Friday, August 31, 2012

Biafra

"I have seen things in Biafra this week no man should have to see. Sights to search the heart and sicken the conscience. I have seen children roasted alive, young girls torn in two by shrapnel, pregnant women eviscerated, and old men blown to fragments. I have seen these things and I have seen their cause; high-flying Russian Ilyushin jets operated by Federal Nigeria, dropping their bombs on civilian centres throughout Biafra...At Onitsha, the 300 strong congregation of the Apostolic Church decided to stay on while others fled and to pray for deliverance. Col. [Murtala] Mohammed's* Second Division found them in the church, dragged them out, tied their hands behind their backs and executed them."

(Sunday Times, London, 26 April, 1968, p. 12)

*Col. Mohammed took power in 1975; was assassinated in a military coup in 1976. He never paid for his crimes in this life. Nor did any of his accomplices. 

Friday, August 24, 2012

Amal Kenawy (1974-2012): RIP

The Egyptian artist, Amal Kenawy, died last Sunday of leukemia. She was 38.

One of the continent's really compelling contemporary artists, and a leading voice in the thriving Cairo art scene, her work captured the simmering individual and collective anxieties in Egypt and anticipated the 2011 revolt at Tahrir Square. 

A most wonderful human being, Amal was diagnosed last year and few months ago was informed that her cancer was too advanced for any treatment. Her untimely transition is one good reason the Igbo say that death is stupid!
 
*  *  *  * 

For Amal

It does not matter
If the Nile weeps blood
Or the Aswan disgorges
Broken limbs of pharaohs
And Egypt drowns in flood

But there is calm
In the precincts of Tahrir
And the howls of Spring
And the din of cavalry
Tug our memory's wing

It does not matter now
That a crowd of elders
Hulls our child into the abyss
At the rite of renewal
At the rite of coming
.................and going 

© Chika Okeke-Agulu




Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Yale Fellowship in Sacred Music

Yale ISM Fellows in Sacred Music, Worship and the Arts

The Yale Institute of Sacred Music is accepting applications for the 2013-­-2014 ISM Fellows in Sacred Music, Worship and the Arts. Scholars and practitioners whose work is in sacred music, liturgical/ritual studies or religion and the arts are invited to apply. This residential fellowship carries a stipend of up to $52,000 and housing is provided. Other benefits include travel and research funds, and offers the opportunity to teach. The ISM is particularly interested in considering applications from scholars and practitioners whose work lies outside of Western Christianity. 

For full details on the program, please visit http://www.yale.edu/ism/fellows/ 
or contact the ISM Fellows Coordinator at glen.segger@yale.edu. 
The deadline for applications is October 15, 2012. 

Friday, August 3, 2012

Goethe-Institut Fellowship at Haus der Kunst (Info)


Haus der Kunst is pleased to announce a new post-doctoral fellowship program the "Goethe-Institut Fellowship at Haus der Kunst." The program will award each fellowship for one academic year (September to July) beginning in fall 2012.
Supported by the Goethe-Institut, the "Goethe-Institut Fellowship at Haus der Kunst" is designed for international emerging scholars focusing on global perspectives of modern and contemporary art, especially on the postwar, postcolonial, and post-communist periods. According to Haus der Kunst director Okwui Enwezor, "the aim of the fellowship is to establish research as a new cornerstone of the museum's vision and develop a reflexive context that allows for the interplay of art, culture, politics, and society in the way modern and contemporary art are understood on a global level." The "Goethe-Institut Fellowship" is an important building block towards this aim.
The Goethe-Institut and Haus der Kunst, will jointly select the fellows and make an effort to consider scholars from underrepresented parts of the world in identifying appropriate candidates. Haus der Kunst will provide the infrastructure for the "Goethe-Institut Fellowship at Haus der Kunst" and will integrate the fellow in the curatorial team. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to gain practical experience in a public museum dedicated to contemporary art, enrich their experience on a curatorial level, and to broaden their understanding of the operations at a site of contemporary cultural production. In the process, the fellow will become involved in the key features of Haus der Kunst's work as a non-collecting public museum whose central mission is based on the development of high level research and scholarship transmitted to the public through exhibitions, research, and educational programs.
Conversely, the "Goethe-Institut Fellowship at Haus der Kunst" program aims to incorporate the fellows' knowledge in developing the institutions research and public programs and to promote a common global outreach and cultural exchange based on long-term relationships. The end result of a fellowship could be, for example, a symposium/colloquium featuring well-known scholars, a series of academic/public programs, or an exhibition accompanied by a publication.
According to Johannes Ebert, general secretary of the Goethe-Institut "the concept of the collaboration expresses the interest of the Goethe-Institut in supporting Haus der Kunst as a junction of activities that will bring together fellows, visiting artists, curators, and scholars in mutual exchange."
The Goethe-Institut will fund the program for an initial period of five years. It is in the explicit interest of both parties to nurture the partnership beyond that into the future.
For further information on the fellowship please contact Mrs. Isabella Kredler (kredler@hausderkunst.de) at the curatorial office at Haus der Kunst.
For images please visit our download area www.hausderkunst.de/presse/info.htm.
Kind regards,
Elena Heitsch and Jacqueline Falk


Haus der Kunst
Prinzregentenstraße 1
80538 München
+49 89 211 27-115
+49 89 211 27-157 Fax
presse@hausderkunst.de
www.hausderkunst.de

Handelsregister München
HRB 100018
USt-IdNr. DE 811612530