Contributions from the Johannesburg and Kinshasa Working Groups published in Artl@s Bulletin 7, no. 1 (2018)

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 09:53:45 +0000

Essays by David Andrew (Johannesburg Working Group) and Cedrick Nzolo (Kinshasa Working Group) have been published in a special issue of Artl@s Bulletin, “Mediating Past, Present and Future of D.R.Congo’s Historical Narratives on Art in a Global South Dialogue”

This special issue aims to bring to readers some of the main themes, discussions, research topics, dialogues and exchanges that were central to the symposium “Mediating Past, Present and Future: Historical Narratives and 20th/ 21st Century Art – Dialogues with Global South Experiences”, which took place at the Académie des Beaux Arts in Kinshasa 18 - 21 January 2016 – as reported by Sari Middernacht (Lububmashi Working Group) for Contemporary And (C&).

Cedrick’s essay, ‘Think natural! Une nécessité qui ne se cache plus’ and David’s essay, ‘Notes from Johannesburg - Dialogues and Itineraries of the South from Kinshasa: Art, History, and Education can be accessed here: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/artlas/vol7/iss1/1/

A Symposium on Art Pedagogies of the South in Kinshasa (January 2016)

Fri, 07 Aug 2020 19:28:57 +0000

In January 2016, David Andrew (Johannesburg Working Group), Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa (Kampala Working Group) and Patrick Mudekereza and Sari Middernacht (Lubumbashi Working Group) participated in the symposium Mediating Past, Present and Future: Dialogues with Global South Experiences at the Academy of Fine Art in Kinshasa, DRC, which brought together researchers, artists, art students, art teachers, policy makers, cultural producers, museum experts and exhibition makers to think about new paths in arts education.

An academically driven transdisciplinary gathering collectively organized by Wits School of the Arts in Johannesburg (ZA) and the Academy of Fine Art in Kinshasa, the symposium was organized as a workshop. The presentations alternated with focus group sessions, and the whole program was interspersed with visits to artist’s studios, cultural places in town and an evening of video art. This formula for discussion turned this academic event into an encounter, or to put it in the words of André Lye Yoka, des retrouvailles: "an event of reunions".

The focus group discussions handled themes ranging from “education/pedagogy from the south,” to “the decolonization of the art institution,” and from “artworks as history,” to “framing time and history,” “comparative methodologies,” and “imaging violence.” However, some topics recurred strikingly often, such as the role of avant-gardism or the frequent differences in local and international appreciation of art projects about versus from the Congo. Congolese initiatives, avant-garde movements and art historians seem to have difficulty achieving international recognition. On the other hand, initiatives promoted from outside triumph every time. In some cases the key probably lies in the frustrating feeling that such initiatives, for different reasons, are generating international appreciation because of “primitivist exoticism” and what is seen as “unbridled eccentricity.”

Read Sari Middernacht's report on the symposium here.

Africa Cluster's contents tagged with "Kinshasa"

Contributions from the Johannesburg and Kinshasa Working Groups published in Artl@s Bulletin 7, no. 1 (2018)

A Symposium on Art Pedagogies of the South in Kinshasa (January 2016)