African Art Museums in Contemporary Times
Delving into the working methodologies of African Art Museums in Contemporary Times
Thursday, 10 October 2024, at 13:00 hrs, Kampala, Uganda (AET)
Abstract:
The last decades have been witnessing the development and improvement of museums in Africa. This development has not only followed an uneven path - reflecting the social, economic, and cultural transformations of a continent but also raises questions about the models that the different African contexts want to follow and the specific and distinguished methods and languages they want to adopt for their institutions, its audiences, and its research and educational environments. As a consequence, we may call into question the very notion of the museum itself, posing a challenge to received ideas that could have profound implications for museums the world over and serve as inspiration for many art institutions around the world. Studying and collecting Indigenous traditional art may lead to new paths in conceiving and mediating the contemporary collections, the ways heritage and culture get transmitted, the co-existence of old and new technologies, etc, and the relations with futures less dependent on the colonial ties.
Guest panelists:
- Teesa Bahana, Director, 32° East, Kampala, Uganda.
- Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa, Curator of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.
- Temitayo Ogunbiyi, Contemporary Artist and Curator, Lagos, Nigeria.
Moderated by CIMAM Board Member Chus Martínez, Director, Art Gender Nature Institute HGK, Basel, Switzerland, and Meskerem Assegued, Curator, Anthropologist, Writer, and Co-Founder of Zoma Museum, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Biographies:
Teesa Bahana
Director, 32° East, Kampala, Uganda:
Teesa Bahana is the director of 32° East, an independent non-profit art center dedicated to the transformative power of contemporary art in Kampala, Uganda. As director she has led the development and execution of projects such as the 3rd and 4th edition of KLA ART, COVID-19 relief efforts for artists in the global South, dynamic residency programs, and international exchanges with partners such as Arts Collaboratory, and Triangle Network, all while nurturing a thriving artistic community. As network coordinator for Arts Collaboratory she plans and facilitates regular meetings with a diverse group from across the global South.
She is currently working on the 5th Edition of KLA ART, Kampala's longest running contemporary art festival. The 5th edition's theme is Care Instructions, viewing cultural heritage as a set of teachings that includes 'everything that we do to maintain, continue, and repair our ‘world’ so that we can live in it as well as possible'.
She is also currently overseeing 32° East's capital project and has raised over $700,000 to date for the first purpose-built art center in Kampala. Phase 1 of the center opened in March 2023 and has since been widely recognized in leading architecture publications. She has been a mentor/faculty on multiple art initiatives on the African continent such as RAW Academy and the MACAAL Bootcamp, while also serving on various panels and advisory committees such as selection committees for the Henrike Grohs Art Award and the Prince Claus Fund seed awardees. She is also a trustee of the Localworks Foundation.
Her work has been recognized by Apollo Magazine, as an Advocate in their 40 under 40 list, and one of Art Africa's 100+ Voices on Influence in the Global South. She is a graduate of Colgate University with a B.A in Sociology and Anthropology and Peace and Conflict Studies.
Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa
Curator of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe:
Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa is a researcher, writer and curator residing in Harare. She is currently the Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. Her research interests focus on notions of care in practice and social justice issues.
As part of Art Conncetion Africa at the Bag Factory, she produced curating Johannesburg: rest.less, under siege/in transition. Her recent curatorial work includes Progression for the KKNK virtual Gallery (2021); I did not leave a sign? Pavilion of Zimbabwe (2022), An Im/perfect Balance for Ayanda Fine Art (2022), A Book That Cannot Be Read Alison Baker (2022 – 2023), Love and Other Acts of Will (2022), Only What is Known Can be Revealed (2024) (for the NGZ) and Ode to Grief and Renewal (2024). She is working on three ongoing projects: Feed Me (2023 -), Harare/Insomnia (2021 - ) and The Oxymoronic Tea Party (2021 - ).
Muchemwa is a 2017 fellow of the ITP at the British Museum and a Masters Candidate of the Arts of Africa and the Global Souths program at Rhodes University, South Africa. She collaborates with ICI and is a founding member of the Practice Theory Collective.
Temitayo Ogunbiyi
Contemporary Artist and Curator, Lagos, Nigeria:
Temitayo Ogunbiyi explores the relationship between environment, line, and representation. Moving between mediums, her work links current events, anthropological histories, and botanical cultures in the hope of engaging diverse communities.
Ogunbiyi is the recipient of a Graham Foundation Grant (2022), a Digital Earth Fellowship (2020), a Smithsonian Artist in Research Fellowship (2018), and a Ford Foundation Fellowship (2014). Her artwork has been exhibited at the Museum Tinguely, the Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts, the Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), the Madre Museum (Naples), the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Lagos Biennials, the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, the Centre for Contemporary Art Lagos, the Perm Art Museum (Perm, Russia), and the Fries Museum (Berlin).
Her work is currently on view at the Harewood Biennial 2024 (Leeds, UK), DeSingel (Antwerp), the Bundeskunsthalle (Bonn) and the Middelheim Museum (Antwerp). Her publication, Position the Proverbial, presents proverbs in conversation with modern and contemporary art.
Ogunbiyi lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria with her young family.
Meskerem Assegued
Curator, Anthropologist, Writer, and Co-Founder of Zoma Museum, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia:
Meskerem Assegued is a curator, anthropologist, writer, and co-founder of Zoma Museum with Elias Sime. She curated Giziawi #1, an art happening; Divine Light by David Hammons in Addis Ababa; and Green Flame, the visual art exhibition of the New Crowned Hope Festival by Peter Sellars in Vienna. She co-curated Eye of the Needle Eye of the Heart at Santa Monica Museum of Art with Sellars; Curvature of Events at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden; Johannes Haile: With Different Eyes at Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Germany; and Vital Signs at Katzen Art Center, Washington DC. She recently co-designed and constructed the landscape and buildings at the Menilik’s Grand Palace and is currently constructing Zoma Village Entoto with Sime in Addis Ababa.
She has participated in various workshops and symposia, including those organized at MoMA and Tate Modern. She was awarded France’s Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and has been a member of the selection committees for Dak’Art and the Venice Biennale African Pavilion.
Chus Martínez
Director, Art Gender Nature Institute HGK, Basel, Switzerland:
Born in Spain, Chus Martínez has a background in philosophy and art history. She is currently the Head of the Institute of Art of the FHNW Academy of Arts and Design in Basel, Switzerland, and associate curator of TBA21as well as curator at large at The Vuslat Foundation in Istambul.
She sits on the advisory boards of numerous international art institutions, including Castello di Rivoli, Turin; De Appel, Amsterdam; Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin; and Museum der Moderne, Salzburg. She has been the Chief Curator at El Museo Del Barrio, New York and dOCUMENTA (13) Head of Department. Previously she was Chief Curator at MACBA, Barcelona, Director of the Frankfurter Kunstverein.
She has organized numerous exhibitions and publications with contemporary artists. She lectures and writes regularly including numerous catalogue texts and critical essays, and is a regular contributor to international journals. She recently published a book of essays, The Complex Answer, Sternberg Press 2023.
CIMAM 2024 Rapid Response Webinars are made possible with the support from the Getty Foundation through its Connecting Professionals/Sharing Expertise initiative.