Saturday 25 February 2012

AIVA - Angelholm International Video Art Festival



Still Fighting Ignorance & Intellectual Perfidy
26 - 28 April 2012

AIVA - Angelholm International Video Art Festival
Angelholm, Sweden
www.aivafestival.com

Including
Jude Anogwih | Younes Baba-Ali | Saidou Dicko | Ndoye Douts | Kokou Ekouagou | Mohamed El Baz | Samba Fall | Nicene Kossentini | Kai Lossgott | Michele Magema | Nathalie Mba Bikoro | Johan Thom | Saliou Traore | Guy Wouete | Ezra Wube


Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, Estonia



Still Fighting Ignorance & Intellectual Perfidy
1-2 June 2011

Estonian Academy of Arts
Tartu mnt.1
Tallinn, Estonia

Including
Ndoye Douts
Kokou Ekouagou
Samba Fall
Michele Magema
Saliou Traore
Guy Wouete

In collaboration with Cologne OFF

Arad Art Museum, Arad, Romania



Still Fighting Ignorance & Intellectual Perfidy
31 March - 2 April 2011

Arad Art Museum
Gheorghe Popa de Teuis 2-4
Arad, Romania

Including
Ndoye Douts
Kokou Ekouagou
Samba Fall
Michele Magema
Saliou Traore
Guy Wouete

In collaboration with Cologne OFF
                                           

Thursday 23 February 2012

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS


Said Afifi (Morocco) lives and works in Tetouan. Winner of the Institut National des Beaux-Arts in Tetouan in 2008, and the Canadian School Cégep de Matane specialty "digital production" in 2010.
His work moves freely between multiple mediums: interactive installations, photography or video . He aspires to explore the possibilities offered by new technologies. The question of the paradox is central to his artistic approach. Something that led him to attempt to decipher the world from his own world without the influence of others to be banned.
Said has participated in national and international exhibitions.
http://said-afifi.blogspot.com
                     Metamorphosis of the linguist #2, 4:58, 2010, Said Afifi

Nirveda Alleck (Mauritius) is a contemporary artist living and practicing in Mauritius. Her work is usually a combination of personal history fused with a more extended view of the world space in which we live and the psychological and sometimes romantic notions of existence and spaces of time.
Taking usually a "felt" moment as a starting point, she attempts mostly to render certain intrinsic feelings into real situations, whereby the personal and the public are fused into one whole.
Alleck works with a range of medium: Painting, Installations, Video and Sound, and lately she has been involved in the implementation of a major public art project in Mauritius.
Alleck has exhibited at Times Square Gallery, New York; Tramway, Glasgow; Dakar Biennale; Temporary Art Centre, Quebec; AVA Gallery, Cape Town (South Africa)...
www.nirvedaalleck.com
                    Perfect Match, 6:32, 2006, Nirveda Alleck           

Jude Anogwih (Nigeria) is a multimedia artist and Co-curator of Identity: An Imagined State, living and working in Lagos, Nigeria. His work has been featured in several international art exhibitions and projects such as the Festival International d'Art Video de Casablanca, Morocco; FestivalMiden, Kalamata, Greece; SMBA, Amsterdam; Old News #6 Malmo, Lagos, Copenhagen, New York; Geo-graphics, Brussels; COLOGNEOFF VII, Madrid; Orbitas, Houston, USA.
Recent curatorial projects include The Green Summary at Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos; Contested Terrains at Tate Modern, London and CCA - Lagos with curator Kerryn Greenberg (Tate Modern).  He is a founding member of Video Art Network, Lagos.
                     STOP! 2:04, 2009, Jude Anogwih                                

Younes Baba-Ali (Morroco) is a multi-disciplinary artist holding a master in Fine Art from the Ecole Supérieure d'Art, Aix-en-Provence, France. Sound material and its conditioning are central elements of his artistic work.
Younes has had shows at Bozar Museum, Brussels; Kunsthalle, Mulhouse, France; Haus fur elektronische kunste, Basel, Switzerland; Sabrina Amrani Gallery, Madrid.
                  Call for Prayer - Morse, 3:06, 2011, Younes Baba-Ali                                            

Rehema Chachage (Tanzania) is a Mixed Media artist-working mostly in video and sculptural installations as well as performance-based in Dar Es Salaam. She Graduated in 2009 from Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art degree.
The themes explored in her work are very much determined by her situatedness, but the most prominent ones are "rootedness" and "identity"-being a stranger, the outsider, the other, alien and often voiceless-most of which have have been inspired by the social alienation that she experienced in the four years she spent as a cultural "foreigner" and a non South African, black female student in a predominantly white middle class oriented institution.
She was one of the selected 42 African artists to participate in this year's Dakar Biennale, this after a stint as a resident artist at Akiyoshidai International Art Village in Japan and the Nordic Artists' Centre Dale in Norway.
                         Kwa Baba Rithi Undugu, 1:23, 2010, Rehema Chachage                  

Saidou Dicko (Burkina Faso) is a self-taught artist working with video, photography and painting. He exhibits and screens his work extensively in an international context, including the Design Museum, London; Foto Museum, Antwerp (Belgium);  Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama (Japan); Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon; Fondation Blachere, Apt (France); Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg (South Africa).

                     Le petit berger, 5:14, 2011, Saidou Dicko                                                                                

N'doye Douts (Senegal) graduated from the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Dakar. While painting is his favorite mode of expression, Douts also works in film and in sculpture.
His works have been shown internationally at such institutions as Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Museum Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf (Germany); Bekris Gallery, San Francisco; IFAN Museum, Dakar.
                    Train train Medina, 7:02, 2001, N'doye Douts                                            

Kokou Ekouagou (Togo) attended the University of Lome, Togo. His video narratives and installations are propelled by a desire to reflect on the classifications and constructs of everyday reality. His videos were showcased at Centro d'Arte Contemporanea Ticino, Bellinzonna (Switzerland); Hexagon Space, Baltimore (USA); Galerie Lucrece, Paris; Savvy Contemporary, Berlin; Raffles Institute, Shanghai.
                    Taller man, 2:20, 2011, Kokou Ekouagou                                                                                      

Mohamed El Baz (Morocco) explores the notions of borders and territories in his work, especially those what would raise barriers between individuals. El baz plays upon three themes in his work: the everyday, the autobiographical and the playful. The work itself is nomadic and transforms itself according to the context.
His works have been shown at the Moderna Musset, Stockholm; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa; Hayward Gallery, London.
                   FUCK THE DEATH, 11:10, 2011, Mohamed El Baz                      

Dimitri Fagbohoun (Benin) makes installations, photos, media art and films. By applying abstraction, Fagbohoun seduces the viewer into a world of ongoing equilibrium and the interval that articulates the stream of daily events. Moments are depicted that only exist to punctuate the human drama in order to clarify our existence and to find poetic meaning in everyday life.
His works have been displayed at Mac/Val Museum, Paris; Treignac Projet, Treignac (France); Vus d'Afrique Festival, Montreal; Bamako Biennale, Mali; Festival Panafricain d'Alger, Algeria..
www.arts-works.com
                             Black Brain, 4:02, 2010, Dimitri Fagbohoun                                                          

Samba Fall (Senegal) studied fine arts and animation in Senegal as well as in Norway. He uses the creative freedom provided by digital animation in order to examine and reflect upon human behaviour.
Fall has shown his work at the Design Museum, London; Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (Finland); Arad Art Museum, Arad (Romania); Pol's Potten Gallery, Amsterdam; Dakar Biennial, Senegal.
                      Oil man, 1:00, 2008, Samba Fall                                                  


Wanja Kimani (Kenya) is a visual and performance artist and writer based in Addis Ababa. Her current visual practice weaves stories and visual histories, which comment on the idea of home and displacement, memories and imaginations.
She is currently developing two series of works entitled, Objects of Memory and Utopia, which explore and reflect upon the fragility of memory and imagination. Her work functions as a medium by which the artist and participants are able to understand the past and locate the present. She imposes elements of her own life into public spaces, creating a personal narrative where she is both author and character. Her work is trans-medial encompassing performance, installation, film, sound and text.
She has presented lectures on art and politics at cultural and educational institutions including University of Cambridge, UK; Uppsala University, Sweden and at the British Council, Ethiopia. Her work has been featured in international exhibitions in Europe, Africa and Asia. In 2012, she took part in Dak'Art - Biennial of Contemporary African Art, Dakar, Senegal and at the 4th Short Video Biennial at the P74 Centre and Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia.
http://wanjakimani.weebly.com
                              Buttons, 2:03, 2010, Wanja Kimani
                                           
Nicene Kossentini (Tunisia) is a photographer and filmmaker living inTunis. Graduated from the Institut Supérieur des Beaux-Arts in Tunis and the Université Marc Bloch in Strasbourg, she attended the Studio National des Arts Contemporains Le Fresnoy and the Ecole de l'Image Les Gobelins in France. Mindful for her heritage and past, Kossentini seeks to uncover the lost relationships and buried truths of her culture and origins.
Her work has been presented at various venues across the world: Musée du Quai Branly, Paris; Museum of Tunis Kheireddine Palace, Tunis; Kunstnernes Haus, Oslo; CAN, Neuchatel (Switzerland); Selma Feriani Gallery, London. 
                 Myopia, 3:13, 2008, Nicene Kossentini                                                    

Kai Lossgott (South Africa) is a Cape Town-based artist, writer, curator and poet whose personal practice currently focuses on exploring green politics and systems theory through experimental film, performance and drawing, for instance his engravings in plant leaves.
His work has been widely exhibited, such as the Museum Africa, Johannesburg; Arnot Art Museum, New York; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Museum of Contemporary Art Maracaibo, Venezuela; Austin Museum of Art, Texas; Casoria Contemporary Art Museum, Naples, blank projects; Cape Town.  His curatorial projects include the internationally touring artists' film programmes CITY BREATH and LETTERS FROM THE SKY.
                  Read these roads, 3:58, 2010, Kai Lossgott                                              

Michele Magema (D.Congo) received an MA in fine arts from the Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Arts Paris-Cergy. A key focus for her, is articulating a permanent exchange between her Congolese culture and her adoptive French culture through videos and installations. Prestigious institutions worldwide have shown her work: Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Hayward Gallery, London.
                     Interiority-Fresco IV, 4:10, 2010, Michele Magema                                                                  

Nathalie Mba Bikoro (Gabon) uses creative arts to introduce alternative independent adaptations of social life and development in communities in Northern Gabon. She currently works as a visiting University Lecturer across Europe and Gabon teaching in creative contemporary arts, politics and philosophy.
Nathalie is developing many educational interdisciplinary arts projects and collaborations including ArtEvict & DNA Gabon. Her exhibitions have traveled internationally, including Tate Britain, National Portrait Gallery, London; Performing Arts Academy, Helsinki; SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin; Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) Festival South Korea among others.
www.nbikoro.weebly.com                                                            
                 Hide & Seek, 5:33, 2010, Nathalie Mba Bikoro & Iris Musolf                                                                                                                          

Victor Mutelekesha (Zambia) is an artist born, raised and received part of his formal education in Zambia, received art academy education in Norway where he currently lives and works as an independent artist. His focus is oriented towards the displacement of the human, which is generated by the ongoing repressive manipulation and by the increasingly visible social and environmental breakdown of a culture so permeated with wars and injustices in general.Thus, to be able to imagine our place as a locus where the hope for a renewed emancipation of the human is still possible.
He has been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at the International Culture Centre and Museum in Oslo, the Gallery Palazzo Tito in Venice and the Henry Tayaly Art Centre in Lusaka. Previous group exhibitions include the 10th Havana Biennial and Gallery Fisk in Bergen, Videoholica video art biennial, Bulgaria,  “More than this” Gallery kit in Norway, Dakar Biennial 2006 and 2012.
www.mutelekesha.blogspot.com
                             Shadow of my shadow, 3:39, 2009, Victor Mutelekesha

Johan Thom (South Africa) is currently a Lecturer in Fine art at the department of Visual Art, University of Pretoria. Well known for his performances, videos and video installations, Thom often subjects the body to extremes in a quest to map its ongoing transformation.
Numerous group and solo exhibitions from Venice Biennale, Italy; Museum Africa, Johannesburg; Iwalewa Haus, Bayreuth, Germany; Slade School of Fine Art, London amongst others.
                       The illumination, 2:03, 2012, Johan Thom                                                                

Saliou Traore (Burkina Faso)'s art practice explores the idea of a reversed development-aid by using video, sculpture, installation and drawing.
His work has been presented at Kunsthallen Brandts Museum, Odense (Denmark); IFAN Museum, Dakar (Senegal); Marble Hall, Amsterdam; Expressive Arts Institute, San Diego (USA); Nadja Vilenne Gallery, Liege (Belgium).
                     Traffic mum, 10:00, 2009, Saliou traoré                                                                                                                                                                                        

Guy Wouete (Cameroon) lives and works between Antwerp and Douala. He trained in Art and Multimedia at the Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten. His work (video, photography, installation) is an exploration into the finite and infinite, transcending the limitations of formal academic training by employing a more experimental approach that seeks to push existing boundaries.
Guy has participated in several residencies and exhibitions at IFA Galleries Berlin & Stuttgart; SBK Galerie23, Amsterdam; Modern Art Museum, Medellin (Colombia); Museum of Contemporary Art, Algiers (Algeria); Momo Gallery, Johannesburg.
                     Le dilemme divin, 5:31, 2009, Guy Wouete                                                                                              

Ezra Wube (Ethiopia) moved to the United States at the age of 18 and received his BFA in painting from the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, and an MFA from Hunter College, New York, NY. His works encompassing video, installations, drawing, painting and performance. 
Ezra had exhibitions at Dreams of Freedom Museum, Boston; MEIAC-Museum of Extramadura, Badajoz (Spain); Rush Arts Gallery, New York; Blackburn Gallery - Howard University, Washington DC.
                        Gela 2, 1:57, 2010, Ezra Wube                        
                                                      

[SFIP] Project - Still Fighting Ignorance & Intellectual Perfidy

Project [SFIP] is a multi-national exhibition process and a platform for critical thinking, researching and presenting African video art.

The technocultural revolution has democratised cultural and artistic practice through everyday access to new media.  At the same time, the pervasive presence of technology in our lives has raised questions around privacy, surveillance and ownership, the dominance of Western media in globalisation, as well as the privilege of access in the developed world.  The [SFIP] network is dedicated to the diffusion of new experiences worldwide through film and video.  It is unfortunate that contemporary African art remains largely associated with sculpture and painting.  Much work remains to be done in adequately researching the creative energy of the continent, especially within the last decade.

This exhibition presents a selection of African video art that stands beyond the clichés that remain associated with the dark continent and the postcolonial image. It seeks to bring viewers closer to idiosyncratic readings of African video art and its thematic concerns which are largely ignored. ‘Still Fighting Ignorance & Intellectual Perfidy’ contextualises African video art within a larger cultural framework.

Reflecting an age of inter-cultural migration, [SFIP] presents African video artists who live in Africa, Europe and USA whilst providing a meeting point for knowledge and interest in the relationship between self and society.  Most works address issues of alterity, identity, tolerance and social relationships as artists reflexively consider their sense of place and belonging in an increasingly interconnected world.

From experimental video to short film, this show focuses on aesthetic and methodological perspectives of fighting ignorance and intellectual perfidy in contemporary African art.  The project tells Africa's story by African new media artists as seen through the lens of the relation between tradition and modernity.

Kisito Assangni