered throughout the course.

Once the videos have been produced, they will be screened at Townhouse and distributed freely to NGOs, schools and members of the public interested in raising awareness and encouraging debate.

How to apply for the workshops and guidelines for submitting your work:

There are no application forms for this workshop series – applicants are asked to submit the following in Arabic or English, respectively:

– Your basic contact information

– C.V. with indication of your Arabic and English proficiency

– A motivation letter tailored to the specific workshop you are applying for

– Up to five relevant samples of your work, regardless of the medium (images, texts, audio files, videos, URLs, etc.)

– A checklist of your submitted work (with information related to your submitted work samples, if desired)

Technical guidelines for submitting your work samples:

– Images: Max. 100 dpi and max. 2000px on the longer side

– Texts: Published or unpublished

– Audio and video files: Up to 10 minutes each. Submit either URLs if available online (preferred) or via one of the following upload services only: Dropbox, Rapidshare, yousendit, Wetransfer

All submitted work samples attached to your application email must list your last (family) name, followed by an underscore and the file name. For example: Hala Fahmy would submit her images as Fahmy_(title of image).jpg or her texts as Fahmy_(title of text).doc.

Please submit your application in ONE EMAIL to:

Alexandra Stock at alexandra@thetownhousegallery.com (10 MB per email)

Subject: Workshop 1/2/3/4

(Please indicate the number of the workshop you are applying for in the subject line of the email. If you are applying for more than one workshop, please submit as many applications and indicate the order of your preference, for example Workshop 3 / first choice).

Video Art Workshop Bamako and Segou

2011-07-26T04:38:00.000-07:00

Veuillez trouver ci-joint le flyer d'annonce de l'atelier international sur la vidéo d'art organisé par Soleil d'Afrique en partenariat avec le Centre Culturel Korè Ségou. Prévu du 26 juillet au 10 Août 2011, une douzaine d'artistes prendront part à cet atelier qui déroulera à Bamako et Ségou.

Beyond Football - Shifting Interests and Identity

2011-06-21T03:42:00.000-07:00

Bimpe Adebambo (N), Andrew Asiebo (N), Yetunde Babaeko (N/D), Uchay Joel Chima (N), Nina Erfle (D), Uche James-Iroha (N), Ebele Okoye (N), Lerrato Shadi (SA), Alafuro Sikoki (N), Katrin Ströbel (D)
Curator: Emeka Udemba (N)

SAVVY Contemporary
Richardstr.43/44 | 12055 Berlin-Neukölln

Opening: 25.06.2011, 7.00 pm.
Exhibition: 26.06 – 08.07.2011 | Thurs - Sun, 4.00 - 8.00 pm.

The discourse regarding women and gender is one of the pivotal topics that
have captured the imagination of social and political critics in recent
decades. Whether in politics, economics or in the educational sphere,
the place of women in today’s society is still a contested issue.

As part of the events commemorating the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup
tournament in Germany, the exhibition Beyond football – shifting
interests and identity, interrogates through the prism of the game of
football issues of gender, sexuality, discrimination, and life- style in contemporary societies.

The project’s intent is not to overturn the multiple axes of stratification affecting women. Nonetheless, this exhibition provides a platform to negotiate, challenge, disrupt, deconstruct, re-construct and question entrenched ideas on gender.

The exhibition will also be shown in Lagos, Nigeria.Beyond football – shifting
interests and identity, will be accompanied by an exclusive catalogue.

This project is a cooperation between the Goethe Institute Lagos and SAVVY
Contemporary Berlin, and it is supported by the Kulturamt Neukölln, DHL, Nigerian Embassy Berlin.

For further Informations, please contact:
www.savvy-contemporary.com | www.goethe.de
Press contact: Claudia Lamas Cornejo | contact@savvy-contemporary.com

Video Art: A survival guide

2011-06-21T03:22:00.000-07:00

More dynamic than ever Festival Miden is ready again to present an
intriguing selection from the global production of video art by young and
aspiring artists. A production that the festival follows systematically 7
years now, giving its audience the opportunity to obtain a holistic view
of an art form that is evolving unexpectedly, rapidly and diversely at
this very moment.

The screenings include the themed video art programs “LOL”, “THIS IS WAR”,
“TRAUMA”, “HYPERFORM”, “MONOBALANCE”, “A LAST INSTRUCTION TO THE GRASS”,
“CHARGE A SOUL”, “DARK FORWARD”, “FEELING LUCKY” and “LOCAL CALLING”.
Also, this year Festival Miden will present tributes to some very
interesting foreign festivals, art groups and curators such as Oslo Screen
Festival (Norway), All Art Now (Syria), Cyberbrothers (Russia), Videoplay
(Argentina) and CologneOFF (Germany).

Furthermore, several interesting parallel events are scheduled, including
a special screening of the themed program “Come to Life” at the
Archaeological Museum of Messenia, an introductive lecture about Video Art
History by Gioula Papadopoulou at the Municipal Conservatory of Kalamata,
while the closing event of the Festival will be the special audiovisual
party set “The New Style”, in which DJ Blue Lagoon from the well-known
Greek art group Kormoranos mixes on stage music and videos that he and his
partner Haris Lagousis have edited.

www.festivalmiden.gr / info@festivalmiden.gr / festivalmiden@gmail.com /
facebook.com/festivalmiden

One Minute Africa

2011-06-21T03:15:00.000-07:00

With less than one month until the deadline, remember to submit your videos to...

One Minutes are videos of exactly 60 seconds. You can now send us your One Minute videos for the first-ever One Minutes Africa competition (flyers attached).

There are 6 Categories to choose from:

1. Spoken word & sound: The art of language and sound, ranging from oral history to the sounds of the street
2. In my backyard: What is it like where you live? What happens there? Give us a sense of the place and the goings-on that surround you.
3. Where history begins: With real people in real places, history begins. Express your ideas of time and experience, from ‘small’, personal histories to large-scale events.
4. Micro-commercials: Small companies run by passionate owners
5. Portraits: Even in a single minute, the essence of a person or object can be revealingly portrayed. What is your One Minute portrait?
6. Privacy: What does privacy mean for you?

8 videos in each category will be nominated for an award. Prize winners will be invited to the awards ceremony hosted by the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo, Egypt, this coming September.

Be sure to join our Facebook page, One Minutes Africa, for the latest updates and submissions!

Deadline for submissions: 15 July 2011.

Submitting your video online?

Visit The One Minutes website to fill out the forms and send us your videos through wetransfer.com

Submitting your videos by post?

Living in Africa but located outside of Egypt? Send your video as data to:
The One Minutes
Fred Roeskestraat 98
1076 ED Amsterdam
Netherlands

Living in Egypt? Send your video as data to:
Townhouse Gallery
c/o One Minutes Africa
10 Nabrawy St off Champollion St
Downtown, Cairo
Egypt

Questions still not answered? Email devon@thetownhousegallery.com

Video Art in Public Space

2011-06-21T03:11:00.000-07:00

Call for Proposals

Atopia is accepting proposals for the Vitrine Project. Artists of all lands may apply.

Vitrine is a platform for experimenting with video art in public space. It offers the artists and the public a unique opportunity to engage with multi-screen video works right on the side of the street. Every winter artists from around the world illuminate the Vitrine with new video works. Sannergata is a busy route for traffic moving in and out of Oslo, and the Vitrine has the potential of reaching thousands of viewers everyday.

Vitrine is aimed at exploring the potentials of multi-screen video works in public space and the notions of transience – moving images and moving public.

We seek proposals in the form of video works that are innovative in their approach and daring in their exploration.

Sound is not an option for Vitrine and we prioritize non-violent imagery.

The fourth season of Atopia’s Vitrine will run from Nov. 2011 to Feb. 2012.

The four selected proposals will each receive an award of €1,000.

Deadline: 26 August 2011

Entry form: http://www.atopia.no/vitrine.html

Contact: vitrine(AT)atopia.no

Release Ai Weiwei

2011-04-14T05:07:00.000-07:00

Statement by Jens Galschiot, 8 April 2011

On Sunday 3rd April the renowned artist Ai Weiwei was arrested by Chinese police. Attempts to contact the artist have been in vain and the Chinese authorities deny any comment on the issue. Allegedly some sort of financial crime is the core of the issue. This accusation is dubious and can be used for anything.

Danish artist Jens Galschiot has on two occasions been denied entry to Hong Kong as a result of his artistic commitment in co-operation with the Democracy Movement. He has a permanent ban for entering China. On the occasion of Ai Weiwei’s arrest he declares:

“I energetically condemn the arrest of Ai Weiwei. He is one of the world’s most prominent artists, he makes outstanding artworks, and lately he has made a comprehensive exhibition at Tate Modern. All these activities highlight the fact that China has become an important part of the international art scene. Ai Weiwei stands as a prominent representative of the Chinese people, promising for the future.

I am deeply concerned that China now once again has displayed its totalitarian face to the world and once again has committed an encroachment on its own citizens. This shameful act reveals that China still has a long way to go before it can be regarded a state based on the rule of law protecting its citizens against arbitrary abuse of power.

I urge all artists of the world to express their protest against the detention of Ai Weiwei. The Guggenheim museum has launched a petition. Visit the homepage and join the petition.

Likewise I request the Danish government and all democratic governments to condemn the arrest. This abuse should not go unheeded, especially as China has become one of the most important trading partners of the West. Therefore we have a special obligation to express our concern.

In particular I summon the governments of Hong Kong and Taiwan to protest. These two entities with Chinese population enjoying free speech have a special obligation to express their disapproval of an infringement committed by Mainland China. Maybe the Chinese government will be more sensitive to criticism from their own compatriots”, Jens Galschiot concludes.

General INFO

Guggenheim’s petition:

http://www.change.org/petitions/call-for-the-release-of-ai-weiwei#?opt_new=f&opt_fb=t

The artist has uploaded comprehensive documentation about China on his homepage, see

http://www.aidoh.dk/China-activities

About the detention, see

http://www.aidoh.dk/Ai-Weiwei

Contact/info/photos on Jens Galschiot: www.aidoh.dk, e-mail aidoh@aidoh.dk
Tel. +45 6618 4058, mobile +45 4044 7058

www.facebook.com/galschiot.official and http://www.twitter.com/galschiot

Newsletter: subscribe at aidoh@aidoh.dk

Work In Progress

2011-04-13T03:07:00.000-07:00

Sub-urban, the Urban Espresso Bar's video-lounge presents:

work in progress

05.04.2011 - 18.04.2011

ALITE THIJSEN : work in progress : 2009 - 2011

The camera is Alite Thijsen's instrument to get a view on social processes. For her the images are
snapshots, inseparable from the context. The author, the subject, the location, the accidental encounters
and the assembly, all those elements determine what is shown.

Over the past twenty years Alite Thijsen has frequently worked and travelled in Africa. Through her
experience she questions the absolute nature of knowledge gathering. The artist's video which is now on
show in Sub urban video lounge is shot in Casamanca (Senegal) during the boukout ceremony. The origin of
the boukout goes way back in the past and seems to be unaffected by evangelisation, conversion,
colonialism and globalization. In an indeterminate moment, once in twenty years, the youngsters in the
village are initiated by the elderly into social practice and tested in their defensibility.

For this important initiation former inhabitants return to their village, coming from all over the world. The fact
that the public part of the ceremonies is now open to an outsider with a camera, proofs that tradition is not a
fixed phenomenon. But what does this mean for this tradition in the future?

coming up :
19.04.2011 - 03.05.2011 : ALITE THIJSEN : CASABLANCA WORKSHOPS

SUB URBAN VIDEO LOUNGE

Screenings: daily from 12h - 17h

Urban Espresso Bar - Botersloot 44A (near Central Library) Rotterdam
sub@urbanespressobar.nl - www.sub.urbanespressobar.nl

SUPERMARKET: Cultural Collaborations in new Constellations. A meeting between Sweden and West Africa

2011-02-17T21:20:00.000-08:00

“African Talks”
in collaboration with: In Focus: Nordic and African Art in Collaboration.
February 19, 2 – 4 pm

Culture is a fundamental part of a society, and a fundamental factor in the development of a country. But culture is fragile when faced with economical, and political realities. If a society lacks stability, or an economical and political will, it is difficult for a culture to grow, and to develop freely. But: in places where culture is endorsed and given support, areas can flourish in ways that reaches far beyond the boundaries of art.

The fact that economically strong countries like Sweden support developing countries, and regions with scarce resources is for many people something axiomatic. But, it is a support that rarely focuses on culture. We know that anti-poverty programmes are necessary, but what other processes in a country are also important to support? A somewhat different view seems to be in practise in countries like France and Germany, where cultural support is broad and is being performed all over the world. This type of commitment must also be discussed. As a receiver of such support one might be faced with conditions that are not always suitable for the indigenous context. How does one maintain an independence and integrity in such a situation? How can an independent cultural platform be developed?

In a talk between artists and culture workers from Sweden, Mali and Nigeria we will discuss the conditions of cultural collaborations. What type of experiences do we have, and how do we develop a sustainable collaboration? What do we want to do in the future? The participants will share their own experiences from different projects and collaborations, together with representatives from cultural institutions.

The debate is organized by Supermarket and In Focus: Nordic and African Art in Collaboration, a politically and religiously independent organization that promotes collaborations between artists and producers of culture in the Nordic region and Africa, with a focus on West Africa.

African Talks is supported by the Swedish Institute. A special thanks to the association Afrikultur.

Triple Canopy: 2011 commissions program

2011-01-26T15:22:00.000-08:00

Triple Canopy: 2011 commissions program

Triple Canopy is pleased to announce its second annual call for proposals. We will be commissioning projects spanning the six areas outlined below—original research, new-media journalism, public programming, Internet-specific artwork and literature, and critical dialogues—to be published in the magazine and presented before live audiences between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2012. Proposals are due by February 14, 2011. Read more

Project areas

Triple Canopy staff will work closely and collaboratively with contributors as they develop their projects, a process that usually takes between three and six months. Recipients of commissions will be offered a modest honorarium of up to 500 USD, depending on the scope of the project and the cost of its development, in addition to between twenty and thirty hours of work by editors, designers, and developers.

Research Work
Research Work was established to facilitate the creation of research projects that are produced outside academia, for a general audience; employ Internet-specific methods of presentation; and serve a public best reached by making the work available for free online.

Immaterial Literature
Immaterial Literature was established to facilitate the production of creative writing—fiction, poetry, prose—that engages other media (and artists), considers the particular formal qualities of the Web as a medium, and speaks to a diverse and widespread readership.

Internet as Material
Internet as Material was established to support emerging and midcareer artists who have never before made work specifically for the Web in the production of an online project. These projects further Triple Canopy's mission by utilizing the Internet—which is too often understood as a channel for the transfer of information—as a medium for the development of artworks that actively engage readers and viewers.

Thinking Through Images
Thinking Through Images was established to foster conversations about images and videos of cultural, political, and social relevance, between artists, writers, researchers, and other engaged cultural practitioners working in different fields. The program aims to facilitate close readings of popular media and fine art—from nineteenth-century paintings to Internet memes to documentation of current events—that consider these cultural products in a common context.

New Media Reporting
New Media Reporting was established to provide journalists an outlet for—and provide them with the technical resources and expertise to realize—in-depth, critical reports executed in multiple media, with the goal of providing an immersive experience of stories and subjects.

New Programming
New Programming was established to support the development of exhibitions, panel discussions, performances, film screenings, and other public events that examine the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. It serves the general public by offering unique, low-cost educational experiences at community-based nonprofit spaces in the United States and elsewhere.

Submission guidelines

Past commissions recipients

Triple Canopy is an online magazine, workspace, and platform for editorial and curatorial activities. Working collaboratively with writers, artists, and researchers, Triple Canopy facilitates projects that engage the Internet's specific characteristics as a public forum and as a medium, one with its own evolving practices of reading and viewing, economies of attention, and modes of interaction. In doing so, Triple Canopy is charting an expanded field of publication, drawing on the history of print culture while acting as a hub for the exploration of emerging forms and the public spaces constituted around them. Triple Canopy is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.

Triple Canopy gratefully acknowledges The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston, The Buddy Taub Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics (FEAST), The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, New York Council for the Humanities, New York State Council on the Arts, and The Prospect Hill Foundation, as well as the many individuals and in-kind contributors who have generously given their support.

canopycanopycanopy.com

TrAIN Residency at Gasworks

2011-01-18T05:41:00.001-08:00

Residency Dates: 5th April 2011 - 2nd July 2011
Deadline for application: 24th January 2011
The successful applicant will be notified by the end of January-first
week of February 2011.

The residency comprises:
- accommodation and basic living expenses in London
- materials/production budget
- a studio at Gasworks
- an artist's talk and Open Studio, or similar
public presentations, at Gasworks
- administrative, pastoral and curatorial support from Gasworks.

The support, networks and creative environments that Gasworks can offer
will provide the artist with the means to research and experiment with
new work.

This residency is open to emerging and mid-career artists.
The selected artist should be able to engage discursively and
speculatively with Gasworks' environments and London's wider artistic
and cultural context.

TrAIN
TrAIN (transnational art, identity and nation) is a Research Centre
based at Chelsea College of Art & Design, University of the Arts London.
TrAIN has collaborated annually with Gasworks since 2007 with the aim of
developing a research-based residency programme extending between the
studio and the art school.

Artists’ Brief, 2011
The residency focuses on the archives and special collections held at
Chelsea College of Art & Design Library. We are inviting an
international artist to: either : use these collections as one point of
departure for the development of new work; or : to create and deposit
their own ‘resident archive’ for future researchers at Chelsea College
of Art & Design Library (for examples, a collection of ephemera, a
project to be realised in the future, a set of clues for future
researchers or curators...).

The route into the Special Collections is not prescribed; its size and
complexity allows for diverse and unpredictable responses. Exposing the
processes and ideas of modern and contemporary artists, it invites
contemporary re-readings, re-activations and replies. The artist is not
required to have particular expertise or experience in working with
archives. The residency is process-led and open-ended. It is focused on
the development of a project rather than a finished product. All
Gasworks residencies culminate in an Open Studio exhibition. The TrAIN
Residency is open to emerging and mid-career artists from any country
outside of the UK.

For more information on the Chelsea Collection, please click here.

Application procedure

We prefer digital applications in PDF, Word or Powerpoint formats. There
is a 10MB limit on each email sent to us but you can send your file via
www.yousendit.com if necessary.
Your application should include:
1. A statement outlining how you imagine using Chelsea's collections
(300 word max)

2. An artist's statement describing your practice and areas of interest
in your work (250 word max)

3. A minimum of 10 images of recent work with captions and a short
description if necessary. Postal applications are also accepted but
please do not send originals.

4.A curriculum vitae

5. Any relevant documentation (e.g. articles or papers about the work or
exhibitions, publications, etc).

6. A cover sheet with name, contact address, e-mail, telephone and fax
numbers if available, plus confirmation that you will be available
between April-June 2011 if selected.

Applications should be emailed to:
Residencies Assistant, Gasworks
residencies_assistant@gasworks.org.uk

If you prefer to post your application, please send it to:

Residencies Coordinator
Gasworks International Residency Programme
155 Vauxhall Street
London SE11 5RH
UK

We regret that we are not able to send material back.

Please read this before applying:
Selection and eligibility
The residency is open to contemporary visual artists working in all
disciplines, however one must note the restricted facilities. Emerging
and mid career artists involved in high quality art practice who have
not had the opportunity to work in London before are prioritised.
Applying artists should have a good level of spoken English, and should
feel comfortable engaging in artistic discussions in English.
Gasworks and TrAIN will create a shortlist, from which a panel of
representatives of both organisations will select the artist

.
http://www.gasworks.org.uk/content/detail.php?id=314

Green Summary

2010-12-28T14:52:00.000-08:00

A retrospect developed around the theme of Independence

Photo by Jude Anogwih, 2010

In celebration of the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos’ 3 year
anniversary, artists who have engaged with the centre over the last
three years have been invited back to interpret their experience with
CCA around the theme of Independence. Artists were given the gallery
space as a studio from 3rd – 17th December to develop and present a
body of work, with one restriction, work produced must be Green.
Artists selected work with a variety of medium including; painting,
photography and video art and were provided with materials from which
to develop the work. The resulting exhibition draws from their various
artistic backgrounds and collaborative efforts to present independence
through the eyes of contemporary Nigerian artists.

The Green summary will run from December 20th 2010- 21st January 2011
Opening talk will take place on Monday 20th from 2pm with a
presentation by contributing artists, followed by light refreshments.

Contributing Artists:
Karo Akpokiere, Jude Anogwih, Jelili Atiku, Ndidi Dike, Uche Joel
Chima, Taiye Idahor, Emeka Ogboh, Richardson Obveibo,
Victoria Udondian

Curators
Ronke Adeola, Jude Anogwih, Oyinda Fakeye

call for proposals

2010-12-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

:: Call for Curators ::
Guest Curator Project
2011-2012 Program

Action Art Actuel [AAA] is putting out a call to exhibition curators. For a third year, AAA is making its spaces available to a curator for a series of 5 exhibitions, enabling him/her to play a crucial role in determining AAA’s 2010-2011 programming. In doing so, AAA hopes to support innovative curatorial practices and the dialogue surrounding them. Furthermore, a series of exhibitions, residencies, on-site and off-site events will run parallel to the programming

The curator will have the mandate to present a series of five exhibitions on a theme of his/her choice. The proposed program may include 1 or 2 residency projects for a 6 to 8 week period of research and production. We also encourage performance elements that may be combined with the opening of certain exhibitions. A publication documenting the exhibitions and the research associated with them will be produced at upon completion of this third year of curatorial-based programs.

THE CURATOR’S MANDATE

* • To propose a theme for a series of five exhibitions;
* • To conceive of five exhibitions based on this theme;
* • To choose 5 authors who will write an essay on the artworks, in relation to the theme of the season;
* • To select the artists and the artworks;
* • To provide the necessary documentation for evaluating the proposed projects;
* • To establish the first contact with the artists and authors in order to be assured of their collaboration (following the acceptance of a proposal, the centre will assume responsibility for the subsequent stages);
* • To write a text presenting the series [500 words max.] and a critical essay on the overall programming [1000 words approx.], and to provide the AAA staff with information for writing the grant applications and press releases;
* • To be present at the opening of the season and for each exhibition [as much as possible], be available for media interviews and so on.

An honorarium will be paid to the curator. For more details consult [honoraria paid, list of equipment, plans of exhibition and work spaces] below.

The curator must agree to visit the centre before beginning the programming work in order to become acquainted with the spaces and their potential.

The curator is responsible for selecting the projects; however, they are subject to the centre’s approval for financial, technical and/or logistical reasons.

PROJECT SCHEDULE

January 31, 2011: Deadline for receiving applications;

February 15, 2011: Selection of the curator;

March 10, 2011: Submission of the final presentation text for the curatorial project, and reception of the artist and author confirmations;

September 2011: First exhibition, launching of the curatorial project;

Sept 2011 to June 2012: Presentation of 5 exhibitions, creation residencies carried out, and texts written by the selected authors;

September 2012: The curator and authors submit final texts;

January 2013: Launching of the publication.

SUBMISSIONS

Submission should include the following:

* • A description of the curatorial project, explaining the theme and the choice of exhibiting artists [5 pages maximum];
* • An up-to-date curriculum vitae;
* • Ten [10] images of pre-selected work [this may be installation views or sketches of works in progress] on CD or DVD, with a description list indicating the name of the artist, the title of the work and the date of production;
* • Two published texts [or in the process of being published];
* • A press kit.

Submissions must be sent for the January 31, 2011 deadline BY MAIL ONLY:

Action Art Actuel
Guest Curator Project
190 rue Richelieu
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Qc
J3B 6X4

INFORMATION

Action Art Actuel is an artist-run centre devoted to the promotion and development of contemporary art. For more than 20 years, AAA has been active in the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu region of Quebec, supporting and presenting the work of artists from here and abroad.

AAA offers a stimulating environment for research, experimentation and presentation in which both emerging and established artists can participate in a program of exhibitions, events and residencies. The centre has two exhibition galleries, a studio with residence and a documentation centre of contemporary art.

AAA is a dynamic artist-run centre that proposes various means of presentation, research, promotion and production of multidisciplinary works. Several initiatives and satellite activities are carried out in parallel with the exhibition program, such as publications, organized training sessions and community outreach programs. Numerous collaborations are also initiated through curated projects and international exchanges.

view the exhibition space layout

view the residency working space layout (next to the exhibition space)

EQUIPMENT LIST

For exhibitions:
3 x multimédia projectors
- 2 x Canon 2000 lumens
- 1 x Eiki 4500 lumens
3 x dvd players
3 x flat tv screen (LED)
- 2 x Sharp 20 inches
- 1 x Panasonic 32 inches
1 x amplifier QSF rmx850-270W

For residencies:

- basic woodworking tools (circular saw, drill, jigsaw, miter saw, etc)
- acess to computers (imac) : Adobe CS3
- 1 HD camera Canon HF200 SD
- 1 wireless microphone
- a computer imac (17 inches intel core duo), equiped for video mounting (Final Cut Studio)

ARTIST’S AND CURATOR’S FEES

Curator Fee : 2 500$ CAD
Exhibition Fee : 1 500$ CAD
Performance Fee : 350$ CAD
Residency Production Fee : 1 500$ CAD
Writer Fee : 400$ CAD for 1 000 words
Transportation Allowance : 150$ CAD by exhibition
[www.action-art-actuel.org]

For more information:
Julie C. Paradis, director

direction@action-art-actuel.org

Roots: The 4th Nigeria Makeover Show

2010-11-18T05:06:00.000-08:00

http://www.thenigeriamakeovershow.org/
http://alliancefrancaise-ng.org

Venue: Terra Kulture
Date: 27th November
Gate fee: N3,000
Participation fee for make-up artists: 10,000

In collaboration with Alliance Francaise (French Cultural Centre), Terra Kulture (a Nigerian Cultural Centre) and GINUO SHOP, La dong Makeup and Finishing Academy presents “Roots”, the 4th Edition of The Nigeria Makeover Show to celebrate Nigeria’s 50th Independence Anniversary through creativity in epic makeup, to promote the richness and diversity of the Nigerian arts & culture.

The event would feature an exhibition by veterans, pros and amateur makeup artistes in Diaspora and from abroad, showcasing their works; while the best blend of classical music by renowned soloists / orchestra and rib cracking jokes by stand-up comedians will spice up the day.

soulROCKS minitape pt.8: Stank

2010-11-18T04:53:00.000-08:00

soulROCKS minitape pt.8: Stank

2010 CCNY Photo Benefit Auction

2010-10-23T16:40:00.000-07:00

Monday, October 25, 2010
6 - 8pm
Located at The Exhibition Lab
548 West 28th Street, 2nd Floor (betw 10th / 11th Avenues)

$15 admission. All proceeds go to The Camera Club of New York (CCNY), a non-profit 501(c)3 arts organization that has been nurturing talented photographers since 1884.

For further inquires, contact CCNY at info@cameraclubny.org or by phone:

CCNY wishes to thank The Exhibition Lab for their generosity in hosting this year’s auction.

FELAbration

2010-10-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

culled from: http://artspeakafrica.blogspot.com/

First published in 1982, Fela: This Bitch of a Life is the authoritative text on the life and times of Africa's greatest ever musician.

In just under 350 pages, the reader is invited to the living room of Fela’s iconoclastic mind, discovering from the inside the key turning points in his life – his childhood in Abeokuta and the forceful influence of his parents, especially his mother; student life in England; his coming to black consciousness in America (and his encounters with Funk and some of the key players in African-American musical and political culture); his return to Nigeria and setting up the Shrine and Kalakuta Republic and his increasingly painful struggles with the authorities in Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s.

Reading about Fela brings to life post-Independence African history in all its turbulence and drama. The book also includes interviews with some of Fela’s wives, allowing the reader to get an intimate perspective on Fela as a husband and as a lover.

The author, Carlos Moore, will be touring Nigeria this October:

Saturday 9th October, 4pm: Centre for Contemporary Art, 9 McEwen St, Sabo, Lagos. Click here to reserve your place.

Sunday 10th October, 4pm: The Life House, 33 Sinari Daranijo St, off Younis Bashoroun St, off Ajose Adeogun, VI, Lagos (with live band). Special guests Keziah Jones and Guitar Man.

Monday 11th October, 10am: The New Africa Shrine, NERDC Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja. Lecture "Fela: Music is the Weapon" (Symposium titled The Fela Debates - part of the annual Felabration).

Wednesday 13th October, 11am: UNILAG, 4th floor, Faculty of Arts Boardroom (in conjunction with CBAAC). Public lecture, "What is Africa to me? Fela Kuti and the reshaping of the Pan-African Dream in the post-colonial era."

Saturday 16th October, 4pm: French Cultural Centre, 52 Libreville St, Wuse, Abuja.

Note that for the events on the 9th, 10th and 16th October, there is a N2,000 entrance fee (which includes a copy of the book). Fela: This Bitch of a Life will only be available to buy at these events this year.

Don't miss this year's Felabration. From the 12th - 17th October, the following artists will be playing at The Shrine: D'banj, Kwam1, Nneka, Ayetoro, Seun & Femi Kuti, Kezia Jones, Awilo Longomba.

culled from www.cassavarepublic.biz

Sign Up for the Street Photography Now Project

2010-10-09T08:34:00.000-07:00

Each Friday from 1 October 2010 a new Instruction will be issued by one of the photographers featured in Street Photography Now. This will appear on the front page of this website, and be sent out by email.

To receive the weekly Instruction by email, send a message to signup@photonet.org.uk with SPNP in the subject header. You can join at any time.

You may upload one photograph per Instruction to the Street Photography Now Project Flickr Group. You may respond to as many Instructions as you want.

We are looking for candid photographs taken in the stream of everyday life. Your photographs should demonstrate an understanding of the history and practice of street photography – you can stretch or even break the unwritten rules of the genre, but you should be aware of them first. It may help to read the introduction to Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren’s book Street Photography Now.

The Project administrators reserve the right to remove any unsuitable photographs without explanation.

Project Rules

If you choose to contribute photographs to our Flickr groups, you must agree to the following:

1. Only upload photographs in response to the current Instruction
2. A maximum of 1 photograph can be uploaded per person, per week
3. Discussions are welcomed but please keep them relevant to the theme
4. The Flickr site may be visited by children and family groups, so suitable content only
5. Anyone posting to Flickr takes full responsibility for the content of their photograph or words
6. The photograph you submit must be your own work, and by adding it to this group you confirm that you are the copyright holder
7. Anyone adding photographs to Flickr agrees to have their work featured on streetphotographynowproject.wordpress.com and www.photonet.org.uk
8. Anyone adding photographs to Flickr agrees that their image can be used by The Photographers Gallery* to help publicise The Street Photography Now Project
9. If you would like your photograph credited with something other than your Flickr name, please make sure you include this information with your photo before you add it to Flickr

You can join the Project at any time.

More info: http://streetphotographynowproject.wordpress.com

Clemens en August in SMBA

2010-10-07T06:57:00.000-07:00

8th, 9th and 10th October
Shop open from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The fashion label Clemens and August is also calling in at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam during its tour this year. For three days, over the weekend of 8, 9 and 10 October, SMBA is providing space for their new women's and men's collection, complete with fitting rooms and point of sale. Clothing by Clemens and August is exclusively available at the locations on their international tour. The fashion label avoids the expensive overhead costs that accompany standard sales models, such as shop rental and distribution with this tour concept.

Every season the collection enters a gallery or museum in a large city. Thus Clemens and August will be reaching its audience this autumn through institutions including Witte de With in Rotterdam, Artists Space in New York, Museum Ludwig in Cologne and the Kunstverein in Munich – the city which is also the home base for this fashion concept by Alexander Brenninkmeijer.
SMBA is now functioning as the base of operations for Clemens and August in Amsterdam. Proceeds from the rental income will benefit the exhibition budget.

More information at www.clemens-en-august.com

One Minute Awards 2011

2010-10-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

One Minutes Magazine, series of One Minute video art to which a selective group of podia can subscribe. It will appear on a monthly basis. The awards and the launch of TOM Magazine is in February 2011.

Series for which you can submit entries are:

Video performance: you and the camera

Cut and Paste: technical miracles

A Small History: small stories about matters we should not forget about

Micro Commercial: small companies run by passionate owners

Fairground Attraction: surreal details of a visual dreamworld

Mini road movie: travel report from A to B, a world network of travels

Per series 6 entries will be nominated for an award plus cash prize. Deadline 1 December 2010.

Autograph ABP launches first film season at Rivington Place

2010-09-28T00:26:00.001-07:00

Image caption: Film still from Testament (1988), dir: John Akomfrah

Autograph ABP is pleased to launch the film season with the award winning film Testament (1988:80 mins), a Black Audio Film Collective production followed by a discussion with director John Akomfrahnon Friday 1st October, 6.30pm.

Testament focuses on the Kwame Nkrumah era in Ghanaian history and paints a portrait of a female African government minister forced into exile after a coup d'état in 1966. Two decades later the protagonist returns to confront the country she left behind. Filmed partly in Ghana, Akomfrah's film explores themes of diaspora, memory, political struggle and liberatory idealism.

Contact Rivington Place directly for further details and to reserve a space; £3.50 on the door.

Autograph ABP
Rivington Place
London EC2A 3BA

T +44 (0)20 7729 9200
F +44 (0)20 7739 8748
www.rivingtonplace.org

Sartorial Moments and the Nearness of Yesterday

2010-09-28T00:13:00.000-07:00

Double click on the image to enlarge.

Age of Extremes

2010-09-23T05:49:00.000-07:00

6.45pm Thursday 23 September
Tricycle Cinema,
269 Kilburn High Road, NW6,
BOX OFFICE: 0207 328 1000

The documentary exposes how the British establishment have utilised propaganda and deliberately demonized and marginalized Islam as a means to bolster support for their wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Additional screening:
Riverside Studios
7.30pm Thursday 30 Sept
Crisp Road, Hammersmith
BOX OFFICE: 0208 237 1111

We strongly recommend that you purchase your tickets in advance as ricenpeas events are generally sold out. This is a documentary not to be missed.

Please feel free to forward this invitation

For more information visit our website and check out this month's issue of our online magazine.
http://ricenpeas.com

Triangle Arts Trust Workshop in Collaboration with the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos

2010-09-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

APPLICATION DEADLINE IS 18TH SEPTEMBER 2010.

I am happy to inform you about the first Triangle Arts Trust Workshop in Lagos organised in collaboration with CCA,Lagos to be held from the 4th-17th October 2010 at Stone House in Alakuko. The workshop hopes to accommodate 18 professional artists from Nigeria, across Africa as well as internationally. The workshop is open to artists working in all media. Whilst the focus will be artists from Nigeria (up to 10) priority will also be given to artists from the Global South. Applications are also welcome from around the world.

The two-week workshop will bring together a group of artists working in various disciplines to share ideas,experiences and to make new work inspired by the context and the opportunity to work alongside other artists.
Approximately 18 artists will participate in the workshop, half from Nigeria and the rest from other countries in Africa and further afield. During the workshop participants will also be invited to present their work to each other and to the public. The workshop will end with an Open Day, when the public will join the artists in celebrating the outcome of the two weeks.

Financial conditions:
The workshop will provide the successful applicants with full lodging and food, working space, local transportation and a small material stipend. International artists will be able to apply to have their international travel covered by the workshop.

Procedure for applications and deadline:
All candidates must apply using the application form and submit all the required documents listed in the form. Closing date for applications 18th September 2010. The completed application forms and required documents can be requested from info@ccalagos.org should be returned to this address.

While email communication is encouraged, artists may send their materials to the following address:
Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos
9, McEwen Street, Sabo, Yaba
Lagos, Nigeria

Please note that work or material sent by post cannot be returned.
Late applications cannot be reviewed. Successful candidates will be informed by 21st of September 2010

For more information or any inquiries, please contact info@ccalagos.org

Opening Reception Ever Young: James Barnor with a special viewing of The Paris Albums 1900: W.E.B. Du Bois 16th September

2010-09-13T06:15:00.000-07:00

16 September 2010 6.30-8.30pm, Rivington Place, London

Autograph ABP presents two major photographic exhibitions: James Barnor’s street and studio portraits from the late 1940s to the 1970s, in Ghana and England, and the W.E.B. Du Bois collection of portraits compiled for the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. Both aim to explore the notion of the photographic archive in relation to visual politics of race, representation and difference, as well as the question of modernity within post-colonial and transatlantic perspectives on photography in the 21st century.

James Barnor’s archive was produced during a career that started in 1949. It covers a remarkable period in history, bridging continents and photographic genres as it creates a transatlantic narrative marked by his passionate interest in people and cultures. Many of his works will be shown for the first time in the UK.

Through the medium of portraiture, Barnor’s photographs represent societies in transition: Ghana moving towards its independence and London becoming a cosmopolitan, multicultural metropolis. The exhibition showcases vintage and contemporary prints from Barnor’s photographic studio Ever Young, fashion portraits in glorious colour, as well as portraits of luminaries, such as Kwame Nkrumah and Mohammad Ali, many commissioned for Drum magazine.

Fifty years earlier, W.E.B. Du Bois, the leading black intellectual and civil rights activist, and Thomas J. Calloway, lawyer and educator, strategically employed 363 photographs in the American Negro Exhibit. The Paris Albums 1900 present a selection of 200 portraits compiled for their photographic album entitled Types of American Negroes, Georgia, U.S.A. Retrospectively, Du Bois' remarkable collection of photographs can be read as the origins of a visual construction of a new African-American identity. As such, it provides an extraordinary insight into the conditions of black culture at the end of the 19th century, only 35 years after the abolition of slavery.

Ranging in genre from mug shot aesthetic to bourgeois theatrical portrait, Du Bois’ intention was to produce a comprehensive, alternative view of the black subject, in his own words ‘an honest straightforward exhibit of a small nation of people, picturing their life and development without apology or gloss, and above all made by themselves.’ One-hundred and ten years later and exhibited for the first time in the UK, Autograph ABP presents a selection from this important archive to re-examine the critical question of representation.

The exhibition Ever Young: James Barnor emerges as a direct result of archival research made possible by a four year archive project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), entitled Archive and Research Centre for Culturally Diverse Photography, opening in 2011.

Autograph ABP
Rivington Place
London EC2A 3BA

T +44 (0)20 7729 9200
F +44 (0)20 7739 8748

For further details
info@autograph-abp.co.uk
www.autograph-abp.co.uk

VIDEONALE 13: Short Deadline

2010-09-13T05:27:00.000-07:00

Call for Entries
Deadline: 20 September 2010

www.videonale.org

"A place for discoveries" – That's what the German magazine art wrote about VIDEONALE, the international festival for contemporary video art. From 14 April to 29 May 2011 the 13th edition of VIDEONALE takes place at Kunstmuseum Bonn/Germany. You can submit single or – this year for the first time – multi channel works created in the past two years for VIDEONALE 13. The entry deadline is 20 September, 2010 (post mark).

Founded in 1984 the biannually initiated VIDEONALE is counted amongst the oldest festivals for video art in Germany and Europe. Besides its high standard of presented works, VIDEONALE reached a widely accepted reputation in its attempt to develop new forms of presentation for video art. Like in the past also at VIDEONALE 13 a team of architects and designers will develop a cutting-edge exhibition architecture to meet the requirements of the reception of media art.

For the 13th VIDEONALE about 40 works will be chosen by an international jury of experts and afterwards be presented in a six-week exhibition in Bonn. The show will open with a four-day festival featuring a variety of events. Starting in late summer the works of VIDEONALE 13 will be shown at further art institutions worldwide in the context of VIDEONALE ON TOUR. The works of VIDEONALE 12 were shown at the video art fair LOOP Barcelona/Spain, at the Museum of Modern Art in Glasgow/Scotland, at INVIDEO festival in Milan/Italy, at Bavarian House in Odessa/Ukraine, at several venues in Taipei/Taiwan and at the National Gallery of Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo/Bosnia-Herzegovina.

There's no set topic for submissions, but the submitted work mustn't be older than two years (i.e. starting January 2008).

The exhibits will automatically be taking part in the competition for the VIDEONALE-AWARD which will be awarded by an international prize-jury.

Deadline for submission is 20 September 2010. Further information and application forms are available at www.videonale.org.

Contact:

VIDEONALE e.V. im Kunstmuseum Bonn
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 2
D-53113 Bonn
Germany
tel +49-(0)228-692818
einsendungen@videonale.org
www.videonale.org

Project 35 Screenings Lagos

2010-08-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

Photo credit: Ho Tzu Nyen, Episode 3, Tang Da Wu – The Most Radical Gesture, from 4 x 4 – Episodes of Singapore Art, 2005

Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos Nigeria
August 26, 2010

Discs 1 and 2 of Project 35 will be screened on Thursday, August 26th. This event will also be accompanied by a talk.
Screening: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Talk: 12:00 pm

Lifehouse, 33 Sinari Daranijo, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria
August 27, 2010

Discs 1 and 2 of Project 35 will be screened on Friday, August 27th.
4:00 - 7:00 pm

For more information contact Oyinda Fakeye on +234 7055680104 or email at info@vanlagos.org

Project 35
Curated by 35 international curators

Project 35 is an evolving exhibition of video works selected by 35 international curators and designed in a flexible presentation format, reflecting the diversity and unique nature of the many national and international art spaces ICI partners with. For Project 35, each curator has been invited to select one artist’s video that they think vital for contemporary art audiences across the globe. The result heralds the new decade, and showcases a new exhibition concept for ICI, with an eclectic compilation of works that reveal the global reach that video has achieved as a contemporary art medium today. It is most fitting that this project begins with Guy Ben-Ner’s Berkeley’s Island (1999), which refers to George Berkeley’s famous dictum “to be is to be perceived”. It is the curators’ and ICI’s hope that these videos are “perceived” by diverse communities within the exhibitions spaces that Project 35 will travel to, inspiring debate and functioning as an international catalyst for dialogue and exchange.

The works are presented in 4 chapters, each containing 8 to 9 videos, and the exhibition unfolds simultaneously in multiple spaces, chapter-by-chapter, over the period of a year. Project 35 will show a diversity of approaches to making video, as well as the interests artists are addressing in their practice. Taking advantage of the medium’s versatility, Project 35 can be viewed in an auditorium, foyer, or in a gallery space. The DVDs can be projected or viewed on a monitor, depending on host venue needs and interests. It may be a key program component in a project space for a year; presented in weekly, monthly or quarterly screenings; or running in the cafe or education room every afternoon.

Project 35 recalls the founding initiatives of ICI. It was 35 years ago that ICI organized its very first exhibition, a seminal survey of video art titled Video Art USA for the São Paulo Biennial. It presented works by artists that included Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman, Nam June Paik, Keith Sonnier, Steina Vasulka, and Bill Viola among others. These artists were pioneers working in a medium that was just beginning to gain traction in the field of contemporary art, and ICI proved to be an early and committed proponent of it. The international scope of ICI was clearly indicated in this first exhibition, which went on touring 4 more countries across Latin America. With Project 35, ICI further draws from its extensive international network of curators formed over the past 35 years to organize a new exhibition of international video art, and support new collaborations between curators, artists and exhibitions spaces on national and international platforms.

Artists
Disc 1: Guy Ben-Ner, Yukihiro Taguchi, Dan Halter, Zhou Xiaohu, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz, Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn & Phù Nam Thuc Ha, Kota Ezawa, Edwin Sanchez, and Robert Cauble

Disc 2: Sammy Baloji, Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys, Andrea Büttner, Alexander Apóstol, Daniela Paes Leao, Ranbir Kaleka, Ho Tzu Nyen, and Stephen Sutcliffe

Curators include:
Mai Abu ElDahab (Egypt/Belgium), Magali Arriola (Mexico), Ruth Auerbach (Venezuela), Nicolas Bourriaud (France), Zoe Butt (Australia/Vietnam), Yane Calovski (Macedonia), Lee Weng Choy (Singapore), Joselina Cruz (Philippines), Sergio Edelsztein (Argentina/Israel), Charles Esche (UK/Netherlands), Lauri Firstenberg (U.S.), Alexie Glass-Kantor (Australia), Anthony Huberman (Switzerland/U.S.), Mami Kataoka (Japan), Constance Lewallen (U.S.), Lu Jie (China), Raimundas Malasauskas (Lithuania/France), Francesco Manacorda (Italy), Chus Martinez (Spain), Viktor Misiano (Russia), Deeksha Nath (India), Simon Njami (Cameroon/France), Hans Ulrich Obrist (Switzerland/UK), José Roca (Colombia), Bisi Silva (Nigeria), Franklin Sirmans (U.S.), Kathryn Smith (South Africa), Susan Sollins (U.S.), WHW (Croatia), and more

About ICI
ICI organizes public programs in New York, across the U.S, and around the world that provide a platform for curators to share their research and experiences with the public. Through partnerships with a range of institutions, ICI enables new audiences and curators alike to understand and navigate the rapidly growing field of curating, while also increasing access to current developments in contemporary art internationally.

Through ICI on the Move, ICI is expanding its public programming reach nationally, working with venues that host our traveling exhibitions, developing visiting curator tours, and organizing public discussions at art fairs to bring emerging and established practitioners together to exchange ideas and share their experiences.

In 35 years of operation ICI has organized 116 traveling exhibitions, profiling the work of more than 3,700 artists. The shows have been presented in 590 museums, university art galleries, and art centers in 48 states and 25 countries worldwide.

Tongues on Fire: A tribute to the Black Panthers

2010-08-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

Directed by David Murray with The Roots, The Last Poets, Doctor L and the visuals of Emory Douglas
11 September 2010 / 19:30
Barbican Hall

Tickets: £15/20/25/30
subject to availability

I really enjoy the programming at the Barbican and this looks to be something special!

Special multi-artform evening inspired by the revolutionary art of 1960s African-American radicals the Black Panthers cultural guru Emory Douglas. Featuring live music by members of hip-hop legends The Roots, free jazz, tenor saxophonist David Murray and the lyrical wizardry and politically-charged raps of the Last Poets.

A unique musical tribute to the cultural influence of 1960s African-American radicals the Black Panthers, whose publications and artefacts were often characterised by the unforgettable vernacular artwork of Emory Douglas, who worked as the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967 until the Party disbanded in the 1980s.

The Last Poets, originally formed in 1968, are now widely seen as one of the earliest influences on what would become hip-hop. Their politically-charged raps, taut rhythms, and dedication to raising African-American consciousness almost single-handedly laid the groundwork for the emergence of political hip-hop a couple of decades later in groups like The Roots, formed in 1987 by Tariq 'Black Thought' Trotter and Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson in Philadelphia.

The Roots have continued to provide a left-field, politically conscious and jazz-influenced take on the genre. Tenor saxophonist David Murray, the star of the free jazz 'Loft Scene' in 1970s New York, has since ploughed an individual musical furrow, leading small groups, an octet and a big band as well as recording a tribute the Grateful Dead, Dark Star, and picking up a Grammy Award in 1989 and the Danish Jazzpar Proze in 1991

'Well-tempered harmonic imagination ... technically audacious.' Jazz Times on David Murray

'The bottom line is that if you enjoy hip-hop, or jazz, or soul, or rock - or, now, New Orleans' brass, this is the band to see live.' Jim Cosby, Music OMH on The Roots

For more info and to purchase tickets:http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=10807

Video Art Network Lagos.... lets get blogging

2010-08-17T06:23:00.001-07:00

If I'm not blogging here, I'm blogging here>>>>>>>>>>> http://vanlagos.blogspot.com/

Afropolitans: The face of a modernising Africa

2010-08-04T03:02:00.000-07:00

culled from: http://blog.euromonitor.com/2010/07/afropolitans-the-face-of-a-modernising-africa.html
Published: 9th July 2010

The Face of Modern Africa Africa has historically had a very small middle class base, mainly comprised of government workers. Today there is a growing upwardly mobile class that is also associated with the private sector, both globalised and localised in their aspirations and anxieties, proud of being African and ready to bring a new image of the continent to the world. As a direct witness, Kenyan retail chain Nakumatt keeps expanding with Malls in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. "It's psychological - people want upward movement," said Thiagarajan Ramamurthy, Nakumatt's operations director. "The appetite is increasing - the 14-inch TV became a 21-inch. The 21 became a 29 and the 29 became plasma. It's an aspiration."
Key trends

* Mobility is key;

* Creative soul and trendsetters;

* An expanding film industry.

Commercial opportunities

* While Asia and Eastern Europe continue to be the most popular destinations for the expansion of fashion items, the current global downturn and the changing media landscape worldwide will make the Sub-Saharan market more attractive;

* Following the example of South Africa as reported by Euromonitor International, the mobile phone industry is set for greater growth in 2010 while smartphones become more affordable. This means more advertising space and more need for content, specific to the region;

* Social networks such as www.PlentyAfricans.com or www.afrigator.com are expanding further to offer Africans their own space. Although Africans are also clicking into global social networks; According to Facebook figures, in mid 2009 South Africa had 1.1 million users; Nigeria 220,000 and Kenya 150,000;

* More affordable and powerful mobile payment services in Africa will come as a result of more companies such as Nokia offering mobile payment services, which can work across various carriers and countries allowing customers to make international remittances.

Background

A different image of Africa can already be found in such publications as Arise, Helm, True Love, BHF and Design Indaba. Talking to Robb Young from IHT, Arise editor Helen Jennings says, “Upwardly mobile African readers are crying out for this magazine. Because the local magazines aren't as high end or progressive, and no other international titles speak directly to an African readership, Arise has really caused a stir.” According to IHT this Nigerian magazine is distributed to seven other African countries and around Europe and North America. Meanwhile, South Africa 2010 represents the debut of Africa as a Football World Cup organizer. Africa's creativity will be put to the test as many African and foreign private and public organizations try to capitalize on the event.
Mobility is key

Taking advantage of the 21.4 million mobile phone subscriptions in Kenya, the government is using an Obama-inspired campaign to inform people on the recently signed East African Community Common Market (EAC). The treaty deals with key issues that will shape the future of the region greatly through policies of free movement, investment, business laissez-faire, immigration rules and labour laws across the countries involved. The government is sending messages to mobile owners explaining the basics of the treaty in simple sentences. EAC Ministry Permanent Secretary David Nalo says, "We need to explain to them the reasoning behind the various articles in the protocol and mobile phones are a powerful means of communication."

This measure shows the significant role that mobile phones already play. In an interview with Crisscrossed.com, Mark Davies, Founder of TradeNet/Esoko, BusyInternet & Metrobeat, says, “I think that people trade in Africa based on reputation. They know that they may not even get the best price from a particular person, but know that they will get paid, and paid quickly.” It is a complex question of trust because, Davies explains: “People in Africa, more or less, are simply not digitized. They don't exist in a database.” So Davies suggests following an eBay system whereby, “I, on a mobile phone, could enter the mobile phone of the person I'm trading with, and just establish “does the person exist? Are they on a system somewhere? How long have they been on that system? If they've been on it for three weeks, can I trust them? And if they've been on for three years, maybe there's some more credibility there.” Finally, he says: “I think these tools, and these technologies, can play a very important role in facilitating that, and allowing cross-border trade with people that you might not have traded with before.”

Felix Kitaka, Developer at Appfrica Labs, announced in May 2009 the launch of http://status.ug/ - a completely mobile gateway for Ugandans to interact with their Facebook accounts. “With around 60,000 Facebook users in the Kampala area, it seems absurd that no one locally has tried to engage the traffic with a local service.” he says. And talking about a Facebook developer's event he attended in Kampala, Uganda, in 2009, he remarks: “one of the things that stood out in my mind was the number of people using Facebook unprompted around the local university (good for Facebook, bad for their professors, lol).”

Nevertheless there are challenging hurdles to overcome in Africa such as the low and uneven bandwidth and the need for a social network to adapt to the many languages of the continent. A version of Facebook in Swahili already exists while other small, localised networks are appearing within such platforms as ning.com, which target specific communities and interests.

Internet users in selected African countries 2003-2009 Number per ‘000 people

Source: Euromonitor International from Telecommunications Union/World Bank/Trade Sources
Creative soul and trendsetters

In London, 29-year-old Kenyan Arieta Mujay having worked in fashion for over a decade for companies such as GAP, is currently PR manager for River Island retailers with over 200 stores in the UK. Talking to Fashionafrica.com she says: “[Being an African woman makes me] work harder and longer than my peers.” And when interviewed by Jamnit.com on being African, she says “I definitely feel a very strong connection to Africa as I am African and Africa is in me.

This connection works both ways as Africans influence the world and the world shapes Africa's trends with such small entrepreneurial examples as Uganda's Jackson Mubiru who wanted to bring to his city, Kampala, that common picture of Skateboarders found in cities across the world. Given the lack of facilities, he has set up his own skateboarding park and it is rapidly growing in popularity. Journalist Kristin Young writes on luxists.com: “There's a separate phenomenon emerging from fashion's fascination with Africa. Fashion philanthropists who are capitalising on this trend and all the while helping the people who need it most: Africans.”

During the autumn of 2009, curators Jude Anogwih and Oyinda Fakeye put the pieces of this puzzle together in an exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos, Nigeria. “Identity: An Imagined State” was the first international exhibition of Video Art in Nigeria, bringing together works by twelve artists from different countries in Africa. The curators write: “As a point of departure, the exhibition explores associations with the label 'African'. … [It] tells the story of belonging, displacement, uncertainty, visibility and negotiation through the medium of video art.”
An expanding film industry

Africa's new identity can be found in Nigeria's film industry. It has become the world's second largest, having grown into a US$250 million industry employing thousands of people and churning out 500-1,000 movies per year made on budgets ranging from $10,000 to $25,000. It is also looking at new markets and into possibilities of expanding to rival Hollywood. Thus, for the first time in Africa, Indian Award-winning film and television producer, Parminder Vir, brought Bollywood and Nollywood practitioners together at the ION international film festival held in Port-Harcourt, Nigeria. The Bollywood song-and-dance format has charmed African audiences for over 50 years. Vir, a fan of both Indian and Nigerian films expects that many of the high profile producers, directors and actors attending the event will meet to explore ways of working together. “I have become a great admirer of the Nollywood film industry which is very similar to Bollywood with their 'can do' attitude. In the absence of government support, both have created an industry which contributes substantially to the wealth of the nation,” Vir said. According to the festival organisers, the four-day event was “a celebration for the people” who believe Nollywood to be one of the greatest things that has come out of Nigeria. Indeed, as journalist Chinyere Okoye says: “Nollywood movies project the country's lifestyle, culture, local fashion, burning issues and problems plaguing the society.”
Outlook

Young Africans are developing a new identity in connection with the rest of the world taking the advantage of greater political stability in most countries. They aspire to exert a greater level of influence both at home and abroad with an expanding community of independent creators. Mobile phone subscriptions, set to increase further in 2010, play an important part on new developments at every level, from trade to billing mechanisms to increase mobile advertising space. According to an ITU document's Information Society Statistical Profiles 2009: Africa, “The increase in the number of mobile cellular subscriptions over the last five years has defied all predictions”. Indeed, Euromonitor International data shows that the Middle East and Africa remains the region with the highest mobile phone subscription growth rate. On the other hand Africa's digital divide in comparison with the rest of the world remains substantial. Taking into account Euromonitor International figures on education in Nigeria, which reveal that only 3.8% of the population of 154.7 million have completed higher education, it could be argued that only a negligible fraction of the population have access to luxury. Yet, it is nonetheless a large number of individuals in highly populated countries such as Nigeria.

Towards a Double Consciousness:NSK Passport project.

2010-07-28T01:36:00.000-07:00

Monday 26th - Saturday 31st July 2010

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos is pleased to host the internationally renowned artists collective IRWIN, members of NSK (new Slovenian Art). Over a one week period of screenings, lectures and panel discussions, Towards a Double Consciousness: NSK Passport Project will take as its point of departure, NSK's artistic intervention State in Time and its increasing significance in Africa especially within the context of Nigeria. State in Time, one of the most (in)famous projects produced by NSK, evolved out of their earlier activities, finding formation as a 'state' at the collapse of Yugoslavia and the coming into existence of the Republic of Slovenia in 1991. NSK's State in Time transcends a physical geographical location or a defined statehood within a prescribed ethnic, cultural or religious belief, providing what IRWIN collaborator and writer Alexei Monroe describes as "a conceptual form of identification for individuals from diverse nationalities."

Since the initial presentations around the world in the 1990s of State in Time the project is currently receiving a substantial number of requests for citizenship of the NSK 'State' from Africa especially from Nigeria. This has resulted in many Nigerians assuming a dual identity as holders of NSK and Nigerian passports. In view of these new developments IRWIN conducted interviews with African/NSK citizens living in London, to ascertain their reasons for applying. Could it be in support of the initial artistic purpose of NSK? Do they see it as an avenue with which to move from one territory to another? Or is it for other socio-political reasons? Towards a Double Consciousness: NSK Passport project will allow further debate on both the artistic and political implications of the NSK State in Time action, offering an examination of their original artistic interventions within the Nigerian context.

Programme

26th – 31st July 2010

Screening: Research interview of NSK Citizens as well as artists based in Nigeria.

Friday, 30 July 2010 Time: 3 pm

Topic: Introduction to media art and the use of video in relation to other forms of new media, technology and performance in contemporary art.

Speakers include; Dr. Inke Arns, IRWIN members: Miran Mohar and Borut Vogelnik and Performance artist Jelili Atiku.

Saturday, 31 July, Time 2pm

Screening: 2:00pm Screening of interviews with African NSK passport holders living in London.

Panel Discussion: 3:00pm

Topic: NSK State: The Nigerian connection. A discussion on the significance of an artistic action made in Europe in the 90s on contemporary African consciousness.

Speakers include; Dr Inke Arns, IRWIN members: Miran Mohar and Borut Vogelnik, NSK member Eda Cufer and Nigerian NSK passport holders. Moderated by Loren Hansi Momodu.

This project forms part of CCA, Lagos' year long programme On Independence and The Ambivalence of Promise celebrating 50 years of independence by seventeen African countries including Nigeria on the 1st October 2010. It provides an avenue to interrogate notions of nationhood at a time when our ideas of citizenship is continuously being challenged by state policies such as Nigeria's contentious 'federal character' system or through religious and ethnic disturbances such as the recent unrest in the city of Jos, as well as the perennial civic unrest of the oil rich Niger Delta. Towards a Double Consciousness attempts to interrogate the way in which artists propose and individuals search for alternative – real or fictional – possibilities that goes beyond notions of a fixed identity or geography.

IRWIN is a collective of artists Dušan Mandič (b. 1954), Miran Mohar (b. 1958), Andrej Savski (b. 1961), Roman Uranjek (b. 1961) and Borut Vogelnik (b. 1959), which comprises one of the core groups within the artists' collective Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK). IRWIN was founded in 1983 in Slovenia. Recent exhibitions include: The Promises of the Past, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2010; The Eye of the State, The Israel Center for Digital Art, Holon, Israel, 2010; Third New Old Cold War, Moscow Biennial, Red October; Modernities, Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA), Barcelona; State in Time, Kunsthalle Krems, 2009. The members of the group live and work in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Curator: Loren Hansi Momodu
Curatorial Advisors; Dr. Inke Arns, Director, HMKV, Dortmund and Bisi Silva, Director, CCA,Lagos

The Advanced Cultural Management Programme and Towards a Double Consciousness are supported by the Goethe Institute, Johannesburg and Nigeria.

Creators Project 17/07/10

2010-07-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

15 hours of creative genius is whats on offer today at Victoria House London. A line up which includes work by Spike Jonze, Cassette Playa, Tinchy Stryder, Kele Okereke and Mark Ronson this multi-media event has much more in store for me and my crew (gogogadgetmrv ans plainjanes), ok I'm actually the tag-alonger. Its &pm now and we are gonna be partying until 3am! I will be tweeting all day so why not follow me on www.twitter.com/layob.

Here is a visual blog of the last 4 hours.....

CCA,LAGOS SUMMER PROGRAMME NEWS

2010-07-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

Until 21st July: Pret a Partager featuring the works of 17 artists, photographers, fashion designers from across Africa and Germany continues in 3 venues: Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Sabo, Yaba College of Art and Technology, Yaba and African Artist Foundation, Ikoyi. Presented in collaboration with Goethe Institute, Lagos

From 19th to 21st July : NSK Passport Video Interviews. Still time to participate, call 08034392413 for your time 30min time slot. Supported by Goethe Institute, Lagos

From 26th - 31st July: Double Consciousness:NSK Passport Project. An exhibition, roundtable discussions and screening featuring internationally renowned Slovenian artist collective IRWIN (3 members will be in lagos) international respected scholar and curator, and director of new media art centre HMKV Dr. Inke Arns, performance artist and sculptor Jelili Atiku as well as independent curator Bisi Silva. Curated and moderated by Hansi Momodu, MA candidate, Curating Contemporary Art, Royal College of Art, London and adjunct assistant curator, CCA,Lagos. Supported by Goethe Institute, Lagos

July 25th and August 1st: Art-iculate, Lecture series on contemporary art and visual culture features two Sunday afternoon lectures by Chika Okeke-Agulu, US based Nigerian art historian, curator and associate professor of art history, Princeton University. His first lecture will be about the curatorial framework of the current exhibition project “Who Knows tomorrow ” at at the Nationalgalerie, Berlin, followed by a 2nd lecture “The Art and Politics of Ghada Amer.”
The lectures are made possible by the Class of ’59 Faculty Fund, Princeton University.

17TH VIDEOBRASIL BROADENS FOCUS AND BECOMES INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART FESTIVAL

2010-07-12T03:07:00.001-07:00

Enrolment is open for the 17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil, due September 2011 with a new name and significant structural changes from the previous editions. The Southern Panoramas Competitive Exhibition, previously restricted to video works, is now accepting other artistic experiments, such as installations, performance, and book-objects or artist books—artwork that uses printed media or publications intended to be works of art. The new competition expands its ability to encompass diverse manifestations, including those that depart from the single-channel format.

Detailed in the Regulations and Entry Forms published here, the new change in the model of Videobrasil seeks to align the Festival with the nature of contemporary art practices, to meet the demands of political-cultural debate, and to confront the huge output of representations that constitutes the territory of visuality in the world today. It gives Videobrasil a never-before-seen format, making it the country’s first contemporary art festival.

The 1st Videobrasil Open Studio Prize underscores the propositional character of the International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil. Created for this edition, the Prize will select young artists from the city of São Paulo to produce artwork in collaboration at Casa Tomada, a local facility for production, reflection, and interaction. The works will be exhibited in the 17th Festival, as part of the Southern Panoramas exhibition. Enrolment for the Prize will remain open until October 29, 2010.

Artists from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania may submit works for the Southern Panoramas Competitive Exhibition by March 10, 2011. Those in the shortlist, to be announced in June 2011, will compete for a Grand Prize of forty-five thousand Brazilian reais (roughly US$25,000 at current exchange rates) cash, and eight artist residency prizes, to be granted in partnership with institutions in Brazil, Asia, Europe, and South America.

The 17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil is promoted by SESC São Paulo and Associação Cultural Videobrasil. The two organizations promoted the Brazilian tour of the Sophie Calle – Cuide de você (2009) exhibition, and are now preparing the Joseph Beuys – We Are the Revolution (São Paulo/Salvador) exhibition for September 2010.

UNFIXED: photography, postcolonial perspectives and contemporary art

2010-06-23T03:57:00.000-07:00

Call for Proposals
Application deadline: 15 July 2010

Exhibition
23 October - 4 December 2010

www.unfixedprojects.org

Organized by UNFIXED Projects: www.unfixedprojects.org
Center for Contemporary Art (CBK) Dordrecht, the Netherlands

Call for Proposals

We invite scholars, artists, writers and professionals to submit proposals for visual and/or textual presentations or papers on topics relating to UNFIXED.

UNFIXED is a multiplatform project that includes an exhibition, symposium, workshop, artist commission-residency, and a resulting publication. UNFIXED explores the elusive "truth" of photography and its relationship to ideas of ethnicity, culture and identity in contemporary art.

We will consider proposals for:
Publication contribution
Symposium presentation (20 minutes)

Focus point: Unfixing photography's fixed representations of cultural heritage, ethnicity and identity

This could be addressed through a broad range of topics concerning photographic practice, history and/or archives. Proposals could deal with deconstruction, reconstruction, collage, appropriation, politics, regionalism and location, subjectivity and/or authorship within photography. They could also concern photography's relationship to other media, vernacular photography, found photography, documentary photography and/or visual culture. Some key theoretical points that strongly relate to the project include cultural hybridity and transculture. Proposals could also consider current political discussions about culture (ie. assimilation and integration) as they relate to visual culture and photography.

We hope to receive proposals that look at the inventive aspects of photography. Next to 'traditional' essays we welcome proposals for visual essays, which can include vernacular or found photography, and/or photo-works made by applicants, etc. We encourage proposals for essays or presentations with innovative formats (performance-based presentations, multimedia projects etc.) Particularly for the publication, geography should not be a limitation for submissions.

A detailed Call for Proposals can be found at www.unfixedprojects.org. The deadline for proposals is 15 July 2010.

About the project:

In recent decades, artist and theorists around the world have critically reflected on photography's role in colonial, migrant and diasporic histories. They have unfixed photography, questioning the process of production, who is looking, whose history is represented and what the photographic image is staging. In this line, UNFIXED proposes an encounter with photography's own reflective history, looking back while looking forward, continuing to dissolve ideas of photographic truth and cultural identity as essential and unchanging through photographic practices that are innovative, self-reflexive and critical.

UNFIXED aims to contribute to the Netherlands' relatively young discussion about postcolonialism's relation to photography. The project will bring together an international group of contemporary artists and scholars with personal relations to migration, colonial history and cultural diaspora, researching and reflecting on photographic histories, as well as constructing new ones. UNFIXED avoids imposing narratives about the past and future onto the project's artworks, presentations and essays. Instead, we embrace the narratives and strategies proposed in the works as points of departure. In the same fashion as many of the invited artists, UNFIXED hopes to blur the lines between art practice, scholarly research and cultural activism.

Participating artists: Charif Benhelima (BE), Otobong Nkanga (FR), Keith Piper (UK), Naro Snackey (NL), Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie (USA) and Hank Willis Thomas (USA). Keynote speaker and essayist: Kobena Mercer (UK).

Organized by Sara Blokland and Asmara Pelupessy (Stichting UNFIXED Projects, a nonprofit organization)

Exhibition: 23 October – 4 December 2010
Symposium: 16 November 2010
Workshop: 15 November 2010
Publication: December 2010

RACE, PRIVILEGE AND SOCIETY

2010-06-23T03:54:00.000-07:00

I really love their commitment to advancing films from the diaspora... well if your in New York defo hop skip and jump over to this event!

Film Series and Panel Discussion - NYC
JUNE 23 - 27, 2010

As part of its ongoing ADFF Spring and Summer Film Series at Teachers College, Columbia University, ADFF and the Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Community Affairs are presenting the "RACE AND PRIVILEGE IN SOCIETY" film series on June 23 to 27, a selection of documentary and fiction films that explore issues around race and privilege.

PROGRAM AT A GLANCE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 2010 FREE PROGRAM

4 PM TIM WISE: ON WHITE PRIVILEGE (USA)

THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010 FREE PROGRAM

6 PM WHAT'S RACE GOT TO DO WITH IT? (USA)
7 PM PANEL "RACE, PRIVILEGE AND SOCIETY"

FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2010 FREE PROGRAM
6 PM THE GLASS CEILING (France)

SATURDAY, JUNE 26 , 2010

3 PM WHITE LIKE THE MOON & DENYING BRAZIL (USA & Brazil)

5 PM BURN: THE EVOLUTION OF AN AMERICAN CITY (USA)

SUNDAY, JUNE 27, 2010

2 PM CONGO: WHITE KING, RED RUBBER, BLACK DEATH (Congo/Beligium)

4 PM PLACIDO (Cuba)

TICKETS:
Programs for Wednesday through Friday are Free of Charge and Open to the public.

For Saturday and Sunday only: Weekend pass $15; Day pass $10; $6 per show;

PLEASE NOTE WE ACCEPT CASH ONLY AT THE DOOR.

WHERE: Teachers College, Columbia University
525 West 120th Street - Room 263 Macy
Take train 1 to 116th street and walk uptown four blocks. Entrance between Broadway and Amsterdam. Picture ID requested to enter building.

DVDs of films from Africa and the African Diaspora will be on sale at the venue. $20 per DVD; $35 for 2 DVD; $45 for three DVD and $15 for each additional DVD.

PLEASE NOTE WE ACCEPT CASH ONLY ON SITE

Rotating Gallery: curated by ICI's Kate Fowle

2010-06-23T03:29:00.000-07:00

On view June 19, 2010 - July 25, 2010

In conjunction with the Greater New York exhibition, the Rotating Gallery has offered space for additional curatorial voices, namely four New York-based curators who work without a regular physical space. By inviting the involvement of these curators, Greater New York engages not only emerging artists in the area, but also the curators who work with them. While the larger exhibition is the result of a collaboration between three curators, the Rotating Gallery offers a more singular view of new art in New York. Rotating Gallery is on view in the First Floor Drawing Gallery.

The second rotation, the backroom organized by ICI Executive Director Kate Fowle , opens June 19.

the backroom invites the exhibitors to present source materials that inform and support their thinking, extending the potential for getting to know the artists and their work. More akin to a temporary archive and reading room than an exhibition, the backroom consists of participant’s influences, inspiration, and research.

Visitors are invited to browse the materials according to their own interests, or search by referencing the binders that catalogue the items submitted by each artist. In this way, the audience takes on the role of archaeologist, learning more about the artistic processes behind the art practice. The result echoes ICI’s longstanding New York Studio Events, where first-hand experiences with artists’ in their studio has given many people insight into practices as they are in development.

http://ps1.org/exhibitions/view/314/
http://www.the-backroom.org/

Video Art Day

2010-06-21T10:42:00.001-07:00

In celebration of World Video Art Day, the Video Artist Network Lagos would like to invite you to a screening of curated works from the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos library, to be held at 2:00pm 22nd June.

Work selected will cover fashion, performance and Identity featuring work by Jelili Atiku, Sabina Maria Van Der Linden, LucFosther Diop and an array of international and local artist work.

Drinks, light snacks and an opportunity to discuss works further with curators and Van Lagos team Emeka Ogboh, Jude Anogwih and Oyinda Fakeye.

22 of June: International Day of the Video-art from Optica TV on Vimeo.

http://www.van-lagos.com/

Neglect.....

2010-06-17T05:04:00.000-07:00

i know I have and its shall not be for much longer.
Will be revamping and updating soon>

thanks for your support!

Kuono Trust

2010-05-25T15:25:00.001-07:00

Ben Bosah Books has issued a call for submissions from all Nigerian Visual Artist

2010-05-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

NEW ALBANY, Ohio - Ben Bosah Books has issued a call for submissions to all Nigerian fine artists producing works in any medium. We are accepting high-resolution images of photographs of these works for a highly anticipated publication. These photographs of the works of selected artists will be published in a book titled One Hundred One Nigerian Contemporary Artists. The book launch will take place on Friday, October 1, 2010 with the books available immediately, locally and internationally, wherever books are sold.

Submissions should be sent by email to101Artists@benbosahbooks.com. Please follow the instructions provided on the website to prevent the disqualification of your submission. The application and all the other necessary information is available on the Ben Bosah Books website athttp://www.benbosahbooks.com. Once on the website, navigate to the 'Nigerian Artists' tab. Click on Download Document tab to download two documents necessary to participate. The first one is the Application form and the second one is the Artist Permission Letter. The web page also provides details on how to submit electronic images of works for consideration. The deadline for submitting the application forms, images and rights to reproduce permission is May 31, 2010.

After years of observing quality work by Nigerian artists who labor in obscurity suffer from lack of exposure, Ben Bosah, Publisher of Ben Bosah Books has taken upon himself the initiative to increase exposure for contemporary Nigerian artist. This publication intends to share with the world at large, the quality and variety of works produced by Nigerian artists.

"After years of collecting different works of arts by Nigerian artists in Nigeria and the Diaspora, I found it baffling that most of them were still not getting the recognition that they deserved, so I decided to do something about it. Yes, we have the masters like Enwonwu and Onabrakpeya, but there are two other generations of artists, some already successful, and others not. But we expect that a book of this nature will begin to bring about the appropriate exposure to the artists who will thrive because of the wider audience for their works."

One-Hundred One Nigerian Contemporary Artists will showcase pieces by each featured artists, which in their own judgment, best represents their style. Insightful essays will complement the art images. An index of contributors and contact information will be also included. The content of this publication will serve as a vital resource for interested collectors, museums and galleries to easily find these individual artists and patronize their works of art.

Mr. George Edozie, a practicing artist based in Lagos will be the Managing Editor for the book and lead the effort to get as many artists as possible to participate. Mr. Edozie's enthusiasm is best shared in his words:
"I am very happy to be associated with this book and grateful to Ben Bosah for spearheading this most important book. Our country of one hundred and fifty million people has its share of contemporary artists and after this book is published, the world will get an excellent opportunity to see our works and its high quality."

Sponsorship opportunities are available for companies interested in joining the efforts of Ben Bosah Books. We are accepting sponsorships for the book publication and a touring exhibition works by featured artists. Interested companies should write tocbbosah@benbosahbooks.com.

About Ben Bosah Books

Ben Bosah Books is an independent publisher of books that make a difference in the lives of the peoples of the world. We are located at 3575 Head of Pond Road, New Albany, Ohio 43054, United States of America. Our telephone number is +1-614-939-0595. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.benbosahbooks.com.

Ben Bosah Books
Oreoluwa Adedeji
oreoluwa@benbosahbooks.com
614-939-0595

Triangle arts trust knowledge and skills sharing programme and the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Lagos

2010-05-04T16:44:00.000-07:00

culled from the Kuona Trust March newsletter

For one month between February & March, I had the opportunity of spending time with renowned curator Bisi Silva at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) Lagos on a knowledge and skills sharing programme.

The aim was to support the professional development of organizations in the triangle network. This is an opportunity for coordinators to work alongside their peers sharing experiences, knowledge and skills for the benefit of their organizations, local artists and the community. The residencies are a hands-on project with the visiting coordinators becoming involved in the life of the host organization and contributing to the host’s project with their skills and expertise. The host is also expected to offer support to the visiting coordinator through their particular knowledge and skills so that both sides can learn from each other.

CCA, Lagos is an independent non-profit making visual art organization set up to provide a platform for the development, presentation, and discussion of contemporary visual art and culture by prioritizing new media and experimental visual art practice such as photography, animation, film and video, performance art, and installation art, which have been under-presented in contemporary Nigerian artistic practice.

I arrived on a hot (38°C) Wednesday mid-morning and after getting stuck in Lagos traffic; go slow for over an hour, I finally got to No. 9 McEwen Street, Sabo, Yaba where I was received by Bisi, CCA’s Director/Founder who gave me a tour of the space and introduced me to the rest of CCA staff.

My first week was a typical “Get into a new environment and find your way around week.”

I managed to get my bearings from Lawa Hotel to CCA and from Alagomeji to Victoria Island. Got to learn a little Pidgin and sample some Jollof rice, pepper soup & garri and after I understood the value of the Naira in relation to the Kenya Shilling, it was time to dive into the mechanisms of CCA with emphasis on the ongoing photography residency.

I was very interested in the general running of CCA with more bias on their exhibitions and the whole process from conceptualization, budgeting, writing texts, curatorials, realization and cataloguing/publishing.

Alongside this, I was also keen on helping with the running of the residency as a temporary artist liaison; being the link between CCA administration and the residency participants. This was tonnes of fun as I helped with documentation, collecting and editing materials for the residency blog (artspeakafrica.blogspot.org).

Working within CCA, I was able to understand their role in the art world, their ideals, how they work to achieve these and their relationship with artists and other art institutions.

The endless conversations I had with Bisi were priceless. Spending time with such a resourceful person was quite inspiring and will always have her to thank for making me re-define “the role of arts organizations within the continent in nurturing African artists so as to be competitive/relevant in the global art scene.”

Coming from a background of running workshops and residencies, it was interesting to note that our structures were similar but CCA emphasized more on process and concept. Unlike other residencies I’ve had the opportunity to be part of, this had an intellectual edge; we’d come in and just talk, do presentations, see other artists’ works and look at photographs critically and by the time the participants went out to take images, they really knew how to.

I also had a chance to sit through a lot of presentations done by visiting artists and curators/critics which were quite insightful but Senam Okuzdeto’s “Ghana Must Go: Personal Narratives, Identity & Identification” and Tam Fiofori’s “History, Culture & Photography in Nigeria” with emphasis on 19thC Nigerian photographer J.A Green were special.

Though CCA and Kuona Trust are both trusts founded on similar objectives, it was quite interesting to see and be part of how CCA approach their activities and how committed they are in trying to shift the dynamics of the Nigerian art scene which are quite similar to ours where the art schools having a huge disconnect with the art scene.

They go to great lengths in trying to modernize their art scene starting from very basic technical workshops where they teach artists how to, to more intellectual platforms on how to articulate yourself.

All in all, the Nigerian art scene is big! They have serious local patronage and artists who live ‘large.’ They host commercially successful art auctions and seriously conceptual art exhibitions. They almost always publish a catalogue for every exhibition and away from the usual politics; they are miles ahead of us.

It was also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit Nigeria; land of Nollywood and African football. On my return, I’ve changed my stereotype notion of 9jaans being dodgy and Nigeria being unsafe and unstable politically, regardless of their president disappearing while I was there.

Ogonga Thom

LOVE AND SOCIETY

2010-04-29T04:02:00.000-07:00

Film Series and Panel Discussion
MAY 1st - 2nd, 2010

As part of its ongoing ADFF Spring and Summer Film Series at Teachers College, Columbia University, ADFF is presenting the "LOVE AND SOCIETY" film series on May 1st and 2nd, a selection of classic, comedy, and urban films that explore the dynamics between the values promoted by societies and individual's ability to give and receive love.

PROGRAM AT A GLANCE

SATURDAY, MAY 1, 2010
1:00PM THE OTHER WORLD (France/Algeria)
3:00PM NO TIME TO DIE (Ghana)
5:00PM BURNING AN ILLUSION (UK/Barbados)
7:00PM EL MESTIZO (Venezuela)

FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2010
1:00PM BLUEPRINT (US)
3:00PM NOTHING BUT A MAN (US)
5:00PM PANEL "LOVE AND SOCIETY"
With
* Director of Blueprint, Kirk Shannon-Butts*
* Co-Founder and Co-President of the The Spirit of a Woman Leadership Development Institute (S.O.W.) Monica C. Dennis *
* Author/Poet and Public Speaker Jewel Allison, who recently published the book of poems Stealing Peace *

WHERE:
Teachers College, Columbia University 525 West 120th Street - Room 263 Macy.
Take train 1 to 116th street and walk uptown four blocks. Entrance between Broadway and Amsterdam. Picture ID requested to enter building.

TICKETS:
Weekend pass $20; Day pass $15; $6 per show; panel:$5. SECURE YOUR SEAT TODAY! CLICK

DVDs of films from Africa and the African Diaspora will be on sale at the venue. $20 per DVD; $35 for 2 DVD; $45 for three DVD and $15 for each additional DVD.

Opportunities: Hotel MariaKapel

2010-04-23T06:29:00.000-07:00

Open Call for proposals 2011
HMK {Hotel MariaKapel}
Deadline: 1 June 2010 (stamped with that date on enveloppe is on time)

A.I.R. Hotel MariaKapel invites artists, curators and researchers to submit proposals for our 2011 programme.

About HMK

Hotel Mariakapel is an artist-run residency and project space in Hoorn, a 16th century town by the IJsselmeer, just 40 km north of Amsterdam. In the old center of the town, in a medieval orphanage with adjacent inner garden and
Maria Chapel, Hotel Mariakapel receives artists from all over the world.
The programme involves artists and curators working in a wide range of media, focusing on installation and context based work, video/film and performance art. Projects are developed both in public space and in the chapel’s
exhibition space. Hotel MariaKapel is kindly supported by Hoorn City Council, the Province of Noord-Holland, and the Mondriaan Foundation.

Things to consider when applying:

When sending in a proposal for an artistic or curatorial project, please take in careful consideration the specific context of Hotel MariaKapel. The context of HMK includes the possibility to work with a group of artists; a small town setting (eg, absence of a big local art scene/discourse); the combination of a locally rooted initiative with exhibitions of national appeal. We strongly advise you to read into the context of HMK (and Hoorn) prior to submitting a proposal.
HMK has a strong preference for two types of projects:
1 - Projects that make full use of the unique opportunities offered by the presence of a guesthouse and a longer stay, for instance intensive (international) collaboration or developing a new strand of work

2 - Projects challenging, bending or ignoring logic, socio-economic relations and/or artistic conventions in an engaging manner.

Artists, art historians or curators who temporarily require a base in The Netherlands or who need a change of setting for a while may apply. We aim to offer a small per diem budget, free use of the guesthouse and its facilities, possible reimbursement for travel costs. We do ask that you give a presentation that suits your research, prior to your departure. We especially welcome research proposals coming from artists.

Small Print
Accommodation and living facilities are provided for invited artists or artists groups to complete a period of work culminating in a final exhibition in the adjacent exhibition space. Residencies vary in length and depend on the nature of the work; we feel between one and two months is a good duration. The length of the residency is agreed in advance. The resulting exhibitions which are open to the public, usually take place for 3-4 weeks.
Hotel Mariakapel is responsible for all mail-outs and promotional activity in relation to the shows, which include regional, national and international contacts.
The residency includes use of all facilities (private room, wireless internet, shared kitchen, washing machine / dryer, basic tools, some audio & video equipment). We can host 8 people in 4 bedrooms, you might be sharing a room.

Hotel MariaKapel provides a budget to resident artists (travel, materials, fee, some living costs) , depending on individual projects, but advises artists to secure additional funding elsewhere.

How to Apply:

Read our OPEN CALL 2011 ( this text, you just read! )
Read our application formcarefully!
Fill in our online form ( also if you are sending in your proposal by regular mail )
Send in your materials to:

HMK { HotelMariaKapel }
att. Call 2011
Korte Achterstraat 6
1621GA Hoorn
the Netherlands

or

call@hotelmariakapel.nl ( please use your projectname as subject )

More info at: www.hotelmariakapel.nl

Fashion Projects

2010-04-23T05:56:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 23 at 6:00 p.m.
Wollman Hall (65 W 11th St - enter at 66 W 12th)
Reception to follow
The event is free and open to the public.

To celebrate the publication of the new issue of Fashion Projects the MA Fashion Studies at Parsons the New School for Design will be hosting a screening, featuring a range of short experimental films about fashion and memory–the topic of the new issue. They include films by the British-based fashion design duo Boudicca, Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf, designer Shelley Fox, and fashion photographer Laura Sciacovelli.

LPM DERBY SUNDAY 25th @ GET ARENA

2010-04-20T06:22:00.000-07:00

LE PETIT MARCHE – APRIL

PRESS RELEASE

‘A piece of the famous London Portobello Market in Lagos’

It’s almost that time of the month again so we would like to invite potential vendors to come and participate in what is going to be an UTTERLY FAB LPM this month….and of course subsequently.

Lagos’ favourite fashion + lifestyle market is back with a BANG this month, we’ve moved house to the uber-fab GET Arena, Lekki! To celebrate we are giving our shoppers an opportunity to kart and shop!!! We’ll be giving away prizes to the fastest male and female kart-ers!

Fashion. From independent to high street, hottest trends to vintage; men, women and children will be catered for.

Experience. GET ARENA on the 25th of April 2010 from 12 noon till 6pm. – GET offers you all a combo of the BAR n GRILL, The G Lounge, GOONIES kids, surrounded by one of the most sophisticated GO Karting tracks you will find anywhere!!
With an excellent menu, awesome cocktails and great music, who says shopping can’t be social?

Shopping. It’s not just about the clothes. Home essentials, accessories, hair and beauty products are stocked at Nigeria’s number one Fashion and Lifestyle Market.

All vendors are given a display space where they present and sell their collections themselves. Vendors are selected according to the originality and quality of their products.

With our selection of designers, the goal of LPM is to position itself as a respected fashion establishment in Nigeria, not only for end-consumers, but also for fashion merchandisers, editors, trend forecasters etc.

LPM has 100- 250 shoppers on average a month. Since its inception in February 2009, it is estimated that there are at least 80 unique visitors monthly (i.e. first timer LPM visitors/shoppers).

We’ve been featured in a number of publications and online including : THISDAY ARISE Magazine, THISDAY STYLE, Bella Naija, Elan, FashionAfrica.com, LadyBrille and Gidilounge. So follow the yellow brick road to GET Arena and get your SHOP ON !!!

Come and enjoy the last Sunday of the month with Great STALLS…great MUSIC…great PEOPLE…and Great FOOD!!

For more information about Vendors, stalls or general enquiries please email us at lpmnigeria@gmail.com

Fashion and Photography Workshop @ CCA, Lagos

2010-04-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

To coincide with the programme CCA,Lagos will be hosting a three day workshop on fashion and photography, in which artist Pinar Yolacan will guide participants in conceiving and realizing work(s) that will go on to be exhibited within the CCA,Lagos library space as part of our Fashion, Art and Identity series. The workshop will take place from the 21st- 23rd April 2010, for more information please contact Oyinda Fakeye at info@ccalagos.org or on 07055680104, spaces are limited.

Pinar Yolacan @ the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos

2010-04-13T00:46:00.000-07:00

As part of the year long focus on Photography and Art, Fashion and Identity, CCA,Lagos is pleased to present Turkish artist Pinar Yolacan’s critically acclaimed series “Maria”, (2007) a stunning collection of 12 stunning life size portrait photographs of African-Brazilian women emerging from stark black backgrounds. Taken over a twelve month period in Itaparica, Bahia, Yolaçan’s images are evocative of Old Master portraits, possessing the psychological and emotional immediacy of the Romantic genre. In this series the artist subverts regality by dressing her sitters in elaborate hand sewn couture costumes with trimmings of ‘unusual’ materials such as velvet, satin, tripe, placenta and sheep’s testicles. Through this series Yolaçan engages with issues of beauty, the body, colonialism, and death as a way of broaching the “impermanence of things.”

The exhibition launches with a light reception at the CCA,Lagos gallery space on Saturday 17th April, where press and guests will be invited to view the works and meet with the artist herself.

Exhibition Programme
To coincide with the programme CCA,Lagos will be hosting a three day workshop on fashion and photography, in which artist Pinar Yolacan will guide participants in conceiving and realizing work(s) that will go on to be exhibited within the CCA,Lagos library space as part of our Fashion, Art and Identity series. The workshop will take place from the 21st- 23rd April 2010, for more information please contact Oyinda Fakeye at info@ccalagos.org or on 07055680104, spaces are limited.

Our established P.A.G.E.S event which invites artists and writers to discuss work from our exhibitions will be held on the 24th April 2010, featuring a panel that includes; designer Deola Sagoe and writer Odili Ojubuonu in conversation with the artist Pinar Yolacan. The event will start at 3pm prompt and be followed by light refreshments.

More Information
For More information please contact Fakeye at info@ccalagos.org or on 07055680104.

CCA,Lagos is located at 9 Mcewen Street, off Herbert Macaulay, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos

PLAY ON WORDS

2010-03-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

Thu 1 Apr
John Hegley
+ Found in Translation
+ Barbican Young Poets

Barbican Art Gallery | FREE | 7pm

We help celebrate another side of legendary London architect and visionary artist Ron Arad. For the industrial design maverick, inventor of the SMS displaying Swarovski Crystal chandelier, is also a word fanatic. In this special event in conjunction with Barbican Art Gallery’s retrospective, eccentric comic wordsmith John Hegley performs a selection of poems inspired by Arad’s love of repartee. Literary new-kids-on-the-block Found in Translation take you on a breakneck mystery tour of obscurantist French writing group The Oulipo – an ‘a’e’i’o’universe of extremist poetry puzzles; and Barbican Young Poets respond to the exhibition with a selection of new works. All this in the delectable surroundings of the special exhibition venue where you can relax in Ron Arad furniture or have a go on his ping-pong table.

Co-hosted by the Barbican

“A recipe for madness” —The Londonist on Found in Translation

“Pure, unadulterated, genius” —Daily Information on Found in Translation

“If the show is half as entertaining as the book then I’d feel cheated, as John Hegley excels in front of an audience.” —BBC on John Hegley

“Since March, these 14-20 year old wordsmiths have been taking over an unsuspecting workshop room in the Barbican’s inner labyrinth every other Wednesday, to think, breathe and write poetry with the Foundry’s own Jacob Sam-La Rose.”
—The Foundry on the Barbican Young Poets

www.barbican.org.uk/ronarad
www.johnhegley.co.uk
www.aisle16.co.uk

Grey Area presents 'Martha Rosler reads Vogue'

2010-03-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

'Martha Rosler reads Vogue' looks at the luxury magazine and the veils through which the amorous glances of commodities charm and fascinate with their illusions:

Identification, aspiration, wealth, social superiority, class appreciation of the finer things in life, all these are imbricated in an orgy of bourgeois values; the enduring symptom of women's asymmetric relation to power insistently realized through the private world as to-be-looked-at-ness and being-for-others; the elliptic worlds of fashion, art, media, entertainment and the nexus of money; the co-dependency of the artist producing recondite commodities, possession of which bestows distinction within this realm.

The works in the show by Alison Jones (ink drawings), Martha Rosler (video) and Milly Thompson (prints) span 3 decades. The show reflects on post-feminism as anti-feminism where invidious forms of oppression are obsequiously returned through the discourse of the free market and consumer culture. New forms of individuality and self-objectification concur with the old forms of the to-be-looked-at-ness of femininity.

In the video Martha Rosler reads "Vogue" (1982) Martha Rosler examines the ideology of the fashion industry. The work coincides historically with the moment a backlash against feminism was first identified and the term Post-Feminist was coined. The values Rosler interrogated then are now ubiquitous within popular culture, but granted legitimacy through the seeming incorporation of feminism within mainstream politics.

Alison Jones depicts the ongoing asymmetry of women's relation to power through the parade of private wealth and culture as seen through the lens of W magazine. Women are photographed contemplating the high art photographs of Helmut Newton and Thomas Ruff. Newton's models pose undressed at sybaritic feasts or as objects on pedestal tables; Ruff rephotographs anonymous internet pornography.

Milly Thompson's graphic digital prints are aestheticised utterances reiterating the subliminal messages of aspiration and desire. Spoken in different registers from the romance of the French language to the plain crude, the electric pulse of neon signs glow as if through raindrops in the dark night of the soul at 3 o'clock in the morning.

Events:
Alison Jones and Milly Thompson in conversation
Saturday 20th March 7.30 pm.

Grey Area is a not-for-profit space in Brighton. Set up in 2006 it has become a platform for experimental contemporary art events in a non-sterile project space.

Grey Area
31 Queens Road
Brighton
UK
BN13XA
http://www.greyareagallery.org

Opening Hours:
Thursday - Sunday 1 - 5pm

Private View:
Friday 12th Feb 6 - 9pm

*BUFFALO-san10

2010-03-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

A celebration of drama

CALLING FOR FILM ENTRIES
Dead Line April 9th 2010

Now in its 7th year - *Buffalo-san a Black & Asian short film festival, part of the Wandsworth Arts Festival, is happening again on Sunday May 16th at the Bedford Arms Theatre space, in Balham. We will feature innovative and exciting short films from new and established film makers from all over the country and abroad. Including Q&A with film makers, great prizes for best film (chosen by the audience) plus showcasing live performance from poets and musicians.

The festival will be attended by development executives from C4 – BBC Drama – The UK Film Council – Miramax -Working title and other film media professionals.

The ethos of the *Buffalo film festival is to promote and celebrate innovative filmmakers from the Black & Asian Diaspora, and specifically encourage new audiences to explore and be entertained by the filmmakers visions.

For more information and to request an application form email: wadebuffalo@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: 07961 38 22 98

There is no submission fee.

DUE TO THE LARGE AMOUNT OF ENTRIES ONLY FILMS WITH A ‘SAE’ CAN BE RETURNED

There will be live poetry and music performance on the night

Events: Craft rally

2010-03-17T06:46:00.000-07:00

Craft Rally is a series of inclusive and dynamic seminars for makers, supported by the Crafts Council; an opportunity for makers to exchange information and ideas both online and offline.

Part 1: London
Date: Thursday 25 March 2010; 10am – 5pm; evening event 5pm – 7pm
Venue: Chelsea College of Art and Design, 16 John Islip Street, London SW1P 4JU
Tickets for this event are £40 per place.

Speakers, participants and contributors to the inaugural event in London include:

* Rebecca Earley and the TED (Textiles, Environment, Design) team
* Shane Waltener
* Professor Kay Politowicz
* Paul Harper and maker development group Alias
* David Gates
* Dr. Becky Shaw
* Zoe Laughlin
* Clare Qualmann

Special events and activities include:

* Repair & Mend sessions: Breathe new life into old and damaged clothes and ceramics in these practical sessions.
* Talking Heads: Add your voice to the video vox pop that will collect ideas about contemporary crafts practice in a series of interviews with Rally delegates.
* Dialogue Forum: An opportunity for informal conversation, dialogue and networking with speakers and other delegates in Craft Rally HQ.
* Non-Confidential by the Bricolage Textile Collective: Rally delegates will be invited to leave feedback, make comment, or note an idea, on event tablecloths through stitch and print.
* Sampler- Culture Clash performance networking drinks and a performance bringing together the worlds of embroidery and DJing through collaboration with embroiderers, dj’s, beat-boxers, performance poets, filmmakers, curators from the V&A and the Embroiderers’ Guild.

See the Craft Rally page for full information and booking.

Part 2: Sheffield
Date: Friday 23 April 2010; 1.30pm - 5.00 pm
Venue: Museums Sheffield: Millennium Galleries, Learning Centre
Tickets for this event are £20 per place.

Discounted booking of £50 if you book for both Sheffield and London Event

Book now to avoid disappointment!
See the Artquest website for full information and booking details.
http://www.artquest.org.uk/projects/craft-rally.htm

Heart of the Race: Black Feminism in Britain

2010-03-04T06:40:00.000-08:00

Saturday 6 March, 10am – 5pm
Free

Held at The Women's Library

This day provides an overview of the rise of black British feminism in the 1970s.

It will draw on the Black Cultural Archives’ recent oral history project, which collected testimonies from the women involved in OWAAD (Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent) and other Black women's groups.

Heart of the Race considers the significance of the movement, and reflects on how grassroots Black and Asian women’s movement became important to an emerging black British feminist consciousness.

In collaboration with Black Cultural Archives & London Metropolitan Archives.

(Please note – this event was postponed from 14 November 2009).

WAPI

2010-02-25T06:12:00.000-08:00

MC: JEMEDARI

Performances by

Kitu Sewer, Wenyeji, Wanjiku, Elani, DJ TimDawg

and much more

LIVE @ Sarakasi Dome, Ngara Road, Ngara, Nairobi

Saturday, February 27th, 2010, 9am-3pm

OPEN MIC: 1pm

Free Entry

COMEDY-SINGERS-HIP-HOP-POETRY- SPOKEN WORD -B-BOYING - GRAFFITI - SELF ELEVATION

Windows

2010-02-19T05:35:00.000-08:00

The American University in Cairo
Performance and Visual Arts Department
and Townhouse invite you to participate in

Windows
A collaborative multichannel video installation project
by Aras Ozgun

Sharjah Art Gallery and Townhouse Gallery
6 – 23 March 2010

Deadline for Application: Thursday, 28 February 2010

The main idea of this project is to provide an open framework (literally, "frames") that can combine and cultivate many different experimental narratives, aesthetic techniques and approaches that are possible in video. Each frame/video is open to be called with a performance as well as a documentary, with sound, acts, or a still-life or a landscape image. Each artists contribution can re!ect a personal statement/concern relating to a limit situation between private and public. While each contributors work remains as an autonomous piece/expression, it resonates with the others at the same time, and forms a collective, participatory body of work.

Program

Session 1 - Introductory session
March 6, Saturday, Townhouse Gallery
12:00-4:00pm

Session 2 - Development of Ideas and Critique
March 9, Tuesday, Sharjah Art Gallery
12:00-5:00pm

Session 3 - Videography and field work
March 13, Saturday, Townhouse Gallery
10:00am-6:00pm

Session 4 - Post-production
March 16, Tuesday, AUC PVA computer lab
12:00am-6:00pm

Session 5 -Exposition Making at AUC
March 23, Tuesday
12:00am-6:00pm

To apply for the workshop and exhibition, please send your CV and a short letter of motivation to the "Art Department" art@aucegypt.edu, by Thursday 28th February 2010.

GHANA MUST GO;PERSONAL NARRATIVES, IDENTITY AND IDENTIFICATION AND RESEARCH...

2010-02-19T03:11:00.000-08:00

..... by SENAM OKUDZETO (Lives and Works in Basel, Switzerland)

DATE & TIME SATURDAY 20TH FEBRUARY 3PM

PLACE CCA,LAGOS 9 MCEWEN STREET, OFF HERBERT MACAULAY ST, SABO, YABA, LAGOS

GUEST ARTIST BIO

SENAM OKUDZETO IS A TRANSNATIONAL ARTIST, WRITER, AND SCHOLAR, (GHANA /UK/USA). BORN IN CHICAGO, USA, SHE SPENT HER CHILDHOOD LIVING IN GHANA, NIGERIA, THE UK, AND USA SHE NOW DIVIDES THE YEAR BETWEEN PROJECTS IN BASEL, LONDON, NEW YORK, AND ACCRA.

SHE RECEIVED HER BA FROM THE SLADE SCHOOL OF FINE ART, UCL, LONDON, HER MASTER’S FROM THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART, LONDON AND CONTINUED POST-GRADUATE STUDY AT THE WHITNEY MUSEUM’S INDEPENDENT STUDY PROGRAM IN NEW YORK. IN 2003/2004 OKUDZETO WAS AWARDED A RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP AT THE RADCLIFFE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

RECENT PROJECTS INCLUDE A SOLO SHOW AT KUNSTRAUM LAKESIDE KLAGENFURT, AUSTRIA (2009), A SOLO PROJECT AT PS1 MOMA -’PORTES-ORANGES’ (2007), THE DAK’ART BIENALLE IN SENEGAL (2006), WHERE SHE REPRESENTED THE USA, AND DIASPORA WITH HER WORK ‘CAPITALISM AND SCHIZOPHRENIA’. HER INSTALLATION ‘THE DIALECTIC OF JUBILATION’ WAS SHOWN ‘AFRICA REMIX’ AT THE CENTRE POMPIDOU (2005), AND THE WORK ‘LONG DISTANCE LOVER’ WAS EXHIBITED AT FREESTYLE AT THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM( 2001).

OKUDZETO HAS TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES IN EUROPE, THE USA, AND WEST AFRICA AND HAS RECEIVED NUMEROUS AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS, INCLUDING THE ARTIST’S RESIDENCY AT THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM 2000/2001, A POLLOCK KRASNER AWARD IN 2002, AND THE STIFTUNG LAURENZ HAUS RESIDENCY 2002 IN BASEL. OKUDZETO IS WIDELY PUBLISHED AND PRESENTLY SERVES ON THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE ACADEMIC PUBLICATION ART JOURNAL. SHE IS ALSO MEMBER OF THE ARTISTS’ COLLECTIVE TROPICAL GOTH (WITH ADAM LEHNER AND ANIA SOLIMAN), AND THE FOUNDER OF ART IN SOCIAL STRUCTURES, AN INTERNATIONAL NGO THAT PROVIDES EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN GHANA THROUGH FUNDING PROVIDED BY ARTISTS. HER WORK IS HOUSED IN SEVERAL PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS, INCLUDING THE AMISTAAD CENTER IN NEW ORLEANS, SCHAULAGER, BASEL, AND THE RADCLIFFE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

CCA,Lagos acknowledges the support of PRO HELVETIA, The Swiss Arts Council for Senam Okudzeto's participation in On Independence and The Ambivalence of Promise, an international art photography residency.

Louder Than Bombs.....Art, Action and Activism

2010-02-17T05:57:00.000-08:00

7 Weeks, 7 Residencies, 7 Ways to Activate Change
Stanley Picker Gallery in collaboration with the Live Art Development Agency
9 February - 27 March 2010
Featuring: Steven Levon Ounanian & Thomas Thwaites / Áine Phillips /
Sean Burn / Ansuman Biswas / Stacy Makishi & Yoshiko Shimada /
Prick Your Finger / The Vacuum Cleaner

Week 2: Áine Phillips ³The Lost Runway²
16-20 February

Using the conventions of the fashion show format, Áine Phillips¹ The Lost Runway is a collection of specially created sculptural costumes, each dedicated to a Œlost girl¹ as a living personal monument embodying the story of her life. The Lost Runway is an ideological space invested with beauty, desire, loss and longing. The work is a sensitive, poetic and challenging testimonial to missing persons, and the lifelong searches of their friends and families, giving public form to private memory in the service of human freedom and the right to the protection of life.
www.ainephillips.com
Please visit www.stanleypickergallery.org for full opening times.

³The Lost Runway² Performance Event
Saturday 20 February at 2pm
Gallery open from 12-4pm

In this performative catwalk event, Áine Phillips will memorialise Lost Girls from around the world in a series of costumes modeled as live personal monuments by fashion students from Kingston University, together with performance artists from the UK and Ireland.

Stanley Picker Gallery
Kingston University
Knights Park
Kingston upon Thames
KT1 2QJ

For directions please visit www.stanleypickergallery.org and click "the gallery".

Please visit www.stanleypickergallery.org and the ³Louder than Bombs² dedicated Facebook page for more information about the rest of the programme.

Spotlight on: Poet Inua Ellams

2010-02-03T05:36:00.000-08:00

by Elizabeth Salmon
culled from http://www.catchavibe.co.uk/spotlight-on-poet-inua-ellams/5605/

With his play The 14th Tale being picked up at the National Theatre, Inua Ellams met up with Catch a Vibe to talk about poetry and his numerous projects.

Spoken word artist - Inua EllamsCatch a Vibe: When did you decide to become a Poet?
Inua Ellams: I didn’t decide to become a poet. It was by accident. I wrote a poem and my English teacher told me it wasn’t bad. I didn’t think of it as a poem just me writing rubbish on paper. Then a friend of mine dared me to write a sonnet, which I did, but even then there were just far too much obscure hip-hop references for it to qualify as literature, or so I thought. Then I came to London from Dublin and another friend of mine played me a CD – Amethyst Rockstar by Saul Williams and I saw what he tried to do with literature and I wanted to do the same thing. So I began to chase it… I guess I didn’t really see myself as a poet until people started calling me a poet.

CAV: Are there any poets that inspire you?
Inua Ellams: There is Roger Robinson who is pretty dope, there’s a guy called Polarbear . There is a girl called Jay Bernard who is amazing, Kayo Chingonyi is another dope poet. There’s an American writer called Major Jackson he’s crazy, Anisley Burrows who is also American. Nii Parkes , who is my publisher is another good guy…Oh and the boys that I roll with Musa Okongwa and Joshua Idehen . That’s all so far there’s probably a hundred others like Wole Soyinka , William Shakespeare, Terry Pratchett , Neil Gaiman …..

CAV: Tell us about your new play ‘Untitled’. What’s it about?
Inua Ellams: It is ridiculous in terms of scope and what it tries to talk about. It is a play about twin brothers split at birth, one of them grows up in West Africa and the other in London.
It is a magical realist story, it’s inspired by Salman Rushdie and Ben Okri’s The Famished Road and also inspired by Saul Williams; He has this line in one of his poems that says ‘Let your children name themselves’ and the idea is that if you let your child name themselves it is the ultimate act of freedom and they become authors of their own destiny. It stems from a belief in certain parts of West Africa that a child grows up to embody its name. So that was the first seeds of Untitled; the kid that grows up in West Africa because of the destruction of this ritual in the village / grows up as this unnamed child and that’s where the title comes from. We showed the first 25 minutes of it at the Roundhouse and we got lots of feedback, lots of people liked it. Now it’s a case of knuckling down to write the last half and see if I settle it next year fingers crossed.

CAV: Would you consider writing a novel?
Inua Ellams: This is the thing; when I was explaining to Nii Parkes the idea and the plot for Untitled there were so many strands that I could pull out of it. Nii was like if this fails as a play then just spend the next year and a half writing it as a novel. Based on the good feedback that I got from The 14th Tale – people described it as being such beautiful prose that I could easily dip my hand into writing a novel. So maybe in the future if there’s a story that strikes me or if I steal from someone, twist it enough to claim it as my own then possibly I will get down to writing a novel. But at the moment I don’t think I’m disciplined enough or that I’ve read enough to do that yet but we’ll see.

CAV: Are there any upcoming events that you are going to be involved in?
Inua Ellams: There are a million things. There are the Poejazzi events, we have lot of plans for next year. The 14th Tale is going to be on at the National Theatre next year through February and March which is going to be very cool they’re organising a small spring tour.
Untitled was commissioned by the Soho Theatre so fingers crossed we’re going to start developing it early next year. I’m working on my next book of poetry called Candy Coated Unicorns and Converse All Stars. Hopefully I’ll finish writing by February latest and it will be on shelves by May . Then I’ll hit the streets touring.

The 14th Tale is at the National Theatre for 10 performances only between 9 February and 10 March

Artist Focus: Grace Ndiritu

2010-02-03T04:09:00.000-08:00

QUESTIONS FROM THE PAST
Friday 12 February 2010, 14.00–15.30

Artist Grace Ndiritu works at the intersection of film and performance. This talk uses performance video art from her Still Life and Responsible Tourism series to dialogue with paintings from the Orientalism movement and Henri Matisse, examining how these works influenced Western ideas of Africa in the late nineteenth century.

Tate Britain
Duffield Room
Millbank
London

£5 (£4 concessions), booking recommended

http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/eventseducation/talks/20951.htm

ACTION

30 January to 28 March 2010

Artists: Beverley Bennett, Appau Boayke- Yiadom, Grace Ndiritu, Robin Deacon
an exhibition curated by Sonia Boyce as part of Liverpool and the Black Atlantic season including:

Sonia Boyce: Like Love Parts One & Two at Bluecoat Gallery

Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic at Tate Liverpool

http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/exhibitions/afromodernism/around-liverpool.shtm

Bluecoat Gallery
School Lane
Liverpool
L1 3BX

Film / Video / Performance 1960 - 2010

2010-02-03T03:28:00.000-08:00

Dates: Friday 19 February - Friday 19 March 2010

Open: Monday - Friday, 13.00 - 18.00

Private View: Thursday 18 February 2010, 18.00 - 21.00

Venue: Wimbledon Space, Wimbledon College of Art, Merton Hall Road, Wimbledon, SW19 3QA
A video lounge with a changing programme of screenings and events, including key works that have championed the medium from the 1960’s to 2010. Curated by Terry Smith, Teaching Fellow in Drawing at Wimbledon College of Art.

For further information please visit www.experimentaldrawingclass.com

Speaking Out: The Spoken Word in Artistic Practice

2010-02-03T03:23:00.000-08:00

Saturday 6 February 2010, 10.30–17.30
This symposium focuses on the use of the spoken word in artistic practice and its manifestations in sonic and audiovisual art works. Taking the lead from the recently published anthology of works Playing with Words: The Spoken Word in Artistic Practice, this event encompasses performances, talks and conversations by artists and researchers who employ spoken words as their material and inspiration.

Contributors include Tomomi Adachi, Caroline Bergvall, Dani Gal, Brandon LaBelle, Cathy Lane, Oswaldo Macià, Nye Parry, Inua 'Phaze' Ellams, Imogen Stidworthy, David Toop and Trevor Wishart.

In collaboration with CRISAP, Creative Research into Sound Art Practice, London College of Communication, University of the Arts London

Tate Modern Starr Auditorium
£25 (£15 concessions), booking recommended
For tickets book online
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eventseducation/symposia/20795.htm
or call 020 7887 8888.

Sartorial Locomotion: In Conversation, Spring 2010

2010-02-03T03:16:00.000-08:00

Three 'In Conversation' sessions exploring current thinking in the research, making and curation of fashion-centred film Organised by the LCF Fashion Media and Image Hub

Wednesday 20 January 2010
5.30pm RHS East Space
Creative Director of SHOWstudio, Ross Phillips, will discuss fashion and clothing in relation to current developments in interactive and online media

Wednesday 10 February 2010
5.30pm RHS East Space
Filmmaker Adam Mufti will showcase current developments in creating editorial and advertising fashion films for online and discuss his experiences working on the BBC documentary on Christopher Kane

Wednesday 3 March 2010
5.30pm RHS East Space
Marketa Uhlirova, the director of the Fashion In Film Festival, will speak on the issues facing the curator of historic and contemporary films featuring fashion
Talks will last one hour and drinks will be served afterwards.

Please contact research@fashion.arts.ac.uk to RSVP or for further information.
London College of Fashion, 20 John Princes Street, London W1G 0BJ, 0207 514 2286

ZENZILE - (blog me) SITE

2010-01-28T07:22:00.001-08:00

Rope-a-dope "

2010-01-28T06:49:00.000-08:00

29th January 2010
7-9pm
00 Nevins Street between Union an d Sackett Streets in the Gowanus Canal area of Brooklyn
http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/information/visit.php

“Rope-a-dope” is a knockout performance that revisits the events around the infamous “Rumble in the Jungle” boxing match, which paired the charismatic Muhammad Ali and the reigning world champion George Foreman and took place in Kinshasa, Zaire on October 30, 1974. Expect issues of politics, identity, religion, and economics to be thrashed out in what promises to be grueling and intense performances by Brooklyn-based artists A. K. Burns and Kenya (Robinson). Rope-a-dope, a fighting strategy adopted by Ali to defeat Foreman, is based on the idea of enduring your adversary’s repeated blows until they exhaust themselves, before you finally rise up to triumph over them. Following this historical encounter of thirty-five years ago and the events surrounding it, the term and strategy have been deployed in the public sphere to reference similar strategies in politics, business negotiations, and personal relationships.

The term’s revival during Barack Obama’s electoral campaign, in which he patiently submitted to a battering by his opponents only to swing back harder, invites us to revisit a historic moment with a return to the ring. The artists will perform their interpretation of Rope-a-dope, reflecting the way sports informs our understanding of contemporary global politics as well as rituals of self-preservation.

This event will be accompanied by an installation of documents and materials directly and indirectly connected to the fight showing, among other things, the rivalry between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, Mobutu Sésé Seko’s reign in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) in the 1970s, the fight promoter Don King’s organizing tactics, and the sting of Ali’s rants.

About the artists:

A.K. Burns is a Brooklyn-based artist who grounds her work in feminist and queer discourse addressing issues of power, sites of control, and knowledge production. Burns is a founding member of the activist artist group W.A.G.E. (Working Artists and the Greater Economy), which draws attention to economic inequalities in the arts. For “Rope-a-dope,” Burns will present a performance with video and sculpture, that acts as a response to Johanna Russ’s feminist sci-fi novel from 1975, 'The Female Man'.
We consume and we excrete, every day, all day. In one hole and out the other. I’m interested in all our shared holes and how having an extra one changes ones perception and position in the world. Consider bodies. Bodies as bags. Bags for consumption. Bags you desire. Bags you fist. Bags you box. boxes and bags. bodies with boxes and bags.

Kenya (Robinson) is a multi-media artist based in Brooklyn. She takes the ritual as a site for her artistic production, addressing politics of the quotidian and the ceremonies of the mundane. Her exhibition, “HAIRPOLITIC: The Pursuit of Nappiness” was on view at the Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Art in 2008, investigating construction of identities within the notions of choice and acceptance. For “Rope-a-dope,” Kenya uses the pre-fight ritual of hand wrapping as the visual backdrop for a rapped soliloquy that fuses the poetry of Gabriella Calvocoressi, the rhymed boasts of Muhammad Ali, and polyrhythmic patterns of 70’s soul.

“Rope-a-dope” is curated by Sohrab Mohebbi and Gabi Ngcobo, second-year graduate students at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College

ICI (Independent Curators International)

2010-01-28T05:58:00.000-08:00

ICI (Independent Curators International) launches training intensive for aspiring curators

Program Dates: June 6 - 15, 2010

Application Deadline: March 12, 2010

http://www.ici-exhibitions.org

Building on its history as a hub for curatorial ideas, ICI is supporting a new generation of curators to develop exhibition proposals.

The Curatorial Intensive is a short-term, low-cost program taking place this June in New York for emerging curators across North America. From an open competition, 6-10 individuals will be selected to come to New York and work with some of today's leading curators and artists. Through a rigorous schedule of workshops, discussions and critiques, as well as site visits to local institutions and artist's studios, each participant will be led through the process of developing an idea for an exhibition into a full exhibition proposal. The program will employ ICI's extensive professional network of advisors and teachers, including Dan Cameron (Founding Director, Prospect New Orleans); Kate Fowle (Executive Director, ICI); Matthew Higgs (Director and Chief Curator, White Columns); Eungie Joo (Director and Curator of Education and Public Programs, New Museum); Maria Lind (Director, CCS Bard); Nicola Trezzi (US Editor, Flash Art); and Fred Wilson (artist).

After the New York phase of the project is complete, ICI will continue working with participants long-distance to finalize their proposals. The Curatorial Intensive has been organized in partnership with the CUE Art Foundation, who will provide their virtual gallery as a platform for participants to publish their proposals online so that broad publics, as well as the hundreds of institutions with which ICI works, can view the final proposals.

ICI is uniquely positioned to establish The Curatorial Intensive, having worked with a wide range of curators to develop innovative traveling exhibitions. In 35 years ICI has organized 116 shows, which have been presented in 570 institutions in 47 states and 23 countries worldwide, and experienced by nearly 6 million people.

The Curatorial Intensive was developed by ICI's Executive Director, Kate Fowle, who recently joined ICI after working as the International Curator at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. Prior to her time in China, Fowle spent 6 years in San Francisco at the California College of the Arts, where she was the director of the MA Program in Curatorial Practice, which she founded in 2002 with Ralph Rugoff.

The Curatorial Intensive has been generously supported in part by the ICI Patrons, Partners and Benefactors, and The Dedalus Foundation.

Application Guidelines: Applications must include a 300-word description of an exhibition idea the applicant would like help in developing. Submissions should include an exhibition concept or key idea, and any artists that the applicant is considering. Also required is a current resume, plus a short letter of intent that outlines why applicants want to participate in The Curatorial Intensive, as well as an example of a recent exhibition that has made an impact on the applicants.

Application Deadline: March 12, 2010

Fees and Scholarships: The program fee is 1,500 USD. Participants will be responsible for covering travel and accomodation expenses. In its commitment to make The Curatorial Intensive accessible to individuals from diverse economic backgrounds, ICI will offer generous scholarship packages, subsidizing or eliminating program fees and travel expenses of several program participants. Visit ICI's website for further details.

Program Dates: June 6-15, 2010

For More Information / To Send Application Materials:

ICI (Independent Curators International)
799 Broadway, Suite 205
New York, NY 10003
T: 212-254-8200
F: 212-477-4781
education@ici-exhibitions.org

ICI (Independent Curators International) produces exhibitions, events, publications, and training opportunities for diverse audiences around the world. A catalyst for independent thinking, ICI connects emerging and established curators, artists, and institutions, to forge international networks and generate new forms of collaboration. Working across disciplines and historical precedents, the organization is a hub that provides access to the people, ideas, and practices that are key to current developments in the field, inspiring fresh ways of seeing and contextualizing contemporary art.

Visit our website at http://www.ici-exhibitions.org

VIDEO ART WORKSHOP CALL FOR APPLICANTS

2010-01-20T04:14:00.000-08:00

The Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos is please to present its third Video Art Workshop.

The four day workshop will be led by two artists working in the area of Video, Petra Szilagyi (United States) and Jude Anogwih (Nigeria).

The workshop aims to:
• Provide artists with a good grasp of the concepts of Video Art within contemporary artistic practice
• Provide the technical ability to incorporate and create works of Video Art.
• To create project based on experimentation of the video image on the classic forms of art like painting, sculpture, music and theatre.
• To introduce new elements like performance. Installation, photography and sound projects.

Workshop content includes:
• Screening of artists videos from around the world
• Talks and presentations by the workshop artists
• Introduction to different video art approaches
• Development of participants own ideas, storyboard, visual concept etc
• Implementation of ideas and editing of individual works
• Screening of Video Art works to a public audience
• Receipt of DVD of the workshop, a CD of individual work/s

Dates: Thursday 21st, Friday 22nd, Friday 29th, Saturday 30th January 2010, 8:30am- 6pm
Venue: Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, 9 McEwen Street, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos

Workshop Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Artists. Experience and/or interest in the visual arts preferable. Emphasis is on talent, motivation and a keen interest in experimenting in new forms of artistic production.

Fee: N4,000 non-refundable (first come first serve basis only) spaces are limited.

Application closes 5pm 20th January 2009

For more information call Oyinda on 07055680104 or email oyinda@ccalagos.org

Happy New Year

2010-01-04T07:56:00.000-08:00

Lots of catching up to do>>>

Looking forward to 2010!!

Come Chop 'Small Chops' in VI... Your All Invited

2010-01-04T07:53:00.000-08:00

Culled from: http://www.creativafrica.blogspot.com/

The evening of Tuesday 5th January 2010 is the date and Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria is the setting for the Launch evening of C.R.E.A.T.I.V's biggest venture yet; Small Chops.

Yes small chops will be served ! and on the menu will be; Plantain Chips, Pepper Soup, Chin Chin & Killishi and Boli & Groundnut.
The Menu will be an ecclectic collection of poems and short stories based on the theme of traditions which will question and challenge the idea of traditional behaviour whilst also celebrating it.

The Creative minds of Victoria Island, Lagos and all surrounding areas will be out in force on the first Tuesday of the new year to witness a fun filled evening which will include readings, auctions and previews and possible guest appearances.

Small Chops : An Anthology to give the full title, is a book of quality which includes published and acclaimed writers such as Dr Niyi Osundare, Inua Ellams & Chiedu Ifeozo.

A book of such quality deserves a quality launch and C.R.E.A.T.I.V will be delivering just that.
On the evening of 5th January 2010 Rehab 288 Ajose Adeogun, Victoria Island, Lagos will be an explosion of creativity !

All Proceeds from the sales of small chops will be given to to SOS Children's Villages, Nigeria. http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/

Photography Workshop

2009-11-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos in fulfillment of its objectives, has over the past 23months presented an innovative programme of exhibitions, talks, seminars, workshops and events reaching out to a local, African and global audience. We are pleased to present the 2010 programme, On Independence and The Ambivalence of Promise.

We start this landmark year for Nigeria and the African continent with an ambitious and innovative Fine Art Photography workshop focusing not so much on technique but on methodology, critical thinking, conceptual ideas and their implementation.

This project is open to artists in Nigeria and around Africa working in all media - painting, sculpture, textile, ceramics, photography, video and new media, performance art, writing, theatre and dance. The workshop will be an intensive 30 day programme facilitated by experienced local and international artists, critics, curators starting on the 8th of February till 6th of March 2010

The content of the programme will be based on several components such as:

* Explore themes around Independence and the Post-Colony
* Discover methodologies and strategies for the development of your artistic practice
* 1-on-1 artist portfolio reviews of your work with leading local and international artists and curators
* Develop your critical thinking skills and explore ways of implementing them into your practice
* Engage with the history of photography and its conceptual dimensions
* Work will be featured in the final exhibition and publication

Workshop facilitators and guests speakers include leading professionals in their field:

1. Phillipe Pirotte (Belgium/Switzerland)
2. Heta Kucha (Finland)
3. Giovanni Carmini (Switzerland)
4. Simon Njami (Cameroon),
5. Tam Fiofori (Nigeria)
6. Daniella Wennberg (Norway)
7. Miriam Backstrom (Sweden),
8. Jide Adeniyi Jones (Nigeria)
9. Rosangela Renno (Brazil)
10. Senam Okudzeto (Ghana)
11. Mats Stjernstedt (Sweden)
12. Carrie Schneider (USA)
13. Elina Brotherus (Finland)

Project Conceived and developed by curators Aura Seikkula (Finland) and Bisi Silva (Nigeria)

Registration open until November 27, 2009.
For additional information please contact Project Co-ordinator antawan@ccalagos.org

P.A.G.E.S @ CCA,Lagos Saturday 21st November

2009-11-19T15:02:00.000-08:00

P.A.G.E.S

Date: Saturday, November 21, 2009
Time: 2:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Centre for Contemporary Art, 9 McEween Street, behind Domino Dinners, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos.

P.A.G.E.S, the confluence of literature, art works, comics and photography brings together two patriots and compatriots in dialogue with their country - Nigeria with their art and literature. This programme is designed to converge fictionist, poets and playwrights, arts and literary lovers at Art Exhibition Halls around the world to give literary interpretation to the works being exhibited and dialogue around it at all time.

We've in the pass hosted: Jude Dibia, a published writer with two books in an exhibition titled "Like A Virgin," Onyeka Nwelue, a young and dynamic young author in an exhibition tagged "The World is Flat," and Toni Kan, the author of many books in an exhibition titled "Trash-ing."

THE EXHIBITION

Identity: An Imagined State, brings together for the first time works by twelve established and emerging artists of different cultural, geographic and social backgrounds from Nigeria, Africa, and South America. Their works consider from both local and global perspective, the issues around identity in relation to Africa. As a point of departure, the exhibition explores associations with the label ‘African’ and has been contextualized in a manner that reflects on, but without answering, ‘what or who is an African.’ By exploring these themes the exhibition tells the story of belonging, displacement, uncertainty, visibility and negotiation through the medium of video art.

Participating artists include Jude Anogwih(Nig), Lucy Azubuike(Nig), Uchay Joel Chima(Nig), Luc Fosther Diop(CAM), Bouchra Khalili(MOR/FR), Vanessa Padilla(ECU), Thando Mama(SA), Grace Ndiritu(KEN/UK), Emeka Ogboh(NIG), Berni Searle(SA), Aicha Thiam(SEN) and Kemang Wa Lehulere(SA)

FYNE ArtDICTION opens 22nd November at Southern Sun Lagos

2009-11-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

Identity:An Imagined State

2009-10-26T05:04:00.000-07:00

Curated by Jude Anogwih and Oyinda Fakeye
Opening: Saturday,31st October 2009, 3pm
Exhibition continues till 28th November, 2009

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos is pleased to present the first international exhibition of Video Art in Nigeria Identity:An Imagined State, which constitutes the final part of a year long focus on the medium. In fulfilment of our objectives to provide a platform for artistic diversity and experimentation, CCA,Lagos focused on a specific medium over a twelve month period hosting a one week video art workshop with One Minute Foundation and a two week workshop Linha Imaginaria conceived by Angolan Artist Miguel Petchkovsky and co-facilitated with Camerounian artist Goddy Leye and Brazilian Artist Eustaquio Neves.

Identity: An Imagined State, brings together for the first time works by twelve established and emerging artists of different cultural, geographic and social backgrounds from Nigeria, Africa, and South America. The works consider from both local and global perspective, the issues around identity in relation to Africa. As a point of departure, the exhibition explores associations with the label ‘African’ and has been contextualized in a manner that reflects on, but without answering, ‘what or who is an African.’ By exploring these themes the exhibition tells the story of belonging, displacement, uncertainty, visibility and negotiation through the medium of video art.

Participating artists include Jude Anogwih(Nig), Lucy Azubuike(Nig), Uchay Joel Chima(Nig), Luc Fosther Diop(CAM), Bouchra Khalili(MOR/FR), Vanessa Padilla(ECU), Thando Mama(SA), Grace Ndiritu(KEN/UK), Emeka Ogboh(NIG), Berni Searle(SA), Aicha Thiam(SEN) and Kemang Wa Lehulere(SA).

Identity: An Imagined State is accompanied by a fully illustrated colour publication with insightful texts by Krydz Ikwuemesi, Miguel Petchkovsky, Goddy Leye, Solange Farkas, introduction by Bisi Silva and afterword by Antawan I. Byrd.

Public Programme
Identity: An Imagined State is accompanied by a innovative and engaging line-up of educational and artists development programmes including Artists' Talks, Panel Discussions, the well received P.A.G.E.S session organised by Aderemi Adegbite, writers workshop collaboration with WiAiA (Word into Art into Africa), several complementary video art screening sessions and a 2 day introductory video art workshop. Organised by Jude Anogwih and Oyinda Fakeye

CCA,Lagos' Video Art Programme has received generous support from the Prince Claus Fund and Mondriaan Foundation.

For More Press Information and Images Contact Oyinda Fakeye, ,

Designers Workshop @ Swahili Fashion Week

2009-10-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

The Swahili Fashion Week is a coming together of talented designers from across Tanzania under one stand to showcase their unique and truly African creations. This is not only a potential point for existing designers but also an opportune moment for upcoming aspiring designers in the country.

The Swahili Fashion Week will take place from November 4th-6th 2009 in Dar es Salaam.
As Part of the event a special workshop has been designed in order to engage futher with designers. Please find attached below a copy of the application form which must be filled and returned to info@daressalaam.goethe.org or info@swahilifashionweek.com by 23 october 09

GOETHE INSTITUTE & SFW in association with VODACOM & ZTE

Questionnaire for Fashion Designers Workshop
(Please fill this form online and send it back to info@daressalaam.goethe.org or info@swahilifashionweek.com the latest by 23 october 09)

Questionnaire to apply for the Fashion workshop during the Swahili Fashion Week
By and at the Goethe-Institut Tanzania

Conducted by: Uta Heinig (Germany)
Organised by: Goethe-Institut Tanzania and the Swahili Fashion Week
Workshop on Planning a Collection & Labelling/Marketing
03.-05.11.2009 from 10 am – 4 pm
Please only apply when you are ready for teamwork, for practical exercises and provided that you are available for all workshop days.

Name:………………………………………………………………………………………
Occupation:………………………………………………………………………………..
Nationality:…………………………………………………………………………………
Age:…………………………………………………………………………………………
Company/Institution if any:………………………………………………………………
e-mail:………………………………………………………………………………………
Mobile:………………………………………………………………………………………

1. What’s your perspective on the Tanzanian Fashion situation (Education, Industry) in the next 5-10 years? Please justify.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

2. Briefly describe what makes your design/creativity unique, and why?…………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………………………

3. Please advice why you should be selected to attend the workshop?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

4. If you will be selected, what would you do with the knowledge gained?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5. How did you hear about the workshop (e.g. from the media, E-list, from a friend…)?
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

For more information on the workshop please contact:

Ulrike Schwerdtfeger and Mustafa Hassanali
Goethe-Institut Tansania
Alykhan Road No. 63, Upanga
P.O. Box 9541
Dar es Salaam, Tansania
Tel./Fax: +255 – 22 – 213 4800
Web: www.goethe.de/tansania
E-mail: info@daressalaam.goethe.org

For more information on Swahili Fashion Week visit: http://www.swahilifashionweek.com/

Fadan/ Vlisco Art Competition- on the Theme 'Fashion Design'

2009-10-19T04:14:00.000-07:00

Precedents and Currents

2009-09-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

an exhibition curated by
Nwafor Uju Nkiruka Jane

OPENING: THURSDAY 1ST OCTOBER 2009
VENUE: UWC/ROBBEN ISLAND MUSEUM MAYIBUYE ARCHIVE (BESIDE UWC LIBRARY)

Precedents and Currents
Media reports have shown that demonstrations over poor public service in South Africa have soared since the past few years. In some of the protests, police fired rubber bullets at protesters who were demonstrating over the grim housing conditions they are forced to live in. Other upsetting riots, where foreigners were either killed or have their properties looted and burnt, featured recurrent elements of xenophobia. These instances of violent or sometimes peaceful protests inspired the theme of this exhibition.

Precedents and Currents is an exhibition that intends to see how these recent occurrences relate to the violent protests that happened during the apartheid era. One may assume that many were hopeful for improved and positive change in their lives and living conditions with the new democracy but that is yet to be fully realized in the post-apartheid era. Perhaps issues concerning housing, education, employment and land restitution that were not properly dealt with during apartheid are still re-surfacing again, generating xenophobic and violent protests. This exhibition, which was inspired by resistance protests, employs materials from the University of the Western Cape/Robben Island Museum Mayibuye archive to interrogate the concept of service delivery and to bring the audience's attention to the interrelatedness of the past to the present.
Photographers and artists whose works are exhibited include Dave Hartman, Omar Badsha, Paul Weinberg, Billy Paddock, Gill de Vlieg, Guy Tillim, Eli Weinberg, Andrew Lamprecht, Selma Waldman and Tyrone Appollis .

For more information visit www.ujunki.blogspot.com

Prêt-à-Partager: a transnational exchange in art fashion and sport

2009-09-28T05:17:00.000-07:00

Un échange transculturel autour de l’art, de la mode et du sport
- Du lundi au samedi 11 H - 19 H
- Galerie Le Manège
- Entrée libre

En partenariat avec le Goethe-Institut

Vernissage le mardi 29 septembre à 18h30
Colloque le 30 septembre au Goethe-Institut de Dakar, à 18h30, en présence des artistes.(Point E, Rue Diourbel x piscine Olympique)

Une réflexion sur la mode, l’identité, l’histoire et le mouvement à travers les œuvres de 15 artistes réunis à l’initiative de l’Institut pour les Relations Culturelles avec l’Étranger (IFA) lors d’un workshop organisé à Dakar en novembre 2008 dans le cadre des Semaines culturelles allemandes.

La Galerie Le Manège est heureuse d’accueillir l’exposition Prêt-à-partager, proposée par le Goethe-Institut de Dakar. Cet événement marquera la deuxième étape d’une collaboration débutée en octobre 2008 avec l’exposition photographique Deutsche Vita de Stefan Moses, collaboration que Le Manège souhaite riche et pérenne. Regroupant 15 artistes et plus de 32 œuvres (110 photographies, vidéos, films, installations sonores et dans l’espace, créations de mode, sérigraphie), cette exposition témoigne du dynamisme et du brio de la création africaine contemporaine et de son potentiel à enrichir ses formes esthétiques et conceptuelles au contact d’artistes d’autres cultures. Lors de ces rencontres, les créateurs originaires d’Afrique et d’Europe se sont fait les vecteurs d’influences provenant des métropoles que sont Berlin, Kinshasa, Dakar, Londres, Stuttgart, Douala, Hambourg et Johannesburg, influences qui ont toutes convergé vers la capitale dakaroise.

Ainsi, Zohra Opoku met en scène dans les rues de Dakar un Jump Suits inspiré de la capoeira ; Astrid S. Klein installe ses œuvres dans des locaux de cinémas désaffectés, illustrant ainsi les mutations économiques et sociétales telles qu’elles se manifestent dans le paysage urbain de Dakar ; Nafissatou Diop joue au jeu du dévoilement et de la dissimulation avec des ensembles de lingerie, comme autant d’assertions esthétiques fascinantes sur les politiques du corps et du genre ; Ule Barcélos travestit des vêtements bon marché en y ajoutant marques et décorations à la manière des enfants et adolescents des milieux les moins favorisés ; Akinbode Akinbiyi livre au spectateur les coulisses du projet avec une série de photographies prises au cours du workshop... Autant d’expressions formelles qui interrogent le lien entre la mode et l’art aujourd’hui. Ce sont les 32 œuvres qui matérialisent le fruit de ce travail qui seront présentées dans le cadre de l’exposition Prêt-à-partager. Itinérante, cette exposition inaugurée à Dakar sera ensuite présentée pendant deux ans sur tout le continent africain.

Artistes exposés :

Akinbode Akinbiyi (Nigéria)
Ule Barcélos (Guinée-Bissau / Portugal / Allemagne)
Ndiaga Diaw (Sénégal)
Nafissatou Diop (Sénégal)
Simone Gilges (Allemagne)
Mamadou Gomis (Sénégal)
Zille Homma Hamid (Pakistan / Allemagne)
Astrid S. Klein (Allemagne)
Goddy Leye (Cameroun)
Philip Metz (Ghana / Allemagne)
Lambert Mousseka (République démocratique de Congo / Allemagne)
Zohra Opoku (Ghana / Allemagne)
Friedrich M. Ploch (Allemagne)
Athi-Patra Ruga (Afrique de sud)
Lolo Veleko (Afrique du Sud)

The prêt-à-partager exhibition is a transnational artistic dialogue on fashion, sport, Africa and its Diaspora. These collected works take the varied meanings and possibilities of clothing and fashion as determined by society and individuals and explore them in myriad ways that go beyond their function as consumer goods or economic factors. The Dakar metropolitan area serves as the stage for the protagonists of a world in constant flux, where concepts of identity are fluid.
The artists have utilised the tapestries of their own history and familiarisation with new cultural practices to develop striking works, hybrid creations which are socially explosive.

The artworks presented in the exhibition originated in the prêt-à-partager workshop in Dakar in November 2008. The exhibition which was curated by Elke aus dem Moore and Sandrine Micosse will go on a two-year tour of different countries in West, East and South Africa.

Independence Day Talk at CCA,Lagos, Thursday 1st of October at 2pm‏

2009-09-28T05:02:00.000-07:00

Centre for Contemporary Art,Lagos is pleased to present its public programme on Thursday 1st of October as follows

Date Thursday 1st October 2009
Time 2pm (prompt o)
Venue - CCA,Lagos 9 McEwen Street, Sabo, Yaba

Artist Kainebi Osahenye talks about his exhibition Trash-ing with CCA,Lagos Director Bisi Silva.
They are then joined in a panel discussion on the State of Painting in Nigeria by Uche Edochie and Jess Castellote

3.30pm - Refreshments

4. 00pm Talk by Giles Peppiat, MRICS, Director, Bonhams
Mr Peppiat's talk will give an overview of the international auction house Bonhams as well as focus on the contemporary African art sales within an international context.

Giles Peppiatt studied at St. Andrews University before joining Bonhams in 1989. In 1993 he trained as an auctioneer and conducted his first auction in that year. In 1997 he qualified as a ‘Chartered Arts & Antiques Surveyor’ with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Giles is also the world leading expert on South African Art and in 2007 he established the first ever London auction devoted entirely to South African artists, “The South African Sale”. These sales have now established London as the global centre for South African Art with the turnover in 2008 in excess of $20 million.

In 2008 Giles organised and curated the first ever commercial auction of modern and contemporary African art to have been held in London. The sale was titled ‘Africa Now’ and was an enormous success. The auction showcased some of the best works in this field and was a new fresh manner to extend Bonham’s already powerful reach in this area. The sale included work by El Anatsui, Ben Enwonwu, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Malagatana and many others.

The next ‘Africa Now’ sale will be held in February 2010 in Bonham’s Madison Avenue galleries in New York.

Contemporary Photography Market: Trends and Opportunities, organised in association with ArtInsight.

2009-09-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

Join key figures from the world of photography. Including Jeffrey Boloten, Managing Director ArtInsight, Matt Carey-Williams, Christies European Private Sales Director, Zelda Cheatle, Tosca Photography Fund and Brett Rogers, Director, The Photographers' Gallery.

The seminar is followed by a drinks reception and curator led tour of the exhibition André Kertész: On Reading.

Tickets: £75.00

For more information and to book email Jeffrey Bolotenon on jeffrey@artinsight.co.uk

16 - 18 Ramillies Street
London W1F 7LW
Tel: +44 (0)845 262 1618
Fax: +44 (0)20 7836 9704
Email: info@photonet.org.uk
www.photonet.org.uk

WiAiA comes to Lagos - Call for Applications

2009-09-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

WIAIA COMES TO LAGOS
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

DEADLINE: 20 SEPTEMBER 2009

From 27 October to 4 November 2009, SPARCK will host the first WiAiA: an international workshop dedicated to innovative writing and publishing about contemporary creation in the African world.

WiAiA stands for Word into Art into Africa. WiAiA is designed to address the need, and to respond to active calls from arts practitioners with whom SPARCK collaborates, for (more) creative and (more) ethically engaged writing about the production of contemporary art in the African world – writing that addresses in original ways intersections between the arts and social, political and economic concerns in a globalised world.

The goal of these workshops is to provide a platform for fostering such writing and to assist in developing a strong readership for it. In the middle and longer term, WiAiA’s aim is to connect, grow and sustain a community of young writers who will shape, share and propel the engaged discourse of the workshops as part of an ongoing online publication project.
The Lagos workshop is the first in a series of three intimate and highly focused writers’ workshops, which will be staged in 2009-2010 in three cities: Lagos, Dakar and Kinshasa.
Each workshop will take the form of a master class and revolve around a particular art form. Each will take place in parallel with an emergent festival or exhibition WiAiA Lagos will focus on writing about contemporary dance and related performance genres (experimental circus; martial and trance arts; social dancing with historical roots in community activism). WiAiA Dakar will address writing on experimental video and WiAiA Kinshasa will centre on writing about installation art and network thinking.

FACILITATORS

Each class will be facilitated by a team of two practitioners: an established writer and an artist, each of whose work highlights intersections between creative processes and political and ethical engagement. WiAiA Lagos will occur in tandem with Ewa BamiJo, an innovative festival of contemporary dance and performance founded by the much-heralded Nigerian choreographer and dancer Qudus Onikeku. The workshop will be facilitated by Onikeku and award-winning London-based writer and blogger Sokari Ekine.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants in each of the three workshops will be confirmed, full-time writers. While an interest on their part in art as a subject will naturally be relevant, it is not expected that the participants will be art critics. A key focus, in all three workshops, is to encourage thinking out of the box: reflection that questions and challenges disciplinary boundaries. Participants as well as facilitators will accordingly hail from a range of fields. They will be journalists, essayists, poets, novelists and short story writers, bloggers and/or spoken word artists.

SPARCK has established and is further growing plans with several culture-focused websites in Africa, Europe and North America to publish on a regular basis for a period of two years short pieces by WiAiA writers on contemporary creation in the African world. Participation in WiAiA Lagos will accordingly not be a one-time short-term venture. It will involve serious, sustained writing both during the workshop itself and following the workshop. Participants actively engaged in the process can expect to be published in highly visible online fora read across the African world.

Applications to participate in WiAiA Lagos are sought from published writers as well as writers aspiring to be published. Particular consideration will be given to applicants who have a demonstrated interest in developing original approaches to writing about contemporary culture and creativity as they relate to globally driven social, economic and political phenomena and for whom writing is an integral part of a larger, ethically engaged and forward-thinking vision of life in a global world.
Participants shall be selected from an open call for submissions. The number of participants will be kept small (4-5 participants per workshop) to ensure that the experience is direct and intense and that it requires of all involved a highly personal investment.

All participants will be persons (hailing) from and/or based in West Africa, typically (though not exclusively) in Nigeria. Travel assistance may be provided for participants living outside Lagos.

PROGRAMME

Workshop participants will attend the entirety of the Ewa BamiJo festival (27-31 October 2009). The workshop proper will begin immediately following the festival, on 1 November 2009, and will last 4 days, ending on 4 November 2009. Participation throughout both the festival and the workshop proper will be full-time and will involve daily evening events and writing projects.

The language of the Lagos workshop will be English.

Accommodation, meals during the workshop and transportation to and from all events associated with the workshop will be provided.

HOW TO APPLY

Persons interested in participating in the workshop are invited to apply with the following materials:

• Detailed CV

• Letter stating why WiAiA is of interest to the applicant

• Submission of at least two (but no more than 5) writing samples:

- 1 manuscript of no less than 10 pages single spaced, published or in progress:

= a collection of 10 (or more) poems
= or 1 chapter (or more) of a novel
= or 1 short story
= or 1 essay
= or 1 article
= or 1 play
= or a combination of the above

AND

- 1 text developed for the present workshop submission, of no fewer than 5 pages single spaced: an essay, article, short story, poem or related form that addresses/points to questions relating to contemporary art/creativity.

The deadline for submissions from writers interested in participating in WiAiA Lagos is September 20, 2009. Applications will be screened by the WiAiA Lagos facilitators and the SPARCK team. The names of selected candidates will be announced on 10 October 2009. Nomination will be by majority vote.

Applications should be sent by email no later than midnight on September 20, 2009 to the following email address:

WiAiA.Lagos@gmail.com

Queries are welcome at the above-cited address.

For more information on SPARCK, the Africa Centre and Ewa BamiJo, see:
SPARCK – Space for Pan-African Research, Creation and Knowledge on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/l/;africacentre.net
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.ewabamijo.com/

London African Music Festival

2009-09-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

11th-13th September 2009

Since 2003 the London African Music Festival has been at the forefront of new African music and this year is no exception, with the festival featuring true legends – Oliver Mtukudzi, Lord Eric Sugumugu, the leader of the mighty Master Drummers of Africa, who premiers his new acoustic group, and maverick jazz organist Ed Bentley who leads his new high energy group that fuses hi-life with funk and jazz solos. As always it features women leaders with this year’s stars including The Yoruba Women Choir, Uganda’s diva Rachel Magoola, contemporary jazz saxophonist YolanDa Brown and Hilary Mwelwa leads her remarkable group, Hil St Soul.

For more info and full listings check out: http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/festivals-series/london-african-music-festival

TRASH-ING new works by Kainebi Osahenye @ CCA, Lagos

2009-09-10T03:33:00.000-07:00

Opening: Saturday, 12th September 2009, 3pm
Exhibition continues till 10th October 2009

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos is pleased to present an exhibition of
new mixed media and painterly installations by acclaimed Lagos based artist
Kainebi Osahenye. With over twenty years of artistic practice, this current
incarnation Trash-ing builds on the continuous process of experimentation
which has pushed the boundaries of his painting.

Trash-ing signals a new departure from his well-known large-scale
neo-expressionist paintings towards the incorporation of more conceptual
concerns through a format that increasingly borrows from an installation
orientated process. Losing none of his gestural signature strokes, nor the
luminosity of his colours or the edginess of his subject matter, Trash-ing
highlights some of the issues that have pervaded his work for over a decade.
In the recent works these existential, political, religious and everyday
themes which habitually manifested with a degree of playfulness are
presented less implicitly in favour of a suggestiveness which attests to the
state of maturity he has attained in his career.

Osahenye moves seamlessly from the metaphysical to the physical, from the
unreal to the real, foregrounding issues for which he is well-known and
expanding on others such as globalisation, consumerism, man’s inhumanity and
the environment forming the entral(nodal) focus of this new body of work. In
so doing the exhibition’s title succeeds in playing on the multiple
connotations of the word to ‘trash’ to signify destruction, abuse, rejection
and waste. It also serves as an explicit reminder on the one hand of man’s
disregard for one other and on the other, towards the environment.

Using appropriation as a tool, Osahenye’s most ambitious work to date is the
ceiling to wall installation titled ‘Casualty’, 2009. Made of thousand of
beer cans, the work is less about the ‘trendy’ fad in recycling than in
acknowledging the limitation of the traditional mode of painting whilst
simultaneously recognising the abilities and the possibilities of pushing
boundaries without losing the essence of the painterly. On sighting the
burnt cans near a garbage dump of a hotel in Auchi, Osahenye states that he
‘was instantly confronted with thoughts of war, cruelty, melancholy, pain,
displacement, anguish and deformity and I started conceiving ways to install
this large scale work to express the force and the power that I felt.’ Whether
the totality of this and other works of the artist marks the beginning of
the ‘new’ face of contemporary Nigerian painting remains to be seen.

Trash-ing is a collaboration between Kainebi Osahenye Studios and CCA,Lagos.
The exhibition has been organised by CCA,Lagos Project Co-Ordinator/Artist, Jude Anogwih.

Open Mon – Fri 10am – 6pm
Sat 12-5pm (Sun by appointment only)
Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos
9 McEwen Street, Sabo, Yaba
www.ccalagos.org
www.facebook.com/ccalagos

Press:

Osahenye raises the bar with TRASH-ING

In no distant future, Kainebi Osahenye’s art works will become part of the cannons for appraising Nigerian artists’ transformation from regular paintings to digital credible forms of conceptual art and global acceptance. Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME previews his TRASH-ING, a solo art exhibition opening on September 12, at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos.

For every exhibition, it is one step ahead of many. His bright colourful figurative and giant size canvasses are some of the characteristics of his ever evolving approach to art. And for many of his outings (Crosses of Life, The cross took me for a walk and Erasures), he focused on issues inherent in cruciform, (crosses) and crossroads, which are commentaries on salvation and survival in a country of plenty.

With the current exhibition, TRASH-ING, Osahenye has left no one in doubt of his direction- credible forms of contextual art- at a period most of his colleagues are not hungry for global validation.

Over the past few years, Osahenye, has gradually raised the bar of contemporary art from the regular bright and bold colourful paintings to installation works that interrogate the system using local contents, especially discarded found items. As a deliberate approach, he offers few large size paintings to pass his strong messages.

Expectedly, the artist will be showing only seven installation works, which the host gallery, Bisi Silva’s CCA, Lagos is noted for since it opened to public in December 2007. All the seven works are large scale installations made from empty plastic water bottles, flattened paint tubes, patches of papers and empty soft drink cans to create different pieces.

Osahenye uses Casualty, a collection of empty soft drink cans laced together to form a contain-like objects that overflow from the ceiling downward to the floor. This reminds viewers of the many calamities of war, famine, pollution and pains people go through in life. Below these cans is a heap of other cans spreading on floor. In between the stringed cans are flags of some countries regarded as hotspots where genocide and mass killings of people are everyday occurrence. Beyond war, Casualty is a strong commentary on environmental protection and global warming issues. For aesthetics, the multiple colours that arose from the burning effect will be better appreciated in a well-lit gallery space, which of course, CCA, Lagos can boast of.

But in Reservoir, Osahenye simply reveals the poor state of Nigeria’s infrastructures, especially pipe borne water, which is almost non- available in most cities and rural communities. He strings together cuts of empty water bottles and stocks them on top of one another into eight-foot cubes measuring about 8ft 4ins high. The lower bottles carry bright colours while the top are without colours, indicating the state of reservoirs including the nation’s foreign reserves.

Another striking work that every painter will give a second look is Crossing, a collection of 34 panels of empty flattened paint tubes nailed to the board. The panels because of its rectangular shape reveal the boundary and border issues addressed in the artist’s past shows while at the same time capturing the cruciform. Significantly, Crossing is a reminder to other artists that what they consider as wastes are items of beauty and capable of provoking thoughts that will shape people’s views. According to Prof. Sylvester Ogbechie, Osahenye’s works deal with humanity’s struggle against subjection and project the artist into definable contexts of conflict.

"The more resolutely anti-commercialism an art work is, the more easily it is integrated into a discourse of art in which its commercialist stance becomes precisely the selling point of the artwork, thus making it more marketable, at least for the cadre of globe-trotting artists represented at the major international biennales and contemporary art fairs," Ogbechie said, adding that the artist’s work is as sophisticated as any piece in any biennale in recent time. Other installations for showing include Crowd and Black out.

The Delta state born fine artist, who runs a private studio in Auchi, said the installation works would be exhibited without prices, but are for sale. He explained that his desire to experiment and know influenced his current direction. "I have always wanted to challenge myself and see how much I can do. Sometime, I ask myself what am I looking for? Now, I have started thinking of a single installation work that will stun viewers. In fact, I am just looking for new ways to express myself…Even if many artists are comfortable, some will still not do crazy works like these. What matters is exposure, not the pressure to provide bread on the table. Right now, I find it difficult to mix oil in a regular palette. I still paint but I am exploring many media while the traditional medium will gradually take the back seat," Osahenye said. TRASH-ING will run till October 10 at CCA, Lagos.

Artsadmin Weekenders

2009-09-10T03:06:00.000-07:00

Six intensive weekend workshops led by artists renowned for their approaches to making, facilitation and participation.

Artsadmin’s Weekenders are open to all practitioners regardless of level of experience; all that is required is an openness to meet, talk, play, perform and collaborate. Come to one or all – each Weekender operates as a stand-alone while the series as a whole offers an opportunity to work with an outstanding range of artists.

Weekenders will be led by Graeme Miller, Stacy Makishi, Chris Goode, Lone Twin, Anne Bean and Blast Theory.

Curated by the advisory team at Artsadmin, the series reflects a wide range of performance practices. The content of each Weekender will be unique to the lead artist, reflective of their practice and responsive to the group of participants.

Booking :
£60 per weekend
Saturday & Sunday, 11am – 5pm
Please be sure you can attend both days

All places subsidised by Artsadmin

Venue :
Toynbee Studios, London E1 6AB

Book online http://tinyurl.com/artsadminweekenders
Book by telephone on 020 7650 2350 (Mon-Fri 1-6pm)

Graeme Miller : 26 – 27 September
Stacy Makishi : 24 – 25 October
Chris Goode : 28 – 29 November
Gary Winters (Lone Twin) : 30 – 31 January 2010
Anne Bean : 27 – 28 February 2010
Ju Row-Farr : 27 – 28 March 2010

Full details of each Weekender can be found at http://artsadmin.co.uk/opportunities/bursary.php?id=13

I've been away, but I'm back now!!

2009-09-10T02:55:00.000-07:00

CCA,Lagos Talk on Sat 29th Aug, 2pm with Anaele Iroh, Phd‏

2009-08-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED!!!!!!!

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos has been running an innovative and dynamic programme focusing on art and ideas through dialogues, talks, fulfilling our objectives to galvanise the Lagos art scene with critical and artistic cultural programming. Since opening just over 18months ago we have presented the artistic, theoretical and curatorial practice of over 30 professionals. We are pleased to present the work of Anaele Iroh who will be speaking on his research led creative practice. He will discuss his methodology and the resultant artistic work.

DON'T BE LEFT IN THE ARTISTIC WILDERNESS. COME AND BE COUNTED.

TIME 2PM
DATE SAT 29TH AUGUST
VENUE 9 McEwen Street, Sabo, Yabo, Lagos

Research Led Creative Practice: A Case for an Interdisciplinary Art Practice.

Iroh will focus on the relationship between art and
ethnography materialised in his visually led ethnographic research and
creative practice project on Nigerian migrant families in Ireland
entitled, ‘Framing the Nigerian Transnational Family: New Formations
in Ireland.’ It will demonstrate how the disciplinary practices of art
and anthropology can be strategically put in a dialectical and
mutually complimentary relation.

Starting from the material and archival terrain of the migrant family
photo album as a repository of cultural memory Iroh's work utilises visual
ethnography, social and cultural theory and art practice to
interrogate the subject of Nigerian transnational family life in
Ireland, operating in and across spaces of social exclusion and
regimentation, settled and mainstream Irish society and spaces of
communality.

He will demonstrate the deployment of visual practice strategies in the
processes of ethnographic representation and discuss how the anxieties
of migration which he experienced during his fieldwork mediated by family
photographs shaped the construction of an art practice that
problematised difference, marginality and anonymity within the context
of transnational migration.

Anaele Iroh holds a PhD. in Visual Cultural Studies from Dublin
Institute of Technology, Ireland and is currently a visiting assistant
professor of Cultural Studies at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. He has
published a number of articles on migration and visual practice and
has spoken and shown his work widely in Europe and America including
most recently at Harvard University, Columbia College and Bard
College.

4th Annual African Diaspora Summer Film Series

2009-08-22T02:07:00.000-07:00

DATE: Friday, August 21 to Sunday, August 23, 2009 and Friday, August 28 to Sunday, August 30, 2009 .

VENUE:
The Riverside Theatre, of the Riverside Church. 91 Claremont Ave. (120th), NYC
Tel: (212) 8... www.theriversidtheatre.org

Nearest subway: #1 train to 116th Street. Bus # M104, M4 or M60.

DETAILS:
The 4th Annual African Diaspora Film Series presented in collaboration with the Riverside Theater of Riverside Church opens a cycle of thought provoking films curated by the African Diaspora Film Festival team.

In preparations for the 17th Annual African Diaspora Film Festival-Nov.27 to Dec.15- ADFF will showcase a total of 13 titles in different Manhattan venues. All screenings on the weekend of August 21 will be held at the Riverside Theatre of the Riverside Church, 91 Claremont Ave. at 120th St.

"Gospel Hill," directed by Giancarlo Esposito, is a metaphor of America today as "greed and idealism collide" in a social environment where human tensions are high and people's humanity is strongly marked by a turbulent past. (In English.) Opening Night Friday, August 21. Reception at 6:30pm; film at 7:30pm. Q&A with Giancarlo Esposito after the screening.

"Migration of Beauty" by Chris Flaherty is an informative film that provides a strong social commentary regarding the relationship between the United States and Ethiopia and the presence of Ethiopians in the US. The film shows how sustaining a democracy is an ongoing process with multiple voices and participants. (In English.) Saturday, August 22 @ 4p.m. Q&A with Chris Flaherty after the screening.

The backdrop of "Silent Shame" is a traditional Latino family in which rules and norms dictate everybody's life. Men marry women; women have children, and so on and so forth. Nevertheless, "Silent Shame" evolves in a way in which issues presented in the film are central and relevant to American society today: sexual orientation, racism, AIDS and the Health Care system are issues that make the film a very revealing piece of work. Directed by Tadeo Garcia. (In English.) Saturday August 22 @ 6:30pm. Q&A with one of the lead actors after the screening.

Poverty is rampant in the world. Whose fault is it? In the though provoking and informative documentary "The End of Poverty?," Philippe Diaz illustrates eloquently the origins of this poverty that affects many parts of the world. Through interviews with experts from all over the world, the film discusses how poverty is linked to colonialisms, neo-colonialism and globalization. (In English, and French /Spanish/Maa with English subtitles.) Screening on Sunday, August 23 at 2pm followed by a discussion.

Tickets for the African Diaspora Summer Film Series can be purchased online at www.theriversidtheatre.org or by calling 212-870-6784.

TICKET PRICES: $10 general admission.Senior/Student: $8.00. Opening Night 8/21 - Reception and "Gospel Hill" screening: $15. Wounded Knee and Zompantli Aztec/ Mayan dance $12 Seniors/Students $10

Lagos Literary and Arts Journal Call for Submission

2009-07-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

Lagos Literary and Arts Journal publishes all genres of creative writing – including but not limited to poetry, fiction, essay, memoir , drama; political essays, satire, profiles, book reviews, anything to stimulate public interest in reading and writing.

Online Journal
All work for publishing on the web site should be submitted online . Do also take the time to complete your online profile form so that readers can track your submissions and contact you if necessary. For image Submissions - all visual art and photographic please possible limit the size of each images to 200k

Print Journal
Submissions should be made to editor@lagosliteraryjournal.com with your name, email address and phone number so we can contact you if you're work is accepted, also include a brief bio for us to post alongside your submission. Send all manuscripts as attached PDF files or Word Documents labeled manuscript and the author’s name.

A Note About Submissions:
Because of our small size and general lack of funding we are unable to pay contributors at this time. However, if your work is chosen for our print journal, you will be entitled to two contributor copies of the issue you are in with the option to buy as many more as you'd like at cost. If you have any questions about submissions or payment contact
editor@lagosliteraryjournal.com

TC African Diaspora Cine-Club

2009-07-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

TC African Diaspora Cine-Club
Teachers College, Columbia University
525 West 120th Street
Train 1 to 116th Street - Walk up four blocks or
Bus M4, M60 or M104 to 120th Street

Photo ID required to enter building

WHAT: FREE Friday screenings and discussions on films from Africa and the African Diaspora. Refreshments will be served.

UPCOMING SCREENING:
Friday, July 31 @ 6:00 PM

CClogoTHE LEARNING TREE
US, 1969, 107min, drama in English, Gordon Parks, Dir.

Gordon Parks' adaptation of his autobiographical novel. The story centers on Newt, a sensitive and intelligent 15-year-old boy living in the South during the 1920s. An African-American with high aspirations in an age when segregation ruled, Newt's experiences with racism, sex, love, and loss help him develop into a mature individual. In contrast, Newt's friend Marcus is a sullen youth who seems to think only with his fists, and whose life is headed nowhere. But Newt's morality is severely tested when the wrong man is arrested for a murder that Newt witnessed. If Newt discloses the true killer's identity, it could affect both his and Marcus' lives forever. Friday, July 31 at 6 p.m. (FREE Screening).

Independent African-American
Film Series Program
Live-Forum w/Refreshments
Saturday, Aug. 1 @ 6 PM

Screenings
Saturday, July 31- Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009
at Teachers College, Columbia University
525 West 120th Street

Screenings: $9 General Admission,
$7 students & seniors, $5 Live-Forum / $12 Forum and "Medicine for Melancholy" film screening

The African Diaspora Film Festival continues to spotlight the black experience with its Spring/Summer Thematic Film Series program. This month's installmetn focuses on Independent African-American Cinema.

The African Diaspora Film Festival, The Office of the President, Diversity and Community Affairs and the Center for African Education at Teachers College, Columbia University invite you to ADFFs Independent African-American Film Series program that will feature films directed by African-Americans. Too many films by African-Americans do not make it to mainstream theaters- some go straight to DVD sans fanfare, but each filmmaker/film has a story to tell that deserves exposure and the ADFF is the vessel that will give these much-deserving films/filmmakers an opportunity to tell their story.

In addition the film screenings, ADFF is also excited to present the Live-Forum: Independent African-American Cinema: A Conversation with African-American Filmmakers. Panelist consist of film industry tastemakers that will discuss whether Will Smith and Tyler Perry have changed the name of the game for Black storytelling? Is there today less resistance than 20 years ago towards meaningful Black theme films or are we still limited to making violent films and lame comedies?

Panelist include: filmmakers: Joe Brewster (The Keeper), Bridgett M. Davis (Naked Acts), Windell Williams (Murder Magic), and Darien Sills-Evans (X-Patriots); ADFF Director: Diarah N'Daw Spech; film distributor: Reinaldo Barroso-Spech; filmmaker and blogger Tambey Obenson

Krunch

2009-07-20T05:43:00.000-07:00

30th, 31st July & 1st* August, 7.30pm
* signed performance

Director: Amani Naphtali, Designer: Rajha Shakiry, Lighting designer: Ian Saunders, Soundtrack: DJ Matman, Film-maker: Collin Hills, Movement: Kymberlee Jay

Take the raw skills of 12 young performers. Mix with multi award-winning turntablist DJ Matman, digital artist Collin Hills and Krump Junkies’ Kymberlee Jay. Put in a bare studio for 4 weeks under the watchful eye of forward-thinking director, Amani Naphtali and the result? KRUNCH.

Watch the temperature rise as voices find expression, energy collides, boundaries are pushed and new styles are formed.

This is the changing face of London. Go with the flow!

"This is our London, our voices, our stage."
TYPT: 09 performer

BOOKING INFORMATION
Box Office: 0208 365 5450 www.berniegrantcentre.co.uk
Tickets: £6/£4 concessions (students, senior citizens, jobseekers, people with disabilities, U16s, groups of 10 or more)

Town Hall Approach Road, London N15 4RX
Nearest tube: Seven Sisters (Victoria Line)

www.talawa.com
www.facebook.com/typt.talawa

The 419Positive Project

2009-07-20T05:23:00.000-07:00

The many negative experiences of Nigerians at home and abroad have resulted in a detachment, mentally and emotionally from their homeland..

The 419Positive Project is an umbrella for a series of ‘Celebrating Nigeria’ projects strategically designed in response to the negative perceptions of Nigerians & Nigeria, internally and externally..

Our mission is to unearth and spotlight verifiable positive or unique attributes of Nigerians & Nigeria in an attempt to explore what it means ‘to be Nigerian’ and to reorient Nigerians’ mindsets on issues relating to self image, national loyalty and civic pride..

In July 2009, The 419Positive Project will unveil the first phase of her flagship project; a search for positive and unique attributes of Nigerians & Nigeria.. And we’re inviting all Nigerians and all friends of Nigeria to say something positive about Nigerians or Nigeria at http://www.419positive.org

All the attributes you submit will be entered in a vote for the nation’s favourites.. This will serve as a road map for the film team as they travel across Nigeria and Nigerian communities in the Diaspora.. And the best part is this; you may be selected to appear in the documentary with the opportunity to personally introduce your favourite attribute..

We'll be announcing lots of little surprises along the way..

Say Something Positive...

Re-imagine America

2009-07-20T05:10:00.000-07:00

Newark Museum Unveils Installation by Yinka Shonibare MBE

The Newark Museum, located in Newark, New Jersey, has commissioned a major site-specific installation by the internationally acclaimed artist Yinka Shonibare MBE to commemorate the Museum's Centennial. One of Shonibare's most ambitious works to date, Party Time: Re-imagine America is set in the mahogany-paneled dining room of the Ballantine House, the 1885 mansion and National Historic Landmark that is part of the Newark Museum campus, where it will be on view through January 3, 2010.

The Newark Museum's Christa Clarke, Curator of the Arts of Africa and Senior Curator of the Arts of Africa and the Americas, and Ulysses Grant Dietz, Senior Curator and Curator of the Decorative Arts are the co-curators of Party Time: Re-imagine America.

Shonibare's longtime exploration of Victorian-era culture finds full expression in this theatrical sculptural tableau, which imagines the scene of a late 19th century dinner party midway through a multi-course feast. Eight headless figures, dressed in period costume made from the artist's signature "Dutch wax" fabric, are seated around an elaborately set table as a servant appears bearing the main course, a large peacock with gilded beak served on a silver platter. The animated body language of the guests suggests a moment in which proper Victorian etiquette has begun to disintegrate, as an indulgent celebration of prosperity tips towards misbehavior and even debauchery. The scene references the rise of wealth and quest for refinement that accompanied industrialization in the United States, where the elaborate dinner party replaced the bare-minimum meal, becoming a celebratory "eating fest" for the social and economic ruling class.

Born in London, England, and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Yinka Shonibare MBE considers himself to be a "postcolonial hybrid," a product of Britain's colonial relationship with Africa. Shonibare's work is informed by his dual roots in Europe and Africa, and he has explored their intertwined histories through a range of media, including sculpture, painting, photography and film. He is best known for his use of vibrantly patterned "Dutch wax" textiles which have been produced in European factories for West African markets for over a century. Shonibare incorporates the colorful, richly patterned cloth – which looks "African" but has more complicated origins – as a visual symbol in his work, in part to subvert assumptions about cultural identity and authenticity.

"What I find so magical about Yinka's work and this piece in particular is its synchronicity," says Newark Museum director Mary Sue Sweeney Price. "It resonates with the Newark Museum collection on two levels – the Ballantine House offers the ideal setting given Yinka's interest in Victorian themes, and his use of Dutch Wax textile complements our African Art collection, because Newark had a ground-breaking role in collecting and exhibiting these fabrics."

Shonibare's site-specific installation is the second in a series of four artist commissions in honor of the Museum's Centennial presented in 2009 and 2010. The Centennial Commissions respond to the Museum's history and diverse collections, finding points of intersection and connection between seemingly divergent areas of study and display within the Newark Museum.

Concurrent to the Newark Museum commission, The Brooklyn Museum presents the first major survey of the work of Yinka Shonibare MBE on view through September 20, 2009

Watch the podcast for Party Time: Re-imagine America on YouTube, iTunes
and on the Newark Museum Web site.

The Newark Centennial Celebration is made possible through the generous support of Prudential.

Contact Information:
Newark Museum
49 Washington Street
Newark, NJ 07102
973.596.6550
http://newarkmuseum.org

Transitions

2009-07-20T04:42:00.000-07:00

Date: Saturday 25th July 2009, 2pm – 4pm

The Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos has initiated a dynamic platform for visual art and culture since opening its doors in December 2007 engaging with artists, critics, writers, curators and art mangers. CCA,Lagos continues with its aims to build a strong discursive platform by actively encouraging debate and critical discourse that highlights topical issues that affect our society and the world in general. We achieve this by inviting local, African and international guest speakers to talk on a wide range of themes and issues concerning contemporary art and culture. In July 2009 CCA, Lagos continues its public programme with a talk by South African artist and curator Gabi Ngcobo originally schedule for the Like A Virgin... programme.

Transition has its own constraints, life forms, threatening dynamics and consequences. During transition, the questions “who are we?” alongside “which options among the available ones are the right ones?” tend to figure a lot. In this talk Gabi Ngcobo will underline such questions by focusing on the work of a younger generation of South African artists whose work addresses the shortcomings of sexual identities more especially black South African masculinities. The aim of the talk is to create a dialogue about history (or its absence) that is often troubled, to differing degrees, by the search to find the holy grail of African masculinity.

Gabi Ngcobo is an independent curator, writer and artist from Durban, South Africa. She has worked as Assistant Curator at the South African Gallery and curated Cape Africa Platform’s CAPE 07 bi-annual exhibition where she also worked as Head of Research and was instrumental in initiating Cape’s Young Curator’s Programme. Other exhibitions include Olvida quen soy/ Erase me from who I am co-curated with Elvira Dyangani Ose for CAAM, Canary Islands, Las Palmas 2006, Titled/Untitled, a curatorial collaboration with Cape Town collective Gugulective. She is the co-founder of collaborative platform manje-manje projects (m-mp) whose first project, a group exhibition titled Scratching the Surface Vol.1 took place in Cape Town in 2008. Her writings have been featured in various publications and catalogues including Art South Africa, Art Throb and n.paradoxa.

Ngcobo is the recipient of the Ampersand Foundation (New York) 2007 and Kingston University Curatorial Fellowship (London) 2008. She is a Ford Foundation Fellow at the Centre for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York.

This talk is funded by the Commonwealth Foundation.

Venue

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos
9 McEwen Street, Off Queen Street, Sabo,
Opp Methodist Church, Herbert Macaulay St, Lagos.

Telephone 0702 8367106

What exactly is an "Afropolitan"?

2009-07-11T18:31:00.000-07:00

by Taiye Tuakli-Wosornu

culled from http://afropolitans.typepad.com/

It’s moments to midnight on Thursday night at Medicine Bar in London. Zak,
boy-genius DJ, is spinning a Fela Kuti remix. The little downstairs
dancefloor swells with smiling, sweating men and women fusing hip-hop
dance moves with a funky sort of djembe. The women show off enormous
afros, tiny t-shirts, gaps in teeth; the men those incredible torsos
unique to and common on African coastlines. The whole scene speaks of
the Cultural Hybrid: kente cloth worn over low-waisted jeans; ‘African
Lady’ over Ludacris bass lines; London meets Lagos meets Durban meets
Dakar. Even the DJ is an ethnic fusion: Nigerian and Romanian; fair,
fearless leader; bobbing his head as the crowd reacts to a sample of
‘Sweet Mother’.

Were you to ask any of these beautiful, brown-skinned people that
basic question – ‘where are you from?’ – you’d get no single answer
from a single smiling dancer. This one lives in London but was raised
in Toronto and born in Accra; that one works in Lagos but grew up in
Houston, Texas. ‘Home’ for this lot is many things: where their parents
are from; where they go for vacation; where they went to school; where
they see old friends; where they live (or live this year). Like so many
African young people working and living in cities around the globe,
they belong to no single geography, but feel at home in many.

They (read: we) are Afropolitans – the newest generation of African
emigrants, coming soon or collected already at a law firm/chem lab/jazz
lounge near you. You’ll know us by our funny blend of London fashion,
New York jargon, African ethics, and academic successes. Some of us are
ethnic mixes, e.g. Ghanaian and Canadian, Nigerian and Swiss; others
merely cultural mutts: American accent, European affect, African ethos.
Most of us are multilingual: in addition to English and a Romantic or
two, we understand some indigenous tongue and speak a few urban
vernaculars. There is at least one place on The African Continent to
which we tie our sense of self: be it a nation-state (Ethiopia), a city
(Ibadan), or an auntie’s kitchen. Then there’s the G8 city or two (or
three) that we know like the backs of our hands, and the various
institutions that know us for our famed focus. We are Afropolitans: not
citizens, but Africans of the world.

It isn’t hard to trace our genealogy. Starting in the 60’s, the
young, gifted and broke left Africa in pursuit of higher education and
happiness abroad. A study conducted in 1999 estimated that between 1960
and 1975 around 27,000 highly skilled Africans left the Continent for
the West. Between 1975 and 1984, the number shot to 40,000 and then
doubled again by 1987, representing about 30% of Africa’s highly
skilled manpower. Unsurprisingly, the most popular destinations for
these emigrants included Canada, Britain, and the United States; but
Cold War politics produced unlikely scholarship opportunities in
Eastern Bloc countries like Poland, as well.

Some three decades later this scattered tribe of pharmacists,
physicists, physicians (and the odd polygamist) has set up camp around
the globe. The caricatures are familiar. The Nigerian physics professor
with faux-Coogi sweater; the Kenyan marathonist with long legs and
rolled r’s; the heavyset Gambian braiding hair in a house that smells
of burnt Kanekalon. Even those unacquainted with synthetic extensions
can conjure an image of the African immigrant with only the slightest
of pop culture promptings: Eddie Murphy’s ‘Hello, Barbar.’ But
somewhere between the 1988 release of Coming to America and the 2001
crowning of a Nigerian Miss World, the general image of young Africans
in the West transmorphed from goofy to gorgeous. Leaving off the
painful question of cultural condescenscion in that beloved film, one
wonders what happened in the years between Prince Akeem and Queen
Agbani?

One answer is: adolescence. The Africans that left Africa between
1960 and 1975 had children, and most overseas. Some of us were bred on
African shores then shipped to the West for higher education; others
born in much colder climates and sent home for cultural
re-indoctrination. Either way, we spent the 80’s chasing after
accolades, eating fufu at family parties, and listening to adults argue
politics. By the turn of the century (the recent one), we were matching
our parents in number of degrees, and/or achieving things our ‘people’
in the grand sense only dreamed of. This new demographic – dispersed
across Brixton, Bethesda, Boston, Berlin – has come of age in the 21st
century, redefining what it means to be African. Where our parents
sought safety in traditional professions like doctoring, lawyering,
banking, engineering, we are branching into fields like media,
politics, music, venture capital, design. Nor are we shy about
expressing our African influences (such as they are) in our work.
Artists such as Keziah Jones, Trace founder and editor Claude
Gruzintsky, architect David Adjaye, novelist Chimamanda Achidie – all
exemplify what Gruzintsky calls the ‘21st century African.’

What distinguishes this lot and its like (in the West and at home) is a
willingness to complicate Africa – namely, to engage with, critique,
and celebrate the parts of Africa that mean most to them. Perhaps what
most typifies the Afropolitan consciousness is the refusal to
oversimplify; the effort to understand what is ailing in Africa
alongside the desire to honor what is wonderful, unique. Rather than
essentialising the geographical entity, we seek to comprehend the
cultural complexity; to honor the intellectual and spiritual legacy;
and to sustain our parents’ cultures.

For us, being African must mean something. The media’s portrayals
(war, hunger) won’t do. Neither will the New World trope of bumbling,
blue-black doctor. Most of us grew up aware of ‘being from’ a blighted
place, of having last names from to countries which are linked to lack,
corruption. Few of us escaped those nasty ‘booty-scratcher’ epithets,
and fewer still that sense of shame when visting paternal villages.
Whether we were ashamed of ourselves for not knowing more about our
parents’ culture, or ashamed of that culture for not being more
‘advanced’ can be unclear. What is manifest is the extent to which the
modern adolescent African is tasked to forge a sense of self from
wildly disparate sources. You’d never know it looking at those dapper
lawyers in global firms, but most were once supremely self-conscious of
being so ‘in between’. Brown-skinned without a bedrock sense of
‘blackness,’ on the one hand; and often teased by African family
members for ‘acting white’ on the other – the baby-Afropolitan can get
what I call ‘lost in transnation’.

Ultimately, the Afropolitan must form an identity along at least
three dimensions: national, racial, cultural – with subtle tensions in
between. While our parents can claim one country as home, we must
define our relationship to the places we live; how British or American
we are (or act) is in part a matter of affect. Often unconsciously, and
over time, we choose which bits of a national identity (from passport
to pronunciation) we internalize as central to our personalities. So,
too, the way we see our race – whether black or biracial or none of the
above – is a question of politics, rather than pigment; not all of us
claim to be black. Often this relates to the way we were raised,
whether proximate to other brown people (e.g. black Americans) or
removed. Finally, how we conceive of race will accord with where we
locate ourselves in the history that produced ‘blackness’ and the
political processes that continue to shape it.

Then there is that deep abyss of Culture, ill-defined at best. One
must decide what comprises ‘African culture’ beyond pepper soup and
filial piety. The project can be utterly baffling – whether one lives
in an African country or not. But the process is enriching, in that it
expands one’s basic perspective on nation and selfhood. If nothing
else, the Afropolitan knows that nothing is neatly black or white; that
to ‘be’ anything is a matter of being sure of who you are uniquely. To
‘be’ Nigerian is to belong to a passionate nation; to be Yoruba, to be
heir to a spiritual depth; to be American, to ascribe to a cultural
breadth; to be British, to pass customs quickly. That is, this is what
it means for me – and that is the Afropolitan privilege. The acceptance
of complexity common to most African cultures is not lost on her
prodigals. Without that intrinsically multi-dimensional thinking, we
could not make sense of ourselves.

And if it all sounds a little self-congratulatory, a little
‘aren’t-we-the-coolest-damn-people-on-earth?’ – I say: yes it is,
necessarily. It is high time the African stood up. There is nothing
perfect in this formulation; for all our Adjayes and Achidies, there is
a brain drain back home. Most Afropolitans could serve Africa better in
Africa than at Medicine Bar on Thursdays. To be fair, a fair number of
African professionals are returning; and there is consciousness among
the ones who remain, an acute awareness among this brood of
too-cool-for-schools that there’s work to be done. There are those
among us who wonder to the point of weeping: where next, Africa? When
will the scattered tribes return? When will the talent repatriate? What
lifestyles await young professionals at home? How to invest in Africa’s
future? The prospects can seem grim at times. The answers aren’t
forthcoming. But if there was ever a group who could figure it out, it
is this one, unafraid of the questions.

FARAFINA BOOKS and SILVERBIRD LIFESTYLE STORE PRESENT “THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK”

2009-07-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will be in Nigeria in July to promote her new book,The Thing Around Your Neck. Published locally by Farafina Books, The Thing Around Your Neck is a collection of short stories exploring the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Africa and the United States. Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow, and longing, these stories map, with Adichie’s signature wisdom, the collision of cultures and the deeply human struggle to reconcile them.Award-winning author ofPurple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been described as “the 21st century daughter of Chinua Achebe.” Her much-anticipated public presentation ofThe Thing Around Your Neck will hold on

SATURDAY JULY 11TH AT 3PM, at:
THE SILVERBIRD LIFESTYLE STORE,
SILVERBIRD GALLERIA,
AHMADU BELLO WAY,
VICTORIA ISLAND, LAGOS

I have to confess I havent read for pleasure in a while, I will however be investing in this, Chimamanda is fantastic author!

More on the author:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie burst onto the literary scene with her remarkable debut novel,Purple Hibiscus, which critics hailed as “one of the best novels to come out of Africa in years” (BaltimoreSun), with “prose as lush as the Nigerian landscape that it powerfully evokes” (The Boston Globe);The Washington Post called her “the twenty-first-century daughter of Chinua Achebe.” Her award-winningHalf of a Yellow Sun became an instant classic upon its publication three years later, once again putting her tremendous gifts—graceful storytelling, knowing compassion, and fierce insight into her characters’ hearts—on display. Now, in her most intimate and seamlessly crafted work to date, Adichie turns her penetrating eye on not only Nigeria but America, in twelve dazzling stories that explore the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Africa and the United States.In “A Private Experience,” a medical student hides from a violent riot with a poor Muslim woman whose dignity and faith force her to confront the realities and fears she’s been pushing away. In “Tomorrow is Too Far,” a woman unlocks the devastating secret that surrounds her brother’s death. The young mother at the center of “Imitation” finds her comfortable life in Philadelphia threatened when she learns that her husband has moved his mistress into their Lagos home. And the title story depicts the choking loneliness of a Nigerian girl who moves to an America that turns out to be nothing like the country she expected; though falling in love brings her desires nearly within reach, a death in her homeland forces her to reexamine them.Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow, and longing, these stories map, with Adichie’s signature emotional wisdom, the collision of two cultures and the deeply human struggle to reconcile them.The Thing Around Your Neck is a resounding confirmation of the prodigious literary powers of one of our most essential writers.

When You’re a Boy: Men’s Fashion Styled by Simon Foxton

2009-07-10T05:50:00.000-07:00

Hey There Fancy Pants, photographed by Jason Evans, styled by Simon Foxton

Following on from last year’s successful Fashion in the Mirror exhibition, The Photographer’s Gallery next week continues it’s annual exploration of fashion photography with an exhibition of shoots created by celebrated British menswear stylist, Simon Foxton. Following a career that spans the last three decades, When You’re a Boy is a presentation of some of Foxton’s greatest work photographed by the likes of Nick Knight, Jason Evans and Alasdair McLellan displaying some of his most fascinating displays of masculine fashion.

When You’re a Boy: Men’s Fashion Styled by Simon Foxton
July 17 – 4 October
The Photographer’s Gallery
16 – 18 Ramillies St
London
W1

Urban Dynamik

2009-07-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

Want to know how to make you own videos and use them on your
YouTube or Facebook? Got a story to tell? Need to film your next
music video? Urban Dynamik can help!

FREE - Only 10 places on each day- book fast. Free lunch.

Friday 17th July 2009
or
Friday 31st July 2009

TV and Mobile Media Taster days
To book a place contact programme producer Jim on:
jim@spacestudios.org.uk or 020 8525 4339

Taster days show how to use your mobile technologies and make
and share great videos. Taster days can move you onto further media
training, qualifications and work experience in the media industries.

'Identity: An Imagined State' Call for participation

2009-06-24T01:13:00.000-07:00

I have been slow to upload resently andl here is why. I have aong with 2 co-curators been working towards a video art exhibition, which is to take place between October and November this year (2009). Please feel free to disseminate the info to relevant artists, critics or curators.

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 20TH JUNE

THANKS

Identity: An Imagined State (Draft title)
Video Art Exhibition

Call for participation

Following the implementation of two successful video art workshops, the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos will be hosting the first video art exhibition in Lagos, taking the form of a three part project to be held in October/November 2009. The exhibition Identity: An Imagined State will cover themes that each takes a different perspective on notions of identity exploring issues of race, citizenship and migration. The exhibition aims to provide a platform in Lagos for emerging and established video artists.

The exhibition, split into sections listed below will form the curatorial framework for the submission of works.

The first section of the exhibition aims to explore issues relating to race or skin tone and the impact it has made on identity amongst African people (living on the continent). Particular areas of interest relate to those whose racial identity is made up of multi-ethnic backgrounds, the problematic of skin toning (skin lightening) and non-Black Africans. By asking questions such as; can we always tell what race is when we see it? What role does race place in society? How do we negotiate between skin tone and identity?

The second section explores the challenges of political, economic and social predicaments, which have engendered voluntary or forced migratory movements into and out of Africa. The impacts of these actions have resulted in changes such as displacement, deprivation, enhanced economic benefits and psychological transformations.

This project will present a body of work by artists that engage with migration and trans-national pattern of movement in our continuously globalizing world. It will explore the effects and impacts of migration within and out of the continent, highlight issues on memory, identity, displacement, alienation as well as the challenges that arise from cultural and physical separation.

Video artists of African descent or artists of any nationality exploring these themes in relation to Africa are invited to make a submission for either one or both areas of interest. We ask for all videos to be sent in either English or with English subtitles.

Submissions should be made in the following manner:

DVD containing maximum 3 works
A Full CV
An Artist Statement
2x still images from the video (minimum 75 dpi)
Completed application form below

Deadline Friday 20th July 2009

Please note that submitted work cannot be returned and unless indicated otherwise. Work will form part of CCA,Lagos’ visual art library collection used for research and learning purposes only.

www.ccalagos.org

Send to: Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos
No. 9 McEwen Street, Sabo Yaba
Lagos, Nigeria
www.ccalagos.org

For further details including application forms call: 234 7028367106, 234 705 568 0104, 234 803 439 2413 and ask for Oyinda Fakeye or Jude Anogwih or email: oyinda@ccalagos.org jude@ccalagos.org

If You havent already been......

2009-06-16T02:44:00.000-07:00

“She’s a phoney, but she’s a real phoney… Because she honestly believes all the phoney junk that she believes in...” (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)

Real Phoney explores the delight in artifice and the surface image, the porous boundary between pictorial and physical spaces, and ideas of spectacle, submergence and superabundance. The show represents several departures for the artist, primarily her move away from representational signs and signifiers to an emphasis on pattern and layering. Tantra’s palette of ready-made industrial paints and plastics are also updated, with a variety of metallic, reflective and transparent materials included that enable the artist to investigate depth in new ways.

Real Phoney 8 May - 21 June 2009
Gallery open late for first Thursdays - Thursday 7 May | with music and cocktails

Gallery hours: Thursday-Saturday 1-6/Sunday 2-5 or by appointment
First Thursday of the month - gallery open until 9pm
Closed Bank Holiday Sundays except by appointment

Film Buffs

2009-06-11T04:32:00.001-07:00

KINEMATHEQUE - a new bi-monthly strand between Curzon Cinemas and Second Run DVD to present specially selected world cinema screenings and events - presents two films by Marc Isaacs:

LIFT and CALAIS: THE LAST BORDER

+ Director Q&A

Curzon Soho, Sunday 14th June, 12 noon

Kinematheque are delighted to present a special screening event to launch Second Run DVD’s release of the films of Marc Isaacs.

From his debut LIFT onwards, Isaacs reveals a great capacity to empathise with the protagonists of his films. Never judging by appearances, Isaacs’ skill at getting to know the characters becomes part of the narrative of the film, and their (and our) prejudices and preconceptions are challenged by the reality he finds.

Strong human characters are at the heart of all of Isaacs’ films and he has quietly built a body of work that puts him amongst most empathetic documentary observers we have of lives often overlooked. He creates a succession of deeply moving portraits, piecing together a unique vision of modern Britain.

LIFT

UK | 2001 | 25 mins

Isaacs sits with his camera for days inside the lift of a high-rise Council block in London. The result is a gripping, humourous and moving portrait of a ‘vertical’ multicultural community.

CALAIS: THE LAST BORDER

UK | 2003 | 58 mins

This French port has become a new border in ways previously unimagined. Isaacs weaves portraits of various individuals into a moving and melancholy view of a place defined, more than ever, by the island it gazes at across the Channel.

Early booking is recommended and tickets can be booked at www.curzoncinemas.com or by calling 0871 703 3991

THE MARC ISAACS COLLECTION

Lift/Travellers/Calais: The Last Border will be released by Second Run DVD on 29th June 2009.