Ọfọdunka

Enwezor's Plan for Haus der Kunst, Munich

2012-01-27T19:01:00.000-05:00

Since last year when the Haus der Kunst, Munich hired Okwui Enwezor to direct the museum, many wondered what this was all about. Certainly, hiring one of the most visible and accomplished curators in the world today to run a major art museum was not necessarily brow-raising. But for an institution with such a controversial history--a history that dates back to its origins as the premier site for celebrating the Nazi's idea of art--it seemed all too clear that with Okwui, Munich and the Bavarian State was now ready to reinvent its museum along with its troubled past. After all, no one hires Okwui and expects to continue with business as usual! (And I am sure the Munich authorities looked at what he did at Documenta 11 and at the San Francisco Art Institute!). If his big ideas positively changed how these two different institutions imagined themselves, how would they transform that most conservative of institutions, the art museum, particularly one with such a long, fraught history no one seemed willing or able to tackle in any meaningful way for the past 75 years?
Well, a few days ago, Okwui convened a press conference (with more than 200 journalists in attendance) in Munich to speak about his plans for Haus der Kunst. Here is a brief outline of his vision for the museum in the years ahead, as reported by ARTINFO
Good luck my friend!

RIP--Joe Paterno (1926-2012)

2012-01-23T16:47:00.001-05:00

Many loved you in life, warts and all
Old man of the Sad Valley

National Museum Kenya calls for works on/of paper by African artsts

2012-01-22T12:30:00.001-05:00

The Nairobi-based National Museums of Kenya is organizing an exhibition "African Paper Art: Process, Substance and Environment,"curated by Lydia Gatundu, Edward Mwaura Ndekere and Kristina Dziedzic Wright. The organizers are requesting for works on paper and paper-based work from African artists. In other words, they are looking for 2D images made on paper as well as 3D works made of paper material. That should make for an interesting show. I assume that since it is a curated show, not everything submitted will be included in the exhibition. They also seek proposals for made-for-the-show commissions. Submission deadline is February 15. The exhibition takes place, 7th July to 31st August 2012.

This is also a shout out to the National Museums of Kenya for its support of contemporary art of Kenya and East Africa. There are not many among its peer institutions around the continent that can claim or show comparable interest in contemporary art (not just ethnographic material) in their neighborhood.

For details of the exhibition, click here

IAAAG Demands Action!

2012-01-10T11:32:00.000-05:00

Igbo American Alliance Against Genocide demands action against sponsors of Boko Haram

January 10, 2012

- Press Release, January 10, 2012: ‘Igbo American Alliance Against Genocide (IAAAG) asks Presidents Obama and Jonathan to prosecute sponsors of Boko Haram’s genocidal violence‘ -

The Igbo American Alliance Against Genocide (IAAAG), the U.S-based international group of African and American professionals, has followed and monitored with concern and revulsion, the violent and bloody recent events in Africa’s most populated, multi-religious country, NIGERIA.

Therefore, The Igbo American Alliance Against Genocide makes the following statement:

1. We CALL on the Presidents and governments of Nigeria and the United States to act, without further delay, to do much more by arresting and prosecuting the sponsors and patrons of the evil, targeted killings of members of the south eastern Nigerian Igbo and other Christians by the radical, terroristic Islamic group Boko Haram in parts of northern Nigeria.

2. We URGE the government of Nigeria, the United States and the International Court at the Hague should coordinate efforts to prosecute those who aid and sponsor and justify the targeted killings with possible genocidal implications. We implore the Governors and local government leaders in the areas of violence in Nigeria to be mindful that the international community and agencies especially the Igbo American Alliance Against Genocide (IAAAG) are watching and monitoring.

3. We CONDEMN, without any reservation, the inadequate initial response by the law enforcement authorities in Nigeria in failing to adequately protect the current and historic targets of radical Islamic zealotry in Nigeria, especially the Igbo and other Christians in the area. We note that factually, more than 200,000 persons, women and children from those groups have been killed/murdered by such attacks since 1938. The waves of killings and genocidal actions against the same group in 1965, 1966 and 1967 led to the Nigeria-Biafra war of 1967-1970. Most of the international community looked the other way as 2 million Igbo/south eastern Christians were wasted in genocidal killings in Nigeria. The dangers of the latest events cannot be understated.

4. We REMIND the international community that neither the Nigerian government nor relevant international organizations have terminated this ongoing, gradual genocide and religious extremism in the northern region; consequently undermining the basis for a peaceful and safe Nigeria for law abiding Muslims and Christians.

5. As a preliminary effort, we CALL on the federal, state and local governments of Nigeria to pay financial and associated compensations to the families of those affected by the latest wave of violence since 2010 to date. We request the increased support of the Red Cross and other NGOs.

We will not fold our hands and we will not keep silent, for as Martin Luther King Jr., wrote in the Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Signed:
Igbo American Alliance Against Genocide
------------------------------------------------------
* I, am a card-carrying member of IAAAG!

Presidential Grocery budget Nigerian Style!

2012-01-10T05:10:00.000-05:00

Just in case there is anyone out there who does not understand why Nigerians do not believe all this bullshit from President Jonathan about using the $8 Billion from oil subsidies to fund much needed basic infrastructure, healthcare and education; consider this. In the recently unveiled 2012 federal budget, the government plans to spend $6.25 Million on feeding the households of Mr. Jonathan and the Vice President! Yes, Six Million, Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars (the amount is even scarier in Nigerian Naira: 1Billion naira). The breakdown shows that N477 million would be used to pay for foodstuffs and "catering materials supplies" for the president's office. Additional N293m would be for his "refreshment and meals" and N45.4m for canteen and "kitchen equipment." And this is in a country a federal senator earns--according credible reports--more than 6 times the salary/allowances paid the US counterparts! A sergeant in the Nigerian police earns a mere N31,000 or $200/month. In some theoretical world, I can imagine the argument against subsidies might make sense. But not when you have hyenas running the affairs of the state.
I repeat, Mr. Jonathan must first of all prove to Nigerians that he has the will and courage to fight the festering corruption and predatory antics of the political elite and their cronies. After he has done that, then let's talk about the subsidies.

Death of protesters in Nigeria

2012-01-09T18:44:00.000-05:00

President Jonathan's government and its security operatives in Nigeria have crossed the rubicon. Today, news report indicate that three protesters were tortured and killed by policemen in the streets of Lagos, and two more in Kano. At the beginning of the protests last week, one protester was murdered by security officers in Ilorin. No matter how this current crisis ends, Mr. Jonathan must be held personally and officially responsible for the death of these civilians expressing their right to peaceful protest. The time has come for the world to affirm that extrajudicial killings by so-called democratic governments are no more objectionable and barbaric as those that occur in dictatorships and such regimes. Nigerians must never forget these souls offered for the cause of a more accountable, humane and legitimate governance in Nigeria. Mr. Jonathan and everyone acting on his government's behalf must be tried sooner or later for these killings; they cannot be given the privileges available to honorable men and women in and out of government. The world must keep account of the unfolding events in Nigeria were innocent citizens are now at the mercy of shadowy religious terrorists and an insensitive, incompetent, corrupt, violent regime.

The Guardian Man of The Year: Chinua Achebe

2012-01-02T03:49:00.000-05:00

News -- Guardian Man of The Year: Chinua Achebe: A moral voice in the anthills of decadence

Good luck wishes Nigerians a horrible year!

2012-01-01T12:17:00.000-05:00

Yes, that is the only way to see the removal of all subsidies on petroleum products in Nigeria, as announced by President Jonathan today. With petrol now N141.00/liter, that means in Dollar terms that Nigerians have to now pay $3.2/gallon. That is about the price of petrol in the US right now. But what really, does this mean for Nigerians? Consider this. Only this past year, 2011, did the federal government raise the minimum wage to N18,000 or $111.00/month. Even at that, not many state governments have committed to this hike in salaries. In Abia State, for instance, the government there had to expel all non-native state-employed workers, on the grounds that that is the only way it can afford to pay its workers $111.00 a month.
So, while we contemplate what the removal of petroleum products subsidies means for Nigerians, consider that if a minimum wage earner were to spend all her salary on petrol, she can only fill an average car's tank just twice. So you see how callous, insensitive and predatory this decision to remove the subsidies, especially in a country where the government has not invested in mass transit systems. The last time the government removed some of the subsidies (which led to the raise of petrol prices to N65/liter), it set up a Petroleum Trust Fund into which the monies accruing from the reduced subsidies would be kept. Did the government really give Nigerians any account of what happened to the funds in the PTF? Popular lore had it that that it became a slush fund for the ruling party's electoral campaigns. Even in the early days of the PTF, when it was run by the largely incorruptible Muhammadu Buhari, 20% of the Funds simply went to the Armed Forces, no questions asked. Still the Buhari days were, so to say, the good old days, when the PTF actually did a few meaningful things. Not any more.
This is why, even if one were to idealistically imagine that the funds from the removed subsidies could pay for the massive infrastructure Nigeria sorely needs--it is still producing about 1/6th of Egypt's electric power, though its population is twice Egypt's, and its road network is primitive, and state-owned schools are in sorry state--the kleptomaniacs in especially the executive and legislative branches of government will ensure that such fantasies are simply just that. So, what is to be done? If Nigerians agree to suffer through this new regime of high petrol prices, how can they hold this government accountable for their suffering? What can they do to make sure that the harsh days ahead will not simply pay for the decadent lifestyles of the political elite and their accomplices?

That is the big question of 2012.

Happy New Year, everyone!

2012-01-01T00:01:00.002-05:00

WELCOME 2012!

2011-12-31T22:02:00.002-05:00

THE NEW YEAR SHALL BE BETTER THAN THE ONE EXPIRING TONIGHT, I PRAY.

State of Emergency Declared in parts of Nigeria

2011-12-31T22:01:00.000-05:00

I am not sure what to feel about the news today of the declaration of state of emergency in parts of four northern states by the Nigerian government. Ordinarily, it should enable the government to mobilize the resources needed to check the rampant terroristic mayhem of the Boko Haram groups; and that would be a good thing. But then, it could also provide the police and military the opportunity for unchecked abuse of law abiding citizens. They have a track record: whenever they are unleashed for security reasons, travel in the affected areas becomes impossible, especially if you do not have enough money and will to offer bribes to the armed official so you can drive past their checkpoints without molestation. I guess I just wished that--OK, I think my idealist alter ego is the one speaking now--Mr. Jonathan had previously declared a state of emergency to deal with runaway corruption inside and outside his government. If he had successfully carried out such campaign, then I would be more sanguine about the prospects of this new state of emergency.

Bishop Oyedepo Slaps "President Jonathan"

2011-12-31T10:10:00.002-05:00

The last time we saw super-Bishop Oyedepo, he was slapping a hapless, defiant woman who called herself a "Witch for Jesus" in front of his tumultuous congregation. Apparently buoyed by his success in the redemption-by-assault tactic, the great bishop has now done what Nigerians like me have been hoping some super-human power could do to our dear president: slap him out of his presidential stupor. But it is nice to see that "President Jonathan" has gone to the bishop to have his sorry, somnolent leadership style beaten out of him. Except of course, as it turns out, the agenda of the bishop and the president are...

Watch this:
courtesy of SaharaTV

Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee events at Princeton

2011-12-30T18:34:00.000-05:00


Charlie Cobb, Courtland Cox, Ivanhoe Donaldson, Eddie Glaude, Bob Moses, and Imani Perry, Larry Rubin, December 15, 2011, Princeton University	Photos: copyright Chika Okeke-Agulu

"Hands on the Freedom Plow", December 6, 2011, Princeton University

Terra Hunter, Judy Richardson, Dorothy Zellner, Martha Prescod Noonan, Betty Robinson, Janet Moses

Princeton students during the Q/A, December 6, 2011

Dr. Janet Moses

Dr. Janet Moses and Prof Imani Perry

Professor Terra Hunter, moderator

On December 15, The Center for African American Studies, Princeton University hosted a symposium by leading members of the historic Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the group of young, black and white men and women who, risking everything, went to the racial hot zones in Southern United States in the 1960s to participate in the movement that led to the desegregation of the South. These visionaries, these youths, many of them teenagers at the time, imagined a different country, and they worked for it, despite the threats to their lives, and the fears with which they lived daily. If they helped the Civil Rights movement succeed, it must be because of their grass roots mobilization--their "ground game", as the politicos would say--without which the endeavors of the "stars" of the age, might have come to naught. And if the present-day, somewhat inchoate "Occupy Movement" has one lesson to learn from SNCC, it is that they can camp as much as they wish in the gardens and parks of the cities and suburbs; but if they cannot go to the masses with their message and convince them of its justness and necessity, their effort will bear no edible or meaningful fruit.
What was remarkable, to me, was how the testimonies of these men echoed with amazing fidelity those of the SNCC women who had only a week before--on December 6, also at Princeton (at the presentation of their award-winning book Hands on the Freedom Plow)--made equally powerful presentations about their own experiences. For both the men and women, fear about their own personal safety was overwhelmed and numbed by the dread of what their fellow (black) citizens endured in the South--racial terrors and oppressions that had no place in their version of the American dream.And while not every one of them believed in the philosophy of non-violence, the decision to join SNCC meant that they all kept to the practice of non-violence, seeing in it a powerful weapon against a vastly more violent "enemy", the racist individuals, communities and state governments. Ah, the discipline, the courage. And they were young!

Imani Perry and Larry Rubin

Ivanhoe Donaldson and Eddie Glaude


Charlie Cobb

Courtland Cox, Ivanhoe Donaldson

Cornell West during the Q/A

Panelists with some members of audience after the conversation

Courtland Cox, Ivanhoe Donaldson

I learned so much listening to these men and women about the Civil Rights movement, and although I had to go watch again the monumental Eyes on the Prize documentary, nothing compared to the two winter evenings when I, as a student, listened to my elders speak of a time when the youths of America--not many of them, mind you--saved this country from the festering canker of its own sordid history. But as they all agreed, despite all that they and their mates in the Civil Rights Movement achieved, their work remains, alas, uncompleted. Just look at America today.

The Christmas Carnage by Boko Haram

2011-12-28T07:12:00.000-05:00

This is what these criminals, these animals called Boko Haram did to worshippers at the St. Teresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Nigeria on Christmas Day. The sickness of this entity called Nigeria gets worse. Optimism dies, again. Like Emmet Till's mother, I believe these images must be seen. Otherwise, it is impossible to imagine the blood-thirstiness of these present-day savages, or to understand the what President Jonathan means when he said, in response to the Christmas Day bombings, that Nigerians must wait patiently until the Boko Haram scourge "fizzles" out. Dare not to look.

Ayodele Jegede (In Memoriam)

2011-12-25T04:22:00.001-05:00

How, tell me, does one say farewell to the future
When the night refuses to wake, terrified
by the dirge of prosthetic gods?

With these hands calloused by grief
With this heart bloated by sorrow, how
Tell me, does one bury a child?

The Bishop and the "Witch for Christ"

2011-12-17T22:57:00.000-05:00

It is old news that the proliferation of mega-churches and zillionaire televangelists in Nigeria and the third world is directly linked to the unrelenting pauperization of lower and middle classes. Thus it is no wonder that one of the visible outcomes of the IMF and World Bank imposed Structural Adjustment Programs of the 1980s was the rise of "prosperity churches" whose pastors project onto the mental screens of their impoverished members visions of miraculous riches...OK., I am going off on a tangent here. The thing is that I came across this video of a disturbing "deliverance" session in the church of Bishop Oyedepo, reputedly the wealthiest of Nigeria's super-rich pastors. Does the Nigerian law--any law--allow this man to abuse this hapless young woman in the way he does in this video? And to imagine that the congregation seems to have applauded his action. It says something about the power these men and women wield; they way they behave like despotic sovereigns, all in the name of Christ.
Just watch for yourself.

The Lyrical Art of "Twin Poets"

2011-12-12T15:06:00.001-05:00

I heard of the lyrical art of "Twin Poets" (Al and Nnamdi)--these two young Igbo-American poets whose work I knew nothing about until--just last week. And if this performance typifies their spoken word poetry, I would not mind listening to them all the time in saecula saeculorum!

Remembering Biafra

2011-12-12T12:13:00.003-05:00

The shame of Nigeria, and the world that supported its murderous campaign against Biafra (because of oil in the Niger Delta), is that decades after that war, not much has changed. Nigeria remains as divided, unworkable, precarious as it was in the months and years leading up to the genocide of the Igbo in Northern Nigeria in the summer of 1966. Ojukwu has done his work and moved on, but the spirit of Biafra lives.

The structurally insufficient entity called Nigeria lumbers on--denied of total collapse only by a criminally corrupt politically elite and global economic interests--leaving in its wake now-frequent stream of "sorrow, tears and blood." It continues to be haunted by the restless spirits of dead Biafran children; children who, unlike me, could not survive the mass starvation campaign and bombings of Biafran hospitals and markets.

When, Nigeria, will be the day of atonement?

POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP--Univ. of Witwatersrand

2011-12-02T08:08:00.000-05:00

POST DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP in the Centre for Creative Arts of Africa, University of the Witwatersrand.

We invite applications for a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Centre for the Creative Arts of Africa (CCAA) at the University if the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The Centre is funded by the AW Mellon Foundation and will be situated in the Wits Art Museum. The Postdoctoral Fellow will work with the Chair in the Creative Arts of Africa (Director of the Centre) on research which will work outwards from the collections of historical and contemporary African arts in the Wits Art Museum. The collection contains not only visual arts, but also musical instruments and objects which are part of performance arts and dress repertoires. We are therefore looking for a fellow who has research experience in one or more of the following fields: African visual art, African music, African performance arts, African dress. The fellow will be required to do some teaching in the Wits School of Arts undergraduate programmes, and will be expected to participate in exhibitions and publications planned within the Wits Art Museum.

The Fellowship will be for a period of 20 months and will include a stipend, a shared office with own computer, library access and a small research grant per year. The fellowship will start in March/April 2012, and will end in December 2013.

Applications must be sent to Professor Anitra Nettleton anitra.nettleton@wits.ac.za and should include

title and abstract of the doctoral thesis,

copies of completed articles or published essays (if any)

the names and email addresses of two referees, one of whom should be the supervisor of the doctorate.

Submission deadline 31^st January 2012

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu (1933-2011)

2011-11-30T11:13:00.001-05:00

Kaemesia, Enyi Biafra!

Dike eji eje mba

Nwa Sir Louis-na-Nnewi

Odumegwu Ojukwu

Jee ọfụma, Odogwu Biafra!

Nwa amụlụ n'ego

Jelụ Sandhurst tute ugo

N’afa ndị Naijiria

Nọdụ mma, Ọchịagha Biafra!

Jelu Aburi gwa Gowon

Na Igbo abụro osisi

Nụlụ na-aga egbu ya kwụlụ

Jee n'udo Ikemba Nnewi

Jee gwakwa ndị ichie

na alụ Naijiria talụ anyị n’agha

ekwerọ anyị afụ ụzọ

Ma ka m jụọkwanụ:

Onye ga-agụgụ anyị?

Ka anyị a ga-atọzị

N’akwa ndeli?

New York Times on Artur Walther's collection

2011-10-29T22:44:00.000-04:00

Artur Walther has quietly built what might be the most important collection of African photography anywhere in the past decade or so. But only since last year when he opened his Collection's museum in Neue-Ulm, Germany and a project space in Chelsea, NY this year has he given the world the chance to appreciate the depth and breath of his photo collection (which apart from the African work is rich in contemporary Chinese photography). Just the other day when I visited him at his home in the company of Georgina Beier I was stunned by his as-yet-published collection of 19th and early 20th century photographs of Africans by Europeans. It would be great to see these in the context of an exhibition that might have the kind of images presented by Santu Mofokeng in his Black Photo Album (which Artur owns too) and other images by photographers such as Keita who he has collected in depth. Such a show will dramatize, in a spectacular fashion, the politics of subjectivity as they played out in photography during the colonial age. As it turned out, Artur is already thinking about such a project, and I look forward to it!
This article by the New York Times last week says something about the significance of the Walther Collection, and the positive impact his approach to collecting has had on artists like Jo Ractliffe (whose Nadir series of photomontage from the mid-1980s still give me the shivers) long-deserving of serious attention.

Video of "Environment and Object: Recent African Art" at Tang Museum

2011-10-26T12:02:00.000-04:00

Here is a video of the Dunkerley Dialogue--the discussion panel organized as part of the opening of the exhbition, Environment and Object: Recent African Art, curated by Lisa Aronson and John Weber at Tang Museum of Art, Skidmore College.
Tang Museum | Resources | Video: Dunkerley Dialogue - Environment and Object - Recent African Art

Slavery Memorial Competition--Announcement

2011-10-07T08:15:00.000-04:00

UNESCO and the Permanent Memorial Committee have just launched an international design competition for the creation of a Permanent Memorial at United Nations to the honour victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade during a press conference held on 30 September 2011 in New York.

The theme for the competition: Acknowledging the Tragedy; Considering the Legacy; Lest We Forget.

Open to: Artists, designers, sculptors and other visual arts professionals

Deadline: 19 December 2011

The winner’s prize: USD 50,000

This competition falls within the framework of the International Year for People of African Descent and contribute in particular to the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action
For details about the competition visit the UNESCO WEBSITE

Georgina Beier in Conversation with Chika Okeke-Agulu

2011-10-07T04:17:00.000-04:00

Georgina Beier is legendary for “teaching” first generation Oshogbo artists such as Twins Seven-Seven, Jimoh Buraimoh and Muraina Oyelami, who are among Africa’s best known modern artists. Beier’s work in Nigeria and Papua New Guinea has been of tremendous interest to Africanist art historians and visual culture scholars.

Longtime friend and student of her work, Chika Okeke-Agulu (Princeton) will explore important moments of Beier’s illustrious career and offer new insights into her art and relationship with African cultures, art and artists.

Time:
Saturday, October 15 @ 2 p.m.
Place:
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art
Lecture Hall, sublevel 2
950 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC
Take Metro to Smithsonian Station

Steve Jobs (1955-2011) RIP

2011-10-06T00:09:00.000-04:00

Tonight, a flash streaked
across distant skies
while we prayed

for a world made anew

This autumn night
our graveyard is buried
in ash and salt

Okwui Enwezor Named 2012 Kirk Varnedoe Visiting Professor @ IFA

2011-09-24T23:45:00.000-04:00

Okwui Enwezor, curator, author and critic specializing in contemporary art, has been named the 2012 Kirk Varnedoe Visiting Professor. His lecture series and course offerings will focus on contemporary African art, its development and narrative since the late 1970s, as well as exploring its presentation in both domestic and global contexts. He will be in residence at the IFA from January to May 2012.

            Mr. Enwezor was born in Nigeria and educated in the United States. As a student he studied political science but his interest in art led him into a career in the art world. He soon distinguished himself by bringing attention to contemporary African art history and advocating African artists under-represented in exhibitions, museum collections and in the global art market.
           His curatorial experience is extensive and noteworthy. Currently he is adjunct curator at the International Center for Photography in New York City. He has been named Director, Haus der Kunst in Munich, Germany and will assume that post in October 2011. Previously, he was Artistic Director of Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany (1998–2002) and the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale (1996–1997), which famously issued an end to Apartheid from a cultural perspective. In addition, he has curated numerous exhibitions in some of the most distinguished museums around the world, including The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945–1994, which traveled to Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and P.S.1 and Museum of Modern Art, New York.
           His most recent books include: Contemporary African Art Since 1980 (Bologna: Damiani, 2009) co-authored with Chika Okeke-Agulu; and Antinomies of Art and Culture: Modernity, Postmodernity, Contemporaneity (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008). He also continues to edit the influential tri-annual magazine, “NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art” that he founded in 1994.

The Kirk Varnedoe Visiting Professorship brings a distinguished scholar to the Institute each year to teach a course and give a series of public lectures in the area of contemporary art. The Professorship was endowed in 2006 by the late Professor Varnedoe’s friends and colleagues to honor and perpetuate his legacy of innovative teaching and to enhance the study and presentation of contemporary art at the Institute.

The Institute of Fine Arts has played a defining role in the disciplines of art history, archaeology, and conservation since its founding in 1932. It is unique in its integration of those fields and in its focus on research-led graduate teaching. Its range of interests and sphere of influence are international and interdisciplinary. With its close ties to the major museums and collections of New York City, its participation in NYU’s global network, and its excavations in Sicily, Egypt, Turkey, and Greece, the Institute offers a distinctive program of object-based study.

Press Contact: Hope O’Reilly
212-992-5869
hope.oreilly@nyu.edu

Troy Davis(1968-2011)--RIP

2011-09-21T22:51:00.001-04:00

The execution of Troy Davis tonight is, to me, a compelling reason why America needs to rethink its Justice System and the Death Penalty.

Petition to find rapists of a Nigerian student

2011-09-20T22:49:00.002-04:00

There is a terrible video circulating in universities and colleges in Southern Nigeria, and on the web. It shows five young men violently raping a female student at Abia State University, Uturu. For more than one hour. These animals recorded their act, conveniently blurring their own faces, but not that of their victim. Her crime was, according the rapists, that she "insulted" one of them. She was therefore being taught a lesson with gang rape. I have heard the audio of this sordid crime. The victim knew some of her rapists, and called them by name. And the rapists inadvertently identified themselves on tape. Moreover, their voices are so clear anyone who knows them could easily identify the voices. Yet, the university authorities have, like the stupid ostrich buried their heads in the sand, denying knowledge of an incident that is out there on record. The State Government too has not taken any meaningful action to apprehend and bring the strongest possible arm of the law on these dastardly, arrogant, soulless criminals. Perhaps they are sons of prominent citizens; who knows. But the violation of this young woman cannot be allowed to go unpunished. It is not just one woman that has been violated by these five men; it is our humanity, and something drastic must be done about it. Otherwise, the Vice Chancellor of Abia State University, the Governor of Abia State, and the President of Nigeria (along with other persons in position of authority within these domains) will be held morally accountable to what has happened to this woman. The local and national government must show that they are on the side of this young, victimized citizen. She could be our daughter. And her cries will continue to tug at the conscience of our humanity, until the criminals are brought to book. My hope is that, ultimately, this case will shed light on the culture of unrelenting and brazen violence against women in contemporary Nigeria.

In the meantime, there is a petition drive at Change.org calling on the Abia State Government to investigate what ought to be an easy case, and quickly bring the criminals to justice. To sign this petition, which is the least most of us can do, please click here.

Public Conversation with Georgina Beier

2011-09-12T05:21:00.000-04:00

I am really looking forward to my public conversation with the legendary artist Georgina Beier next month at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Saturday October 15. Should be fun, I hope!

Nka Roundtable IV

2011-09-11T00:49:00.000-04:00

Begins in earnest. Keep tract of discussions by visiting the Nka Blog.

"BAD TIME TO BE A BLACK MAN IN LIBYA" -- ITN news

2011-08-31T16:40:00.000-04:00

Thankfully, in this one instance, ITN journalists saved the lives of these lucky Nigerian men. If the news crew had not been around nine more black bodies would have shown up the next day as deserter-victims of Gadhafi's terror regime:
Watch this:

Libyan "Rebels" and the unspoken murders of black men

2011-08-29T21:53:00.000-04:00

Right from the beginning of the NATO-supported rebellion in Libya, I have been very skeptical of the propaganda of the whole campaign. I am not talking about the UN-mandate to "protect civilians" when in fact the unmentioned motive was to arm and strengthen the opposition forces in their war against Gaddafi's regime. (I would have thought that Gaddafi was enough of a bad guy that the Western powers and their supporters in the Arab League did not need to lie about their intention to remove the crazy megalomaniac). But that is not what pisses me off. Rather, it is the concerted effort by the so-called international media to downplay and ignore the violence perpetrated against black people in Libya throughout the entire campaign to remove Gaddafi. To be sure, Gaddafi is a anti-black racist, even though he had to rely on poor, black migrant workers (who for the most part got stuck in Libya on their perilous, trans-Saharan-trans-Mediterranean journey to Europe) to fight his war of survival.
When at the beginning of the rebellion many black people in Libya were killed, harassed and tortured by the rebels and their sympathizers, very little of this news made it to CNN; even when it did, it was as an aside. After all it was a war between the good guys (NATO-supported rebels) and a Bad Guy. Apparently the NATO mandate to protect civilians did not include protecting the black civilians. But that was several months ago.
Then some days ago, after the rebels took Tripoli, grisly pictures of men executed with their hands tied to their back made the news. What was the story? Oh, of course the cruel Gaddafi and his murderous forces had summarily executed rebel "prisoners" just before fleeing his palatial redoubt. So if had anyone doubts about the justification for the rebellion and the NATO bombings, there was it! Just that freedom came too late for the murdered men.
Except that looking at many of the bodies, you could not mistake their blackness, the fact that these were more than likely members of Gaddafi's mercenary army we heard so much about but saw little of before now. So who killed them? Gaddafi that either paid or forced them to take up arms in defense of his regime? Did any journalist ask why on earth Gaddafi--who is still on the run and thus needs all the protection he could get for himself and his family suddenly--decided to bind and execute his mercenary protectors?Or is the media too willing to buy to story that these were deserters killed by the regime?

Mercenary soldiers captured by Libyan rebels (Photo: from Chambersworldnews.com)

Even the Human Rights Watch mealy-mouthed and equivocated in the face of evidence so obvious. While they were quick to announce that Gaddafi murdered scores of rebel prisoners, they were conveniently still studying allegations of murders and human rights violation by the rebels. What about the news networks, and NATO's people? Have they as much as expressed anxiety (much less anger) about the fact that the Libyan rebels clearly rounded up the "despicable" black mercenaries captured in the battle of Tripoli and executed them? No. Surely they must be part of collateral damage no one, except the spineless African Union, can speak for.

"Real Art Historians of New Jersey"

2011-08-27T23:15:00.001-04:00

I have it on good authority--though my source wants to remain anonymous for the usual reasons--that three art historians (two based in New Jersey, and one from neighboring New York) have been signed on for the pilot of what might be a smash hit reality show to be called "The Real Art Historians of New Jersey." It's about time art (history) got into the lucrative reality business if you ask me. Because I am getting tired of this conference-classroom-gallery-museum-art fair hermetic, unreal world of art/history. We need a dose of, or it is a window to, the real. No? The question of course is this: Will a show like this cause a lot a damage to art history's already troubled reputation as an irrelevant, highly expendable discipline, or will it ensure more popular support for art and its institutions? As for its entertainment quotient, thankfully art history has enough colorful, goofy, smart, buffed, sassy, foulmouthed, cameraphilic characters to make other fake "Real XYZ of ABCs" or the stupidly good old "Jersey Shore" seem like civic infomercials! I hope they will throw in some high-flying artist, curator and collector characters to heat up the whole thing. If I were a consultant, I could recommend quite a few to the casting director!
Can't wait to see the show which I understand will be available on basic cable tv.

Nka Roundtable IV: Independent Art Centers in Africa

2011-08-22T23:25:00.001-04:00

The fourth installment of the Nka Roundtables which focuses on independent art centers in Africa will commence by August 29. Participants include the founders and directors of some of the best known and most active contemporary art centers in West, East, North and Southern Africa. The roundtable will be an opportunity to discuss, debate and examine the necessity of these centers, the challenges of establishing and operating such initiatives in Africa, the difference such programs have or can make within their local environments, opportunities of international networking, questions of sustainability and funding, the place of contemporary art in their locales, global pressures and opportunities, art and national identity, and relationship between such initiatives and local art industries/markets.

Moderator:
Chika Okeke-Agulu, Princeton University

Participants:
Koyo Kouoh, Raw Materials Company, Dakar
Abdellah Karroum, L’Appartement 22, Rabat
Gabi Ngcobo, Centre for Historical Re-enactments, Jo’burg
Marilyn Douala-Bell, Doual’Art, Douala
Bassam El Baroni, Alexandria Contemporary Art Forum
Mia Jankowicz, Contemporary Image Collective, Cairo
Jimmy Ogonga, Centre for Contemporary Art of East Africa, Nairobi
Moataz Nasr, Darb 1718, Center for Contemporary Art and Culture Center, Cairo

Make sure to join the discussions at Nka Journal Blog next week!

Photos of African Sky--announcement

2011-08-22T09:29:00.002-04:00

ARE YOU in AFRICA?  Become a member of the Africa Stargazers education project of The National Museum of African Art in Washington DC. 



We’re preparing to open a new exhibition, African Cosmos in June 2012, and  I ‘m creating a photo-sharing site for the exhibit - are there any photos of the African Night Sky you would like to share? 



The African Cosmos exhibit will emphasize that astronomy is a human, therefore, global endeavor, and will place Africa as a vital part of a broader global discourse on the artistic, cultural and scientific dimensions of celestial observation.  Key components: Moon, Stars, Sun, and celestial phenomena – lightening, rainbows, eclipses. Let us know the time and largest city near you so we can track them. Post on our Facebook page at:  Africa Stargazers



Maybe you can organize a flash mob of people to snap photos at the same time, different locations and all send them too?  Take a picture of the night sky in the next few days, and post it to our group and let’s see where we can go!

Please post your photos at this Flickr site

http://www.flickr.com/groups/africanstargazers/

From: Deborah Stokes StokesD@si.edu 

Date: August 21, 2011

New Curatorial Position at Newark Museum

2011-08-18T12:14:00.000-04:00

ASSISTANT/ASSOCIATE CURATOR, ARTS OF AFRICA

Assistant/Associate Curator, Arts of Africa

The Assistant/Associate Curator, Arts of Africa is a newly created curatorial position with a strong emphasis on interpretation, reporting to the Senior Curator, Department of the Arts of Africa and the Americas/Curator, Arts of Africa and also working closely with the Museum’s Education department. The selected candidate must have expertise in African art and will work with the permanent collection to foster the educational mission of the museum. In collaboration with Education staff, the Assistant/Associate Curator’s primary responsibility is to expand the understanding and appreciation of the Museum’s collection and to ensure the most effective interpretative program and its integration into teaching. The Assistant/Associate Curator will be responsible for the cataloguing of the collection and will promote knowledge of the collection through exhibitions, publications and educational programs that inform the public, students and scholars.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Conducts research on and documents the Museum’s collection of African art, including the compilation of records for cataloguing and object identification, and works with the Registrars department to ensure collection records are accurate and up-to-date.
Works with Education department staff to develop and implement wide range of interpretative programs based on the collection. Disseminates research on the collection through publications (including exhibition labels, gallery guides, catalogue entries and articles) and educational programs, such as lectures, symposia, docent training, and gallery talks. Fosters integration of Museum’s collection into teaching by working with Education staff within the museum and by developing collaborative relationships based on teaching from the collection with outside institutions, including local universities (Rutgers, Seton Hall, etc.)
Working under the direction of the Senior Curator and in collaboration with other relevant departments within the Museum (Education, Exhibitions, Registrar, Marketing and Development), contributes to the development and execution of exhibitions drawn from the Museum’s collection as well as loan exhibitions.
Working with Senior Curator, contributes to the support of development activities, including assisting in writing grant proposals and other fund-raising activities and engaging collectors and donors to develop the collection
Serves as supervisor to curatorial interns
Contributes to scholarship in area of specialty through participation in outside symposia and publications.

SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships, both one-on-one and in a team situation, and a commitment to collaboration
Ability to communicate effectively and in a professional manner, both verbally and in writing.
Excellent interpersonal skills
Self-directed; ability to take initiative and anticipate actions as needed.
Attention to detail and ability to conceptualize steps involved in implementing programs as well as to see the big picture
Excellent computer and organizational skills

QUALIFICATIONS:

Ph.D. in art history, anthropology or museum/curatorial studies with focus on African art required.
Preferred: one to three years related professional experience (museum or university setting).
Art museum, research institute, or university teaching experience required.

POSITION LEVEL: Assistant or Associate Curator. Level commensurate with experience and qualifications.

COMPENSATION: Competitive with excellent benefits package.

Interested candidates should forward their resume with cover letter by September 23, 2011 to:
                Human Resources
                The Newark Museum
                49 Washington Street
                Newark, NJ 07102
                Fax: (973) 645-0306
                Email: humanresources@newarkmuseum.org

Announcement: ACLS fellowship competition for Africa-based scholars

2011-08-12T18:56:00.001-04:00

The American Council of Learned Societies is happy to announce that application materials for the 2011-12 African Humanities Program fellowship competitions are now available online.

To download the application documents, and for further information on this year's competition, please visit the program website at http://www.acls.org/programs/ahp

Please note that a list of the 2010-11 AHP Awardees is now also available on our website.

The application deadline has been moved forward this year to November 1, 2011. Applications may be submitted via email or by post. Late applications will not be accepted.

We encourage everyone to spread the word about this year's competition and to contact ACLS with any questions about the application process. Queries can be directed to ahp@acls.org

The African Humanities Program provides fellowships for scholars in the humanities who are nationals of sub-Saharan African countries. Dissertation fellowships to support the final year of writing are available to scholars to scholars affiliated with institutions of higher education and research in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. Postdoctoral fellowships are available to early-career scholars affiliated with institutions in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa. The African Humanities Program supports research in any humanistic discipline, and invites applications from scholars working in any field in the humanities.

Eszter Csicsai, Program Associate

African Humanities Program

American Council of Learned Societies

633 Third Avenue

New York, NY 10017-6795

Tel.: 212.697.1505 x 135

Fax: 212.949.8058

E-mail: ecsicsai@acls.org

www.acls.org/programs/ahp

The Unfolding catastrophe in the Horn of Africa

2011-08-10T03:42:00.001-04:00

Yes, there is so much trouble in the world today, such that news of mass starvation and death in Africa does not shock anymore. And yes, there is the usual--sometimes justified--criticism of western aid (so powerfully articulated by Dambisa Moyo in her book Dead Aid), because it in fact contributes in the long term pauperization of aid-dependent societies. But the unfolding human catastrophe in the Hrn of Africa, a region debilitated by the worst famine in more than half century is enough to lose all sense of optimism about the future of mankind. It requires drastic action. From Somalia, a classic failed state terrorized by Islamist groups, criminal gangs and corrupt, feckless politicians, there is news of thousands of children dying of malnutrition (some reports say as many as 600,000 will likely die if food and medicine aid does not reach them in weeks). And the aid is not forthcoming...

Which is why the new video produced by the estate of Bob Marley (the ever-living prophet of the downtrodden) in partnership with Chris Blackwell of Island Music to call attention to the East African crisis is a must-see. Watch the video, and do something. Let's talk about the evils of aid later, perhaps with the survivors. After all, if it weren't from the corn meal, dried milk and corned beef from Caritas, I, a Biafran child, might not have survived to write this.

Here is the Bob Marley-Save the Children Video

VIDEO: How I Found Ikemba Nnewi Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu In London | Sahara Reporters

2011-07-25T04:26:00.001-04:00

The wonder is why of all the media houses in Nigeria only the "little but heroic" Saharareporters is capable, willing and courageous enough to do this kind of investigative journalism, to shine the light of truth on the dark zones of Nigeria's socio-political culture.

VIDEO: How I Found Ikemba Nnewi Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu In London | Sahara Reporters

The Destruction of Demas Nwoko's Mural in Ibadan

2011-07-24T19:32:00.000-04:00

Interior of Teddar Hall, University of Ibadan. Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu

This is what I saw earlier in the month when I went in search of Demas Nwoko's 1961 masterpiece mural Gift of Talents. A clean wall coated with fairly new sky-blue paint. I had to go outside again just to be sure that I was in Teddar Hall, where this painting had been for decades. I had a chill, when I realized that the mural was gone. When later I asked colleagues I was told that some university official gave the order to paint over the mural. Why? Who? I got no useful answer. Did someone want to "facelift" the hall by painting over the "old" work of art with new paint? Or did someone just decide that the nudity depicted in the painting was too pagan for the radical Christianity and Islam that is sweeping across the land? Or is it just simply an act of wanton philistinism? I heard sometime ago that the painting was not in good shape, with some of the paint peeling in some areas. But should the university authorities not have contacted the artist to negotiate the restoration of the mural? Did the university not know the value of this work; the fact that it is one of the few artistic landmarks in the entire campus? I went into mourning, and days later traveled to the east to see Nwoko who, to my relief, already heard about the vandalism. Shame to the University of Ibadan authorities. If there was a cultural hell, that is where I would send whoever it was that approved for elimination of Nwoko's mural. Just imagine the cost of removing that unfortunate coat of paint to reveal what remains of the mural someday in the future, in a better Nigeria.

Church of the Resurrection, University of Ibadan. Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu

Ben Enwonwu's important wood sculpture, The Risen Christ at the Church of the Resurrection also on the University of Ibadan campus is in better luck, but not by much. You'd think that the church owners would take better care of the precious work. No. It is just sitting on the floor by the entrance door, with parts of it broken off, the surface coated with grime (I saw what might be a big rat hiding under the base!). The whole ensemble looking really miserable, like an abandoned child. If the church has no use for it anymore, perhaps they should send it to...oh, I just remembered that Nigeria has no art museum where the work or any other can at least be kept in better condition. Shame.

Fashola's Lagos

2011-07-23T17:02:00.000-04:00

Construction sign by the German engineering company, Julius Berger

The Iganmu train station under construction by a Chinese engineering company

Today, as I was passing through Orile-Mile 2 road in a taxi, the driver said to me in pidgeon English:
"if I had a voice, if people were to listen to me, I would tell the people of Lagos to allow Governor Fashola to stay in office until he is tired. Then we could see if we can find someone who will be like him. But they say, because of democracy he cannot run again after second term." We were passing through the multi-billion dollar road and light rail project that would drastically enhance intra-city mass transit as well as transportation between Lagos and the West African region. The car was airconditioned, but I had to wind down the glass to soak in the orchestra of machinery, and the cacophony of children playing on mountains of construction sand. I wanted to breath in the dust, knowing that, perhaps, when next I pass this road all the thrilling chaos will be replaced by the kind of transportation infrastructure I could not dream of just a few years ago for this sprawling, formidable city. The taxi driver, I thought to myself, was a wise man.

E.C. Osondu's reading at The Lifehouse, Lagos

2011-07-23T09:41:00.007-04:00

E. C. Osondu [Photos: Chika Okeke-Agulu]

Yesterday, I was reminded what made and makes Lagos--in spite of itself--the city one cannot turn completely away from. E.C. Osondu, who won the Caine Prize two years ago (for his short story, "Waiting") had a reading from his collection Voice of America at Ugoma Adegoke's trendy The Lifehouse in Victoria Island, Lagos. It was my only chance to see old friends, and make new acquaintances during this trip. Odia Ofeimun, Toyin Akinosho, Ndidi Dike, Toni Kan, Victor Ehikhamenor, Tunde Kuboye, Molara Woods, and many more were there. Toyin who has sparred with E.C. many times before, returned to the question of what constituted appropriate writerly subject for Nigerian writers publishing overseas. A boring subject to me; one that to me comes from a siege mentality, which you also see in the visual arts. The difference of course is that at least there is room for debate about these matters in the world writing. Toyin represents is the kind of criticism that is more concerned with what the "west" thinks than about the freedom of the artistic imagination to seek its subject and, moreover, the fact that these literatures are the product of their environment, regardless of what the imagined "west" thinks about them.

Ugoma Adegoke (2nd L), Toyin Akinosho (near Center), Toni Kan (in red)

As I see it, Nigeria's postcolonial condition--manifest in elaborate culture of mind-numbing official and endemic corruption and violence; economic and psychological impoverishment; paradoxical, stunning even heroic creativity borne out of untold hardships; and rich, diverse cultures layered over by bewildering, new-fangled religiosities--all these and more are wont to excite the creative imagination and to yield literary works of incredible power and beauty. Literature that may not recommend the nation well to the aspiring tourist, or provide sound bites for the Ministry of Information, but which in themselves are memorable if dark works of art by Okey Ndibe, Ike Oguine, Helon Habila, Chika Unigwe, Akin Adesokan, Sefi Attah, Uzodinma Iweala, Toni Kan, and, yes, Osondu and so on.

Tunde Kuboye, Ugoma Adegoke, Odia Ofeimun

Molara Woods, Ndidi Dike

Victor Ehikhamenor with camera

Ok, it is not true that I find these debates about literary subject matter boring! Actually, I like the robustness of it. The fact that the writers are willing to engage with equal passion with their critics makes for a healthy literature. If there is anything that gets me really, really mad, it is that none such serious, meaningful conversations are taking place in the visual arts. And that, if anything, is why contemporary Nigerian literature is miles ahead of contemporary Nigerian art both terms of the quality of the production and the discourse around it.

From the Toyin Falola Annual Conference, University of Ibadan

2011-07-11T17:39:00.001-04:00


Panelists: Professor Gloria Chuku, Univ. of Maryland (c), Greg Mbajiorgu, Univ. of Nigeria (r)		.				Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu

So, last week--as my earlier post on the spectacle of Oloolu indicated--I was at the University of Ibadan to attend the innuagural Toyin Falola Annual Conference. In many ways it was (and is) a most laudable project organized by the Ibadan Cultural Studies Group, a collective of scholars mostly based at the University, and led by Professor Ademola Dasylva. If anyone deserved to be so honored with an annual international conference named after him, it has to be Toyin Falola who, in spite of his prodigious scholarly productivity--as a historian--has been so supportive of scholars of all shades in the academy. I tend to think of him as a generous patron who uses his tremendous intellectual resources to help younger scholars overwhelmed by the complicated maze of the academic industry; and to recover and consolidate the work of older academics who have not quite received the kind of recognition due them. And he does this with the kind of enthusiasm you associate with inspired youths! So, Dasylva and his group have done well to establish this annual conference, which I am sure will grow from strength to strength.

Professor Femi Osofisan (r), and his friend during evening performance. Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu

Performance group during the closing evening. Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu

Having said that, there were a number of hiccups with regards to the actual organization of the conference. Most of it has to do with Nigeria--my impossible home country where things everyone takes for granted elsewhere, such as power supply which was epileptic and decent, proper accommodation that was scandalously expensive (note: the University of Ibadan Hotels). But also, many of the presenters in the printed conference program strangely did not show up, even especially participants from other Nigerian universities who could not claim to have been denied visas or discouraged by embassy travel advisories (in the wake of the Bokom Haram bombings in the north!). This made the panel schedules so confusing, because the organizers had to compound several panels. But also organizers also displayed a lot of generousity, such as when they allowed late arriving presenters to join later panels. My hope though is that future hosts of the conference--it is designed to be peripathetic: next year the Center for Black African Arts and Culture and the University of Lagos will host, and it might go to South Africa after, and so on--will be more discerning in terms of paper selections, as there was quite a few really poor quality presentations for a conference in honor of such an esteemed scholar and academic.

"Eyo" masquerade performance. Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu

Falola (c) with performance group. Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu

Still, I thank Dasylva and his Ibadan Cultural Studies Group for making this conference happen in Ibadan. It is for people like them that one hopes that some day soon, the academic culture that was decimated during the dictatorships of the previous decades will rebound. Some day soon.

GTBank and the Tate's African art program

2011-07-09T17:07:00.002-04:00

The Guaranty Trust Bank might well be the most significant intervention by any African corporate enterprise in the support of contemporary African Art internationally. This new collaboration with the Tate, London consolidates the work of the bank's previous helmsmen Fola Adeola, and the late Tayo Aderinokun; it signals the bank's continuing commitment to contemporary art under the new leadership of Segun Agbaje. Both the GTB and Chris Dercon's Tate deserve our commendation. And I look forward to the unfolding of the plans they have set forth.

GTBank partners with UK’s Tate Gallery on African art

Oloolu masquerade, Ibadan

2011-07-08T17:02:00.000-04:00

Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu

What is going on in this picture?

Well, you see, the inaugural Toyin Falola Annual Conference hosted by the University of Ibadan ended two days ago (more on that in another post). To complete the Ibadan experience, a party of conference attendants went on a really nice tour of the city of Ibadan, famed for its, well, rusted roofs...On our way back, along a major street, we encountered a massive commotion. Young men with unfriendly gestures were running amock as this male-only crowd surged, like ants, more or less swallowing up two open-roof security vans in which sat several menacing, heavily amored police men. There was no time to ask what this was about, except that our driver, an Ibadan native, quickly swerved our van into a side street for safety. In our van were several women who--instinctively obeying a riotous command from the male Ibadan grad students we were traveling, and from shouts of terror outside--ducked under the seats. Ayo my colleague from Dartmouth realized later that such incidents require action first and then questions later. Welcome to paradoxical modernity.

It happened so quickly. By the time I had the composure to pull out my camera, we were already in the side street. This woman trader with a heavy head load in the picture, miraculously jumped down from the Okada (commercial motorcyle) taking her to the market and fled the scene (the bike seat is visible in the left lower corner).

And what was it all about? It happened that the Oloolu mask was out that afternoon and no woman dared look at it. Whether or not you were in a car or out and about. What would be the consequence of such sight? Would such unfortunate woman turn to stone--like the poor Greeks who turned to stone under the Medusa's gaze? No. One graduate student in the van, and our driver pointed out that the woman who looks at Oloolu will just dry up until she died! But I figured that even before such perhaps slow dessication commenced, the woman would suffer a quicker punishment in the hands of the thousands of sweating, excited men. Isn't that why the police vans rode with the crowd. To help support the tradition that authorizes the aura of Oloolu that must walk the streets of one of Africa's most populated cities.

And by the way, although the Oloolu is described as a mask, everyone seems to know that it refers to a male character bearing a power calabash, but without any face covering or any kind of distinctive costume!

Photos from Clark-MoMA Colloquium

2011-06-28T00:09:00.001-04:00

L-R: Raison Naidoo, Judy Hecker, Natasha Becker, Christa Clarke, Dan Leers
All photos: Chika Okeke-Agulu

Seated at table: Senzeni Marasela, Leslie King-Hammond, John Peffer

L-R: Aruna D'Souza, Vuyile Voyiya, Alissa LaGamma, Gary van Wyk, Sue Williamson, Dan Leers

Extreme Right: Jay Levenson

Second Right: Marcia Kure

Alice Walker on board the "Audacity of Hope" flotilla to Gaza

2011-06-27T12:44:00.000-04:00

The celebrated American writer Alice Walker is on board the second flotilla headed to Gaza. Like the first flotilla, this journey is meant to call the world's attention one more time to the plight of the people of Gaza and Palestine, the stateless people who continue to suffer incredibly while the world plays its geopolitical chess game. The cries of the children of Palestine, their parent's yearning for a state of their own, for the freedom most of the world now takes for granted will, hopefully, soon be heeded. I hope to see in my lifetime a region where Jews, Arabs, Hebrews, Christians, Muslims will live in dignity and relative peace. Here is Alice Walker's statement about why she is on board the Audacity of Hope published by the Guardian of London

Clark-MoMA Colloquium, June 21-22

2011-06-20T19:55:00.000-04:00

The colloquium organized by the Museum of Modern Art and The Clark Art Institute around the exhibition of prints "Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to now" takes place next two days. Looking forward to it. Here below is the program:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Impressions from South Africa” and Beyond

Connecting Perspectives on Africa

A Clark–MoMA Colloquium

June 21–22, 2011

The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Print Room

The Museum of Modern Art, New York

PROGRAM

We are delighted to welcome you to this colloquium. All sessions will take place inThe Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Print Room, 4th floor, MoMA Administrative Offices, 11 West 53rd Street. If you need assistance during your stay, please contact Alexandra Diczok at 212.708.9702, Judy Hecker at 212.333.1147 or 646.528.0311 (cell), or Natasha Becker at 347.853.1713 (cell).

Audio-Visual Note: Presentations will be loaded 15 minutes before the start of a session and at the start of a coffee or lunch break. Thanks.

Tuesday, June 21

9:30–10:45 Welcome and Introduction

Christophe Cherix (MoMA), Jay Levenson (MoMA), and Michael Ann Holly (The Clark)

Natasha Becker (The Clark) and Judy Hecker (MoMA)

Exhibition viewing of Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now

We will begin with introductions and an overview of the program, followed by a viewing of the exhibition Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now led by Judy Hecker.

10:45–11:00 Coffee break

11:00–12:30 Session I. “Impressions from South Africa”: Content, Reception, Criticism

Our discussion focuses on the specific exhibition, and the issues related to organizing and presenting it, as well as asking what the repercussions of the exhibition are—for both curatorial practice and for future art historical study.

Commentators: Jay Clarke (The Clark); Vuyile Voyiya (artist, South Africa); Willie Cole (artist, USA)

Moderator: Aruna D’ Souza (The Clark)

12:30 – 1:00 Lunch service begins and continues into the next session

1:00 – 3:00 * Session II. Curatorial Practice, Institutions, and Scholarship: Regional, Global, Alternative, and Beyond?

*At 2:30 MoMA staff leave for Curatorial Forum meeting

What are the spaces for the production, dissemination, and exhibition of contemporary “African” art on the continent and abroad? How is the work of contemporary and modern African artists located/positioned in fine/modern/ contemporary or encyclopedic art museums? How is work understood by curators/scholars/audiences at home and abroad? What models have emerged to deepen our understanding and art historical knowledge?

Commentators: Riason Naidoo (South African National Gallery); Leslie King Hammond (Center for Race and Culture, MICA); Alisa LaGamma (Metropolitan Museum); Doryun Chong (MoMA)

Moderator: Chika Okeke-Agulu (Princeton University)

3:00 – 5:30 End of Sessions – Free Time

5:30 Friends of Education panelists gather for rehearsal, Titus 2 theater, MoMA

Panelists: Senzeni Marasela; Vuyile Voyiya; Sue Williamson; Riason Naidoo

Introduction: Judy Hecker

6:45 – 8:00 Friends of Education Public Program, Titus 2 theater, MoMA

All participants attend

8:15 Friends of Education Cocktail Reception

Wednesday June 22, 2011

9:30 – 12:00 Session III. Modernism: Global? Multiple? Cosmopolitan?

This session is directed at cross-cultural discourse about art and modernist art history in particular: How do art history and exhibitions engage with difference and the history of the dynamic interplay between different cultures in the twentieth century? What has the critical exploration of relationships between Europe and Africa contributed to our historical understanding of cultural difference in the visual arts? In a world where multiculturalism, globalization, and contemporaneity have become common, what unanswered questions remain?

There will be a coffee break at 10:30-11:00

Commentators: Lowery Stokes Sims (Museum of Arts and Design); John Peffer (Ramapo College); Erin Haney (National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian)

Moderator: Natasha Becker (The Clark)

12:00 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30 – 3:30 Session IV. Contemporary Connections: Artistic Practice

This session will consider the flourishing creative scenes—and surge of interest—in several African centers, including Johannesburg/Cape Town, Lagos, Bamako, Dakar, and Luanda. The disciplines of photography, performance, and media will be reflected along with painting, sculpture, and works on paper. We will discuss transnational, diasporic, and global links among/with these centers, and how the surge of interest in the work of contemporary African artists has recast the theoretical arguments pertaining to contemporary art in general. We will also consider the socio-cultural-political-economic issues that surround the development of the field.

There will be a coffee break at 2:30–2:45

Commentators: Chika Okeke-Agulu (Princeton University); Sue Williamson (artist, South Africa); Senzeni Marasela (artist, South Africa); Dan Leers (MoMA)

Moderator: Judy Hecker (MoMA)

NYT Review of Environment and Object in Recent African Art

2011-06-17T13:24:00.000-04:00

Just in case anyone missed Holland Cotter's review last week of the beautiful show Environment and Object in Recent African Art, organized by John Weber and Lisa Aronson for the Tang Museum of Art, Skidmore College, here is a link to the article.

Ulli Beier tribute by ABC Radio National, Sydney today

2011-06-17T06:13:00.000-04:00

The ABC Radio National based in Sydney is presenting today a program "Drums and Gods of the Yoruba" in tribute to Ulli Beier. Part of the Station's "The Rhythm Divine" series, it presented by Geoff Wood. To listen to the broadcast--with Ulli discussing Yoruba religion and culture, click here

Nka Roundtable III: “Contemporary African Art and the Museum” ends today

2011-06-16T14:30:00.000-04:00

Today marks the end of the Roundtable I convened on the subject of contemporary African art and the museum. But anyone interested will continue to have access to the blog in the near future. As with the previous roundtables, this one will be published--with lots of exciting images--in the next issue of Nka. The next roundtable will convene some of the proprietors of the new, exciting independent art spaces and centers around in Africa. Stay tuned; or it is stay logged!

Nigerian Art Patron Tayo Adenirokun: RIP

2011-06-15T11:05:00.002-04:00

Tayo Adenirokun (1954-2011)

Aderokun, with Mayor of London and Shonibare at the Trafalgar Square, London: Photo, courtesy 234Next.com

The great Nigerian arts patron Tayo Aderinokun, MFR, has died. Easily one of the truly self-effacing but important art patrons Nigerian has ever seen, his death is a major blow to the arts and culture industry in Nigeria. Mr. Aderinokun was until his death the CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank. He, along with Fola Adeola founded the GTB in 1990, and literally changed the face of the banking industry in Nigeria: the bank HQ in Victoria Island was at the time a fresh breath in the architectural landscape of the city, and the entire place was filled with soaring paintings of Adeola's favorite painter Abraham Uyovbisere. I fell in love (bought shares, and opened accounts) with the GTB!. Adeola sponsored the irreverent "Statements" exhibition by Olu Oguibe in 1989 at the Lebanese Cultural Center in Ikoyi--a show that, in the shadow of the dictatorship, many were too scared to associate with. And just last year, among the many incredible things these two men did personally and through the GTB, Aderinokun was there at the Trafalgar Square for the unveiling of Yinka Shonibare's Nelson's Ship in a Bottle, his project for the famous 4th Plinth, sponsored by the GTB. What was so refreshing about Aderinokun was the genuine and natural commitment to the arts, and if you ask me the good name he and Adeola made for themselves and for their bank, partly explains why the latter turned out to be--according to reports--perhaps Nigeria's most successful bank today.

Aderinokun's transition is a major loss Nigeria, and of course to his family. Go well.

For more news click here

Cambridge Fellowship opportunity for Scholars in Africa

2011-06-14T10:53:00.000-04:00

Cambridge/Africa Collaborative Research Programme 2012-13

The Centre of African Studies invites applications for the Collaborative Research Programme around the theme of Art and Museums in Africa from candidates in all the disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Applications from scholars working in NGOs, research institutes, academia, libraries, and museums are all welcome. Applicants from non-English speaking African countries are also encouraged, provided candidates can demonstrate a competent grasp of English. The appointments will take place from 1 October 2012 - 31 March 2013 and are non-renewable. Fellows will be affiliated to a Cambridge college. Each award is worth up to £10,000; out of which travel, accommodation, maintenance costs and medical insurance will be paid by the Centre on behalf of the fellow.

The closing date for applications is 1 October 2011

Art and Museums in Africa

African art has long been globally famous but has also been controversial both intellectually and politically. Most obviously, the scramble for African art engaged in by western museums and art collectors has been condemned as an appropriation, as has the borrowing of forms and motifs derived from African arts by European modernist artists. Within disciplines such as art history and anthropology, there has been much argument about appropriate methods and concepts for the study of African art traditions. In the epoch of decolonization efforts were made to establish new museums in African states, relevant to local aspirations and new national cultures. Over the same period efforts have been made to revive customary art practices, and to create new craft industries, sometimes in the context of post-conflict and AIDS-prevention community projects. Over the last 50 years modernist and contemporary arts have also emerged and have gained increasing international recognition, while typically lacking secure financial or institutional support within African states.

This theme aims to support a wide range of interests in historical and contemporary arts in Africa and in changing practices in local and national museums and art institutions.

The University follows an equal opportunities policy.

An application package may be downloaded from our website:

www.african.cam.ac.uk or contact the Centre by emailing: centre@african.cam.ac.uk

This programme is generously supported by the Leverhulme Trust and the Isaac Newton Trust

University of Cambridge
Centre of African Studies
The Mond Building
Free School Lane
Cambridge CB2 3RF UK

Nari Ward and Katharina Grosse at MassMOCA, North Adams

2011-06-14T01:54:00.001-04:00

El Anatsui and Nari Ward the day before opening of Nari's MassMOCA show in April. Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu

During a recent trip up to Williamstown, I saw these fascinating large scale exhibitions at MassMOCA (in North Adams, MA), reputedly the largest contemporary art museum in the US. And yes, they know how to put together these incredibly complex, huge installations that make the journey to North Adams worth the while. Nari Ward, whose work I have long admired, put up a wonderful, awe-inspiring show stylishly called Sub Mirage Lignum. The center-piece of the exhibition, the monumental Nu Colossus, calls to mind so many things: fish trap for sure, but also a cocoon of some primordial giant arthropod, or the hideout of the last survivor of the final apocalypse. It also in fact has the feel and character of an ambitious neo-post-Minimalist sculpture.

Nari Ward, Nu Colossus, 2011. Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu

Nari Ward, Mango Tourists, 2011. Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu

The second installation that caught my attention is the work of Katharina Gross who has fashioned this muscular yet psychedelic work that makes you think of Arctic icebergs that is some way got beached in the Bahamas. Surreal. Terrifying. A strangely beautiful sight!

Katharina Grosse: One Floor Up More Highly, 2011. Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu

El Anatsui opens at the Clark this weekend

2011-06-09T11:43:00.003-04:00

El Anatsui, Intermittent Signals, 2009. Courtesy, the artist/Jack Shainman Gallery

El Anatsui's gem of a show opens at the Clark Institute this weekend. For those unable to go to Williamstown, there's a nice website for the exhibition, which includes this shorter version of my interview with him:
El Anatsui
To see the works on show, information about the catalogue and other sundry information, check out the website

La Triennale (Paris, 2012) -- Press Release

2011-06-07T15:29:00.002-04:00


Okwui addressing audience at the Press Conference in the Gardens of Hotel Gabrieli Sandwirth on June 3			. All photos by Salah M. Hassan

Okwui and Associate curators

Els van der Plas and Ute Metabauer

Abdelah Karroum

Isaac Julien and Kuoyo Kuoh

Artur Walter and Markus Mueller

LA TRIENNALE

2012 / Palais de Tokyo / Paris

Artistic Director: Okwui Enwezor

Associate Curators: Mélanie Bouteloup, Abdellah Karroum, Émilie Renard, Claire Staebler

The Ministry of Culture and communication has invited Okwui Enwezor to serve as artistic director of La Triennale. The flagship event, marking the reopening of the Palais de Tokyo in 2012, proposes a large panorama of contemporary art at the intersection of the French art scene and global sites of production. Beginning within the interiors of the expanded and refurbished Palais de Tokyo, La Triennale is set in a series of overlapping cartographies that shift from small-scale collaborations with emerging research, production, exhibition, and performance spaces in Paris and the surrounding suburb, to explorations of the critical valences between the edges of France and countries adjacent to and bordering them.

Fundamentally, the goal of the project is to shift from the idea of national space, as a constituted physical location, to a frontier space that constantly assumes new morphologies and new models of categorization (local, national, trans-national, geo-political, denational, pure, contaminated, etc.).

Recently appointed director of Munich’s Haus der Kunst, Okwui Enwezor has served as artistic director of Documenta 11 in Kassel, and the biennials of Johannesburg, Seville and Gwangju. He was Dean of Academic Affairs and Senior Vice President of the San Francisco Art Institute (2005-2009), and is widely acknowledged as a leading and influential figure on the contemporary art scene. As artistic director of La Triennale, Okwui Enwezor brings incisive critical insight, international awareness and extensive practical experience. After La Force de l’Art 1 and 2 at the Grand Palais in 2006 and 2009, the newly-reinvented La Triennale will be one of the major art events of 2012.

Artistic Director Enwezor proposes a broad, stimulating panorama of contemporary art. Aiming to explore potential areas of dialogue between various artistic disciplines and cultural scenes, he will work in close collaboration with a team of four associate curators: Mélanie Bouteloup, Abdellah Karroum, Émilie Renard and Claire Staebler.

The four associate curators

The four associate curators of La Triennale are all active and committed actors on the contemporary art scene, each contributing their own, highly original approach. The team offers a rich spectrum of diverse professional experience, dedicated to the shaping and production of a genuinely international, multi-disciplinary event.

Mélanie Bouteloup is co-founder and director of Bétonsalon, a non-profit association established in 2003, now a fully-fledged centre for the arts and research. Working to promote the sharing of knowledge and expertise between different artistic disciplines, Bouteloup has developed Bétonsalon into a place of innovative artistic reflection, research, and exploration rooted in the ecology of contemporary art.

Abdellah Karroum is a curator and founder of L’appartment 22, a unique exhibition and research laboratory based in Rabat. Other projects include the art publisher Hors’champs, and Le Bout Du Monde. Karroum has served as curator of the Dakar, Gwangju and Marrakech biennials in 2006, 2008 and 2009 respectively.

Émilie Renard is a writer and independent curator. Her work explores the structures of fiction and fictional characters in contemporary art forms, with a particular focus on the resurgence of the Arcadian myth. She was co-director of the Paris curator-run space Public, and co-editor of the art magazine and catalogue for fictive shows Trouble.

Claire Staebler was a curator at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris from 2002 to 2007, and was artistic director of the PinchukArtCentre in Kiev (Ukraine) from 2007 to 2009. She was associate curator of the Busan Biennale in 2006, and is a cofounder with Jelena Vesic of the art project No More Reality [Crowd, Performance and Re-enactment] presented in Belgrade, Amsterdam and Istanbul.

‘La Triennale is happening at a point in which the vitality of contemporary art around France and Paris is immense. The surrounding landscape is not only the landscape of big institutions and powerful structures, but a landscape that is being constructed as we speak by multiple voices and a lot of them emerging voices, not in contestation of the powerful institutions but really enlarging the rise of the possible in Paris.

La Triennale is not an exhibition that is about bringing something Paris has not seen before but it is about being part of this developing and growing narrative in a space that has been a primary institution over the past ten years, in terms of different methodologies of exhibition making, the discursive as well as the critical dimensions between art and thought, art and life. Most importantly, La Triennale wants to create a space of intellectual generosity.’

Okwui Enwezor, in conversation with Alfredo Jaar, Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 16 February 2011.

La Triennale is organized at the initiative of the ministère de la Culture et de la Communication / Direction générale de la création artistique, commissioner, with the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP), associate commissioner, and produced by Palais de Tokyo. La Triennale is organised with the support of the Institut français.

For further information:contact@latriennale.org

A New War Against Corruption in Nigeria?

2011-06-02T00:17:00.000-04:00

The new president of Nigeria, Mr Goodluck Jonathan has just been inaugurated for a four-year term, after an electoral process of which many in Nigeria and overseas are proud, despite the terrible violence that followed it in Northern Nigeria. I was hoping that the President would commit to wage war against Nigeria's greatest enemy; the singular reason that country has ambled and stumbled like a blindfolded brute. And thankfully, he has promised to levy an all out war on corruption! Good. And I hope that he will signal that commitment by not meddling in the investigation and prosecution of the outgoing Speaker of House of Representatives, the 41-year old Mr. Bankole alleged to have laundered, I kid you not, $1Billion through a domiciliary account with a Nigerian bank, and for taking out a personal loan of 10 Billion Naira ($67million) using the House's own account as collateral! News reports indicate that his fellow House members are trying by all means to shield this man from prosecution or what they call "humiliation."

I personally do not know if all this is true or not, but several media reports clearly indicate there is something terribly wrong Mr. Bankole's handling of money as the Speaker. Goodluck Jonathan must insist on the rule of law, and must use this screaming case as an example of his new government's claim it won't be business as usual when it comes to massive official corruption in Nigeria. If this case is hushed away, then Mr. Jonathan has no business expecting that he will be taken seriously when next he mouths his opposition to the reign of Corruption Inc.

Chevalier des arts et lettre for Barthelemy Toguo!

2011-05-31T04:17:00.000-04:00

Bandjoun Station, Bandjoun, Cameroon

The Cameroonian artist Barthelemy Toguo who must be one of the most hardworking and brilliant contemporary artists today has just been awarded the "Chevalier des arts et lettres" (Knight of the Order of the Arts and Literature) by the French Government. The honorific, according to the French Ministry of Culture acknowledges personalities with distinguished achievements in art or literature, and who have contributed to the dissemination of culture in France and in the world. Does it mean I now have to call him "Sir Barthelemy!" Sounds great, right? Whatever, it is an important acknowledgment of the work this guy has done in the past 15 years or so. And that includes establishing that ambitious art and agricultural project in his hometown called Bandjoun Station. Can't wait to go see it!

The war on the Children continues

2011-05-22T15:58:00.000-04:00

In Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria, the madness goes on. Now the government has run the NGOs out of town and the children are being sent to a barren, barely staffed facility cynically named "Security Village" by the State Government. The terror, the war against the children goes, unchecked.

El Anatsui at the Clark

2011-05-18T14:27:00.001-04:00

Stone Hill Center. Photos: Richard Lacayo

For students and admirers of El Anatsui's work here's a new small book coming out soon. It is published by the Yale Univ. Press in connection with the fabulous exhibition of El's work at the Clark Institute's stunning, brand new Stone Hill Center designed by the Pritzker-winning, Japanese architect Tadao Ando. (This is the second ever show of work by a contemporary artist--after Juan Muñoz last year--at The Clark). El and I were at the Clark early in April (yes it still snowed in Williamstown!) to plan the installation of the three majestic sculptures, including Intermittent Signals (2009) from the Broad Art Foundation collection. Having just returned from the Clark about a week ago, with the installation nearly complete, I could not help but imagine what difference space and thoughtful installation can do to our experience of El's work, or any work of art for that matter. It is as if Ando designed the galleries for El! Or rather, El's work completes the dramatic dialog Ando imagined between the building and the verdant, mountainous Berkshire landscape.

El Anatsui at the Clark - LaGamma, Alisa; Okeke-Agulu, Chika - Yale University Press

Osama Bin Laden (RIH)

2011-05-02T00:11:00.000-04:00

To the tall one
With stones in his gall:
Rest in Hell!

Nnenna Okore's Metamorphoses at October Gallery London

2011-04-30T11:56:00.000-04:00

Nnenna Okore, When the Heavens Meet the Earth, 2011. Photo courtesy October Gallery

Nnenna Okore, Emissaries, 2009. Photo courtesy October Gallery

I wished I could write more on these new, diaphanous sculptures by Nnenna Okore. The seductive allure of dematerialized, strangely biomorphic forms that seem to seize, yet ambivalent about their occupation of, the space around them. In any case, it should be a terrific show. Now that the fever of the Royal wedding is over, time to see something else...in the art gallery. The show opens at the venerable October Gallery, London May 5.

To Gabriel Okara on his 90th Birthday

2011-04-29T04:31:00.001-04:00

Evergreen, the sinews of your tongue
Sweet, the beat of your heart
Still, the echo of your song

For Biafra!

Sojourner IV

2011-04-27T03:56:00.000-04:00

To the sojourner with a heart
Of ivory
Give a leather shield
Of transcendence
And to the irreverent gambler
On the ever famished road
Give the Queen of hearts
And our god's broken promise

© Chika Okeke-Agulu

Goodluck Jonathan's Burden

2011-04-23T00:16:00.000-04:00

I am thrilled yet sad about the Presidential elections last week. Thrilled, because many Nigerians seem increasingly aware of the value of protecting their democratic rights and their votes, in spite of the callous schemes of overfed vultures who call themselves politicians; Sad because the scabrous entity called Peoples Democratic Party is returning to power for another four years. The logic of the PDP victory seems to be, well, the vote was not really for PDP but for Jonathan. And when you ask, but why? the general refrain is that it marks an important shift in the power status quo. That power has finally come to the South! But I wonder whether Obasanjo's 8-year regime did not count for the southern power. The bottom line is this. It is the same party that controlled the Nigerian state during Obasanjo's rule that is still in charge of affairs with the new Presidency of Jonathan. So what is going to change?
To me I do not care whether a President comes from Borno or Ekiti; what should matter to Nigerians is what government can and will confront the greatest problem facing that country: CORRUPTION. It is because of corruption that the country cannot produce more than 4000 Megawatts of electricity; why the hospitals lack drugs, the schools criminally underfunded; why you have to bribe your way to get anything from your university certificate, to your pension, and so on. Is Jonathan equipped to lead this charge against this great affliction? Or is he already too compromised--remember that his wife was once in the sights of the anti-corruption agency for money laundering, and he is in cozy alliance with some of the most corrupt governors in the country? In fact that is the burden of Jonathan.
Nigerians have voted him in to run the country despite that they know he is the leader of a criminally corrupt entity called PDP. He will have to live with the knowledge that perhaps what Nigerians did last week was entrust him with the task of not just cleaning up his party, but also of establishing the grounds for a systematic war against corruption in Nigeria. Without this, he would have betrayed the hopes and trust of those Nigerians who voted for him, instead of Buhari who has proven once before to be naturally disposed to fight corruption, or for Ribadu who, in spite of the strictures of working for an Obasanjo administration, showed the courage to confront corruption in the high places. Jonathan must now prove that Nigeria has anything to gain by having a "southern" President in Abuja.

Nka Roundtable III: “Contemporary African Art and the Museum”

2011-04-12T22:32:00.001-04:00

Over the next several weeks important curators and directors of major museums in the United States, Germany, Japan, South Africa and the UK will engage in spirited but substantial discussion on the relationship between contemporary African art and the museum. I expect excursions into the history of this relationship, its crucial moments, state of affairs, and challenges that remain. In the process, we shall debate issues of presenting this material in art and ethnology museums; the politics of acquisitions and display; museums and scholarship; and the place of contemporary African art–relative to the “traditional” and western contemporary. I suspect that there will be surprising turns in the course of our discussion, but I am certain that the deliberations of this diverse, unprecedented and distinguished panel of curators will surely be of immense value to students and scholars working or interested in this exciting, dynamic field. Please join us!

Convener: Chika Okeke-Agulu (Princeton University)

Participants: Marla Berns (Director, Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles), Christa Clarke (Senior Curator, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ), Laurie Ann Farrell (Director of Exhibitions, Savannah College of Art & Design Gallery, Savannah, GA), Khwezi Gule (Chief Curator, Hector Pieterson Memorial, Johannesburg), Kinsey Katchka (independent scholar/curator), Yukiya Kawaguchi (Associate Professor/Curator, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka), Clive Kellner (Curator-at-Large, The GordonSchachatCollection, Johannesburg), Karen Milbourne (Curator, Smithsonian National Museum for African Art, Washington DC), Raison Naidoo (Director Arts Collections, Iziko: South African National Gallery, Cape Town), Enid Schildkrout (Chief Curator/Director of Exhibitions, Museum for African Art, New York) Chris Spring (Curator, British Museum, London), Ulf Vierke (Director, Iwalewa-Haus, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth), Okwui Enwezor, Salah M. Hassan.

Follow the panel discussion on the Nka Journal Blog:

Ulli Beier: In Appreciation

2011-04-04T03:31:00.001-04:00

In the early months 2009 I called Ulli, informing him of my plan to visit him again in the summer of 2010. But he insisted that I come immediately, with my son Arinze rather than wait for another year. I am glad I took his premonition seriously. The long evenings we spent in the splendorous gardens of Migila House, watching 3-year old Arinze chase the wild lorikeets that came daily to feed I will cherish forever. It didn't matter that his memory, so sharp and immense during my previous visits, had started to falter; and as our car pulled away to the airport after three weeks, it didn't matter that both of us knew we would never see again, in this life. What mattered then, as now, is the years of warm friendship, of countless, long conversations, of learning about a time when modern Nigerian and African art and literature were in their youth. Every moment counted, even as the countdown began about three weeks ago.

My heart is burdened, but only because his life-long desire to return home to Nigeria, will now have to wait...so long, dear Ulli.

Ulli Beier: In Memorian*

2011-04-04T00:05:00.003-04:00

Travel well, Master

Of Migila House

Remember your oriki

Ogun's Horseman

The birds in your garden

Will return year after year

But who will feed them

Who, tell me will listen

To their daily chants?

Travel well, Uncle

Of my son

Take your beaded bag

Esu's Bestman

A long line has grown

In your frontyard

Madmen, priests, poets

Bearing kegs of up-wine

But who, tell me will

Open the door?

Travel well, Husband

Of many artists

Listen to your ijala

Bobagunwa of Osogbo!

*In appreciation for the years of our friendship, and for the memories I shared with you and Georgina at Migila House, Sydney.

Disclaimer!

2011-04-02T22:29:00.002-04:00

This review of Okwui Enwezor's "Events of the Self" which opened last June at the Walther Collection, Ulm describes me as Dean of the San Francisco Art Institute and founding publisher of Nka. That would be my friend Okwui who btw ceased to be Dean of the SFAI nearly two years ago.
The Courier: African Photography in Ulm: An exhibition not to be missed

Review of Phyllis Galembo: Maske

2011-04-02T22:13:00.001-04:00

Just found this review of the book on Phyllis Galembo's photography that came out last year. The typos in the quoted sections of my introductory text were not in the book! It must be the Blogger's Devil.
Conscientious | Review: Maske by Phyllis Galembo

Brief notes

2011-03-13T00:39:00.000-05:00

So much has happened since my last posting in January. But such is life! Death came knocking. The Cameroonian artist Goddy Leye (1965-2011) who was running the Art Bakery, and has played a major role keeping the fires of contemporary art burning in Douala and elsewhere in Cameroon, died last month. So tragic. I hope his family finds healing in this immense loss. Travel well, journeyman.

As I write, my old friend Ulli Beier, the master of Migila House is gravely ill. My prayers are with him and his family.

On a less sombre note, I spent most of this past week in Oslo, at KHIO, the National Academy of the Fine Arts where I gave a keynote lecture at a conference on global dialogue and the arts. Until this event, I didn't realize the scale of Norwegian support of fine art and artists from Zambia. Speaking of which, I had a wonderful time with a cluster of young artists from Zambia resident in Oslo, including Anawana Haloba who I think is one of the terrific young artists working now.


Erik Solheim, Norwegian Minister of Development @ at the KHIO Seminar. He gave a good speech, until he described Joseph Conrad as one of the most important critics of European colonialism! Photos: Chika Okeke-Agulu

Berlin-based Burkinabe architect, Diebedo Kere, presenting his designs for rural schools in his home country. Memo to Nigerian architects: pay attention to this guy's work!

Kjetil Thorsen, Norwegian architecture presenting his firm's design for the amazing Alexandria (Egypt) Library, and the Oslo Opera. Smart, he is.

But the highlight of my trip, really, was seeing again after ten years Gavin Jantjes, the South African curator and artist based at the National Museum of art, Oslo. Gavin has just organized a huge, fabulous survey exhibition of Nicholas Hlobo, the South African artist there at the Museum--the very first time a non-western artist was occupying that space, and in such an emphatic manner! This show ought to be seen everywhere, unfortunately, I don't think it is traveling.

Gavin Jantjes, with Hlobo's Ndize (2010) in the background.

Statement by Nka Journal editors on Enwezor's appointment

2011-01-27T16:24:00.000-05:00

It is with great pleasure that we share with you the news about the appointment of our colleague and friend Okwui Enwezor as Director of Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany. We are exceedingly thrilled about this, for it is a testament to Okwui's groundbreaking work as a scholar and curator of contemporary art.

As editors of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, we are proud to have shared with him the incredible journey that began with the first issue of the journal in 1994 – a critical platform, which he initiated and has tirelessly championed. His new appointment confirms our belief in the need for reshaping and remapping the landscape of international contemporary art through critical scholarship, curatorial projects and compelling arguments for the heterogeneity of contemporary art practices.

As Okwui embarks on this new endeavor, we are convinced that he will remain committed to the dreams and intellectual passions that have motivated his work over the past two decades. Please join us in extending our warmest wishes to our dear friend as he takes up this great responsibility on the other side of the Atlantic!

We are most pleased to share with our friends, colleagues and readers the press announcement from Haus der Kunst of Okwui Enwezor's appointment:

Congratulations Okwui!

Salah M. Hassan
Chika Okeke-Agulu

Chris Dercon on Enwezor's appointment

2011-01-19T14:14:00.000-05:00

I thought I should share this wonderful statement by Chris Dercon (who is leaving the Haus Der Kunst, Munich for directorship of the Tate Modern, London), about Okwui's appointment as his replacement

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I have known Okwui Enwezor for a long time, both as an incredibly inspiring colleague and as a friend. I came to visit his exhibition, "The Short Century. Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa 1945-1994", in 2001 at Villa Stuck in Munich and was thrilled to see such an important, groundbreaking exhibition on post-colonialism and ’other’ modernisms in Germany, and especially in Munich.

In 2000 I travelled with Okwui and other colleagues for almost an entire month through China on a research journey, which was a true discovery for all of us, even on a personal level. Is my affinity for Okwui because he enjoys teasing me about my Belgian background? After all, I did spend much of my childhood in the gardens of the ’Museum of Africa’ in Tervuren, a colonialist museum par excellence, about whose ’cultural politics’ of the past Okwui and his African circle have a lot to say, and rightly so. In China, we debated with both each other and with Chinese scholars, artists and students, not just about the representation of "the other" in western museums, but also about the relevance of so-called "world art". We all quickly realized that Okwui’s descriptions of the arts in this global age were far more relevant and accurate; he is not only a visionary curator, but a very disciplined theorist and teacher, and a gifted writer and speaker as well. In Uli Sigg’s collection there is an amusing painting by Yan Lei entitled ’The Curators’ (2000), which reveals much about our ’Chinese’ adventure.

By this point, Okwui’s vision for "his" documenta was almost fully formed, and he indeed created what was both a truly innovative and revolutionary documenta. Since then I have closely followed his many projects involving contemporary African photography, both in New York and, of course, in Burlafingen, Neu Ulm, in collaboration with the Walther Collection. Last December, I stated in Artforum that the opening of the Walther Collection and not to forget its accompanying publication was one of 2010’s most important
cultural events worldwide.

I am thrilled and honoured that Okwui Enwezor has accepted the Haus der Kunst’s board and team’s offer to continue to develop this exciting art institution. I am absolutely certain he will do so in both manifold and highly unexpected ways. Finally, I hope that the Haus der Kunst and the Tate Modern will continue to work closely together, just as they have in the past. Indeed, there is still so much to learn from Okwui Enwezor, especially now that he is at the helm of the Haus der Kunst.

Chris Dercon
Munich, January 19, 2011

Enwezor appointed Director, Haus der Kunst, Munich

2011-01-19T08:53:00.000-05:00

Press Release

Haus der Kunst is pleased to announce the appointment of Okwui Enwezor as the next director of Haus der Kunst. Enwezor will take up the position in October 2011. He will succeed Chris Dercon, the outgoing director who will take over as director of the Tate Modern in April and will still be supervising the exhibition, "Carlo Mollino. Maniera moderna" (Haus der Kunst, September 16, 2011 January 8, 2012).

Enwezor (b. 1963 in Calabar, Nigeria) is currently Adjunct curator at International Center of Photography, New York, and previously Dean of Academic Affairs, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, as well visiting Professor in Art History University of Pittsburgh, Columbia University, and University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is currently Joanne Cassulo Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program in New York City and artistic director of Meeting Points 6. In addition to his academic activities he has been recently appointed chief curator of La Triennale, Paris 2012 and serves as advisory curator of "Dublin Contemporary" in 2011.

Munich’s public has been familiar with Okwui Enwezor since 2001: With his exhibition, "The Short Century. Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa 1945-1994", he presented the most extensive overview to date of artistic production in late- and postcolonial Africa. In this show, which treated art and documentary material as equals, he questioned the autonomy of art as well as the dichotomy between the private and the
public.

Okwui Enwezor began studying political science in 1983 in New York. At this time he also became interested in art and found that African artists were under-represented in both exhibitions and in the global art market. By contrast, he discovered significant gaps in the historiography of art in African countries. These observations created the foundation on which Enwezor would sharpen his profile as author and curator: Enwezor consistently urged the international art market to overcome its focus on the European-American
connection and supported this appeal with publications. In 1994 he founded the tri-annual magazine, "NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art", which he continues to edit together with Salah Hassan (Cornell University) and Chika Okeke-Agulu (Princeton University).

Enwezor has been the artistic director of several major exhibitions. In 1996-97 he was the director of the second Johannesburg Biennale in South Africa, which put a symbolic end to apartheid also from a cultural perspective. In 1998-2002 he was appointed artistic director of documenta 11 in Kassel, the first representative from a non-western country to hold this position; in 2006 he curated the Biennale for Contemporary Art Seville ("The Unhomely: Phantom Scenes in Global Society"), and in 2007-2008 the 7th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea. His thoughts on the format of major exhibitions to be both appealing and serious and to deal with visitors’ time economically were published in "Mega-Exhibitions and the Antinomies of a Transnational Global Form". He has also curated numerous exhibitions on contemporary art.

The minister for education says: "Okwui Enwezor brilliantly directed documenta 11 in 2002, creating outstanding art experiences that continue to impact the world of art. As artistic director Mr. Enwezor held leading positions in Seville and Johannesburg. He is anchored in both the European and international art scene like few other figures."Okwui Enwezor says: "I am immensely delighted and honored to be joining Haus der
Kunst in the next phase of its growth in the global landscape of contemporary art. In the last decade Haus der Kunst has been a place of great vitality and a formidable voice in advancing the key argument that serious contemporary art is as varied as the artists whose practices have been presented in its exhibitions. Munich is a great city that represents many crossroads of the global community and I look forward to working with the team at the Haus der Kunst in building an exciting platform for exhibitions, debates, and ideas."

The Haus der Kunst team looks forward to working with Okwui Enwezor and to creating an internationally focused contemporary exhibition program in which "not nationalities, but rather ideas" (Enwezor) are in the forefront.

Leo Igwe's account of his arrest

2011-01-16T13:58:00.000-05:00

Please find here, Leo Igwe's account of his arrest and detention by the Police in Akwa-Ibom State. Thanks to Ophelia Benson for drawing my attention to this information: Click HERE

My Twitter feeds

2011-01-14T15:29:00.000-05:00

It is no secret that you can now access my Twitter from this blog! It is right here on this page! Enjoy. Respond. What the heck!

Travails of Child Rights Advocates in Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria

2011-01-13T23:39:00.000-05:00

Sahara Reporters has reported the arrest and brutalization of Leo Igwe, the representative of International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) in Africa and one of the leading advocates of children accused of witchcraft in Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria. After his release yesterday, there was no clear information from the authorities about the reason for his ordeal. According to the police it was a case of mistaken identity, while the State's Commissioner for Information claimed that his arrest was for "fraud-related issues." Which tells you that the government is hiding something.

As I have noted in previous blogs, Sam Ikpe Itauma, the indefatigable director of CRARN, who has suffered systematic harassment by security agents because of his work with the abandoned children has been forced to go into hiding. But the government has now devised a way of cornering him, and quite possibly subjecting him to the same treatment just given to Leo Igwe. Mr. Itauma has been named by the government prosecution as a witness against a pastor who, in the BBC documentary few years ago, claimed to have murdered scores of child witches. But it seems that the prosecution is not so much interested in the alleged crimes of the pastor as in "flushing" Mr. Itauma out of hiding. I want to hope that I am wrong on this.

It is unfortunate that all of this is happening after the State Governor declared that he would deal with men like Sam Ikpe-Itauma and Gary Foxcroft of Stepping Stones, Nigeria, in the wake of the CNN coverage of the Child "Witchcraft" phenomenon in his State. Obviously, the governor is still not done with dealing with people he believes have brought negative publicity to his government. As I noted once before, one would think that the governor and his advisers should have seen the media focus on the witchcraft issue as an opportunity to intervene on the children's behalf, with the help of every and anyone with the goodwill and resources to collaborate with him in this task. That is the way to win the hearts of the governed, and earn more positive reputation in the eye of the world.

I despair so much about this matter, because it just seems as though nothing, nothing whatsoever can be done to help these children and their helpers, in the face of the violence of naked power. If there's anyone out there who knows what else could be done about this problem in Akwa-Ibom State, please let me know.

For the Saharareporters story on Leo Igwe's arrest click here

Okey Ndibe's Lagos Ordeal

2011-01-11T22:05:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday, my good friend Okey Ndibe, a professor of English at Brown University, and Trinity College (CT), was detained at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos Nigeria by the immigration and security authorities. After several hours of interrogation, and having seized his Nigerian and US passports they let him go. He was told to report at the State Security office inside Lagos on Monday. When he visited the SSS office, he was subjected to further interrogation, after which they returned his passports and let him go. No one explained to him the reason for the ordeal.

Anyone old enough to have lived through the Nigerian military dictatorships of the 1980s and 1990s will be shocked that the Nigerian authorities in this so-called democratic dispensation seem to be reverting practices that characterized those years of state terror. There is no point guessing why Ndibe was detained in Lagos. For the past several years Ndibe acquired huge reputation as one of Nigeria's most articulate public intellectuals. In memorable, popular essays in Nigerian newspapers he examined and commented on the foibles of politicians in our home state Anambra, and the corrupt officials in Abuja who wage constant war on the citizens rather than focus on providing good governance.

Obviously, the corrupt power merchants would wish for Ndibe to keep silent in the face of the barefaced skulduggery and malfeasance that continues to define political practice in Nigeria. It is a shame that the authorities are resorting to this sort of intimidation against a writer and social critic motivated by nothing but hope for a better future for Nigeria. So what next? Do they now want to fully return to the days of blacklists, letterbombs and disappearances. Whoever ordered Okey Ndibe's detention and seizure of his passports must know that for those of us who believe in the idea democracy, subjecting a law-abiding citizen to this kind of intimidation is a betrayal of the civilian dispensation many Nigerians gave their blood and sweat to reestablish.

"Environment and Object - Recent African Art" exhibition at Skidmore College -- Announcement

2011-01-09T21:15:00.000-05:00

Garth Meyer, Untitled (Figure #12), 2010 [All images courtesy Tang Museum]

George Osodi, Blackened Explosion, 2004

This February, responses to urban, natural, and economic environments by contemporary African artists will be on view in a thought-provoking exhibition at the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College. From appropriated waste materials turned into site-specific installations and sculptures to eerily compelling photographs of ravaged and degraded environments, Environment and Object-Recent African Art, will include works of art that scrutinize man-made environmental disasters, natural resource problems, deforestation, and other ecological issues.


Sammy Baloji, Untitled 13, 2006


Other artists in the show take a less directly political approach regarding their environments, using found objects and abandoned junk to create both visually compelling and intellectually challenging art works. Opening February 5, 2011, the exhibition will present the work of Africans, living and working around the globe, including internationally recognized artists Yinka Shonibare, El Anatsui, Viyé Diba, Barthélémy Toguo, and Zwelethu Mthethwa, as well as emerging artists gaining a reputation outside of Africa, such as Bright Ugochukwu Eke, Lara Baladi, and Nnenna Okore.

Viyé Diba, Nous sommes nombreux et nos problemes avec [We Are Numerous and So Are Our Problems], 2008


“Many of the artists on view incorporate found objects into their work, whether to address ecological and economic conditions or simply to reflect the nature of the world they live in” said co-curator Lisa Aronson, Associate Professor of Art History at Skidmore. “El Anatsui and Nnenna Okore employ materials taken from urban and rural environments to create expressive and provocative wall hangings and sculptures. Other artists in the exhibition work in traditional media like paint and photography to create meditations on natural resource management or industrial pollution. Yet, all decisively reject romanticized perceptions of Africa, while offering a broader view of contemporary Africa and conditions which concern it.”




Georgia Papageorge, Genesis, Crucifixion, Aftermath (from Africa  Rifting), 2003

 
Bright Ugochukwu Eke, a Nigerian artist working frequently in the U.S., often explores humans’ negative impact on the environment. Eke will be an artist-in-residences at the Tang in January, where he will work with four Skidmore studio art majors to create a site-specific installation incorporating plastic water and soda bottles. Known for his elegant architectural works, Eke’s installations are often made through the accumulation of hundreds of identical, discarded objects, in order to focus attention on the “earth-human connection.” Viyé Diba of Senegal, who creates painting, sculpture, and mixed media installations incorporating objects and photographs, will also be an artist-in-residence at the Tang.

Jerry Buhari, Images of Zaria City (Exploring Images of a City), 2005




Yinka Shonibare, MBE, Black Gold I, 2006
In addition to artists employing found objects, a number of artists in the exhibition will comment on political and environmental situations on the continent through photographic works. Calling attention to policies that fail to protect the land or its inhabitants, former AP photographer George Osodi captures oil field explosions in Nigeria over the past decade, documenting the appalling destruction of landscapes, livelihoods, and ecosystems caused by the oil industry. Garth Meyer creates luscious silver gelatin prints that belie the savage deforestation in South Africa and across the continent. Barthélémy Toguo also responds to deforestation in his work Stupid African President 2. The work depicts a man balancing a chainsaw on his head, a cheap, portable, easy-to-operate tool which has allowed loggers access to jungle forest tracts previously inaccessible to vehicles or heavy machinery.

“Environment and Object extends the Tang’s legacy of interdisciplinary exhibitions that highlight the interconnectedness of our world,” said co-curator John Weber, Dayton Director of the Tang Museum. “The exhibition highlights situations that concern all of us, across many fields and in many places. The fact that the artists creating this work are from Africa is significant, too, and underlines both the global nature of their work and the conditions it engages. We look forward to welcoming visitors to Saratoga Springs and the campus community across a variety of disciplines, offering them a new and compelling view of art that grapples with real issues.”

Environment and Object opens on February 5 and runs through July 31, 2011. 
The exhibition is curated by Lisa Aronson, Associate Professor of Art History at Skidmore, who specializes in African art history, and John Weber, Dayton Director of the Tang. The exhibition will be accompanied by an extensive catalogue, published in the spring by the Tang and Skidmore, with new essays on a range of topics related to art and the environment that will serve as a valuable resource on the current generation of African contemporary artists. 

The catalogue will include essays by the curators Aronson and Weber, a new interview with art historian Chika Okeke-Agulu of Princeton University, and essays by political scientist Chris Whann of Empire State College, environmental studies professor Karen Kellogg of Skidmore, and socio-cultural anthropologist Mark Auslander of Brandeis University.

The Tang Museum’s website will feature extensive material about Environment and Object as the exhibition unfolds, including slide shows of the works on view, a special interactive feature providing historical background and quotes from the artists, video of public programs and interviews with artists and others, and panoramic views of the exhibition itself. Site visitors are encouraged to check back regularly over the course of the exhibition as new materials are added.

"Environment and Object- Recent African Art" is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Getty Foundation, the Tadahisa Kuroda Exhibition Fund, the Virginia Gooch Puzak ‘44 Faculty Curatorial Endowment, Chief Oskar Ibru ‘81 and Chief Mrs. Wanda Swann Ibru ‘79, and Friends of the Tang, with additional support from the Henry Luce Foundation and the Creative Thought Fund at Skidmore.

Spring Programs Related to Environment and Object:

Saturday, February 5
5:00PM—Dunkerley Dialogue: Artists Viyé Diba, Bright Eke, and Barthélémy Toguo, and art historian/curator Chika Okeke-Agulu of Princeton University, moderated by exhibition co-curators Lisa Aronson and John Weber; 6:00–7:30PM—Reception for Spring Exhibitions Free and open to the public, with refreshments

Tuesday, February 8 - 12:00PM—Curator’s Tour:With exhibition curators Lisa Aronson, Skidmore Art History, and John Weber, Tang Dayton Director

Tuesday, March 1 - 7:00PM—Dunkerley Dialogue: Artist Lara Baladi

Thursday, March 3 - 7:00PM—Film: Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, 2008 With co-director, Lisa Merton, in conjunction with Environment and Object Co-sponsored by the Environmental Studies Program, Skidmore

savvy | art.contemporary.african. -- Call for contributions

2010-12-28T17:01:00.001-05:00

Call for Contributions for the bilingual art journal:
savvy | art.contemporary.african.
savvy | kunst.zeitgenössisch.afrikanisch.

Edition 0 of savvy | art.contemporary.african. and the storm of readers' affirmation confirmed the need for a sincere and independent criticism, as well as the majuscular cleft this journal is meant to bridge. The inaugural edition brought together instigations and directions as to “where do we go from here”, which provokes an inquiry into the status quo and thus the title of the subsequent edition. Edition 1 of savvy | art.contemporary.african. is dedicated to the theme “(Re-) Mapping the field: a bird’s eye view on discourses”. This edition will give an overview on the current academic discourses, aims at renegotiating and reflecting on terminologies, spaces, concepts and contexts at stake in the field of contemporary African art.

While the discourse on contemporary African art has undergone great changes in the last decades, with respect to the ways of perception and the rules of presenting or the tradition of talking about contemporary African art, the impact of the critiques in this field on a broader public still has to be investigated. The young but manifold schools of thought and critiques, their circumstances and consequences in both the academia and non-academia and the influences in subsequent practices will be elaborated in this edition. I.e. edition 1 will step back and take stock on, as well as (re-) map the field.

It is not by chance that this journal strides with huge steps - online and free - to reach as many readers as possible in this internet age in order to achieve the aim of this journal, which is to revitalise an open and academic discourse on contemporary artistic positions, movements and projects related to Africa and its diaspora.

We invite authors to send contributions related to the theme “(Re-) Mapping the field: a bird’s eye view on discourses”.

The articles should have a maximum length of 3500 words and be written in English.
German authors are asked to send their articles in German and English.
The deadline for submission is January 16th 2011.
E-Mail: editorial@savvy-journal.com
Homepage: www.savvy-journal.com

Sotheby's reverses decision on Benin art auction

2010-12-27T13:43:00.000-05:00

On December 24, this announcement was posted on the website of the Sotheby's of London:

STATEMENT REGARDING CANCELLATION OF BENIN SALE
“The Benin Ivory Pendant Mask and other items consigned by the descendants of
Lionel Galway which Sotheby’s had announced for auction in February 2011 have
been withdrawn from sale at the request of the consignors.”

This is very good news, if not for the descendants of Colonel Lionel Galway, at least for the Benin Palace, the Edo people, Nigerians and everyone else interested in seeking a just and equitable resolution of the fate of Benin art looted by British soldiers in 1897 during their invasion of the kingdom and destruction of the palace. As I indicated in my previous post, while--I hope--legal proceedings begin, popular pressure and mass action must be brought to bear on this question, if only to cause public relations problems for anyone or institution involved in or condoning future peddling of these stolen works. This Galway family cache must not be allowed to be sold until its ownership is settled by a court of law. And this is where the Benin Palace and the Nigerian government must act quickly. They must expeditiously sue the Galway family, and hopefully obtain a court order restraining them from disposing of these sculptures. They must not be allowed to squirrel the works into some godless private or public collection. In any case, I hope the outcome of this current campaign against the Sotheby's auction, should serve as enough warning to anyone who might want to buy these stolen objects from the Galway family.

To everyone who has been part of the media campaign against the Sotheby's sale, thanks! Let us now await the necessary court case(s).

Sale of Stolen Benin ivory mask by Sotheby's

2010-12-23T21:24:00.002-05:00

On February 11, 2011 the Sotheby's, London will attempt to sell an extremely rare Benin ivory mask (representing the Queen Mother Idia) and five other important sculptures apparently consigned for auction by the descendants of Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry Lionel Gallwey--the same soldier of fortune who participated in the plunder and destruction of the Palace of the Oba of Benin in 1897. This sale must not be allowed to take place. And I hope the Nigerian government or the Oba's Palace will seek an order of injunction restraining the Gallway family and Sotheby's from going ahead with this auction, until the Gallways can prove in a court of law their rightful ownership of these Benin sculptures. Moreover, Aso Rock and the Benin Palace should communicate in unmistakable terms to both Downing Street and House of Windsor their total opposition to this sale. They should also publish a caveat emptor on these works, even as they pursue other options. All legal and political pressures and popular action must be brought to bear to stop this sale.

It is one thing for the likes of James Cuno at the Art Institute of Chicago to continue arguing against the possibility of repatriating art works plundered by European powers in the age of colonialism but that have found their way into the so-called repositories of human civilization; it is another for the family of this plunderer to bring out the stuff their ancestor stole a few generations ago from wherever they hid them, in the hope of making a fortune. Do they think that waiting 103 years after the theft would make the works legally theirs? Frankly, I see no logical difference between the fate of these works taken from the Oba of Benin's private collection, and the works seized from their Jewish owners by the Nazis. This Sotheby's auction should present a good test case for the long-awaited process of righting a terrible wrong done to the grandfather of the present Oba of Benin by the British imperial regime. See my post two years ago on the same question of the return of stolen Benin art works.

At the moment a signature campaign against the auction of the Queen Idia mask and five other sculptures from the Gallway family is on. Please join this effort by clicking here

For news about this sale by Artdaily, the online newspaper click here

The Children of Akwa-Ibom: Signature Campaign

2010-12-05T03:04:00.000-05:00

I write to ask for a big favor from you, on a subject that is very dear to my heart. I have written severally about the continuing suffering of children in Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria. Children who, having been accused of witchcraft by Christian Pentecostal pastors in collusion with their families, are routinely killed, doused with acid or boiling water, mutilated with razor blade or knives, branded with hot iron, impaled with nails, starved till near death, or just driven away from home. Many of these are children as young as a few months.

I have written also about the travails of the Mr. Sam Itauma the founder of CRARN, and Mr. Gary Foxcroft of Stepping Stones Nigeria, two men who have given everything to ensure the wellbeing of these surviving terrorized and traumatized children. Mr. Itauma and Foxcroft have been victims of government-orchestrated attacks, intimidation and prosecution for "fraud". The Children center along with its school--that is the only access these children have to life and succor, their only refuge--is now threatened with closure now that the State Government has hounded the founders into hiding.

The reason I am writing now, is that at the moment there is an international signature campaign with the goal of putting pressure on the authorities in Akwa-Ibom State to change course, and do more to save these children, or at least to allow CRARN and Stepping Stones Nigeria do the good work they have been doing for these children for the past seven years or so.
Please help with this initiative with your signature, but also spread the word; send this link below to anyone you know. For the sake of these children.
To sign the petition click here
OR copy this URL:
http://humanrights.change.org/petitions/view/stop_the_killing_of_children_in_akwa_ibom_state_in_nigeria

This is not WikiLeaks

2010-12-05T02:15:00.000-05:00

For the past couple of weeks, the world's pastime has been Wiki Leaks. What new embarrassing comment did another US official make about the head of state of Vanuatu, or the defense minister of Lichtenstein; and what did the Sultan of Bahrain tell Hilary Clinton about the Nigerian president...real gripping stuff that diplomatic etiquette suppresses from reaching the global public squares. That is Wiki Leaks brand of whistle-blowing.

But when it comes to Nigerian government officials, forget about secrecy, or confidential memos. Nigerians don't deal in diplomatese. Left to them alone, Mr. Assange would still be some anonymous journalist from the Land Down Under, or just out of work. Take for instance the incident that happened during the just ended Achebe Colloquium at Brown University. During one of the panel discussions involving Mr. John Campbell, former US ambassador to Nigeria, and the current Nigerian ambassador to the US, Mr Adefuye, the Nigerian diplomat did not wait until he got back to his office to gossip about his feelings for the irreverent American who was going on and on with statistics about looted Nigerian funds (the kind of stuff corrupt folks in my dear country don't want to hear, anyway). He just simply announced to everyone in the room and all others watching realtime on the internet that: “I will deal with him [Campbell]... With friends like him, Nigeria does not need any enemies. We shall confront him in the next section and by the time we finish with him, he will see that Nigeria is not on the brink.”
This is not Wiki Leaks. Read Saharareporters account of the event here.

"Decoding Basquiat" now available

2010-11-30T11:25:00.000-05:00

To list to "Decoding Basquiat" by the British poet, Benjamin Zephaniah, click here
* This link is valid for 7 days

A Plea?

2010-11-26T15:35:00.000-05:00

I have been reading quite a bit recently about El Anatsui's two major retrospectives in Toronto and Tokyo, and I cannot help but plead with all this commentators...actually, it is not a plea; it is a threat: if I hear or read one more time scholars, critics or roadside commentators describe Anatsui's work as "fabric", "textile" or "wall hanging" I will throw up my cyberguts on their virtual faces!
I used to consider these descriptions of the artist's sculptures naughty or simply stupid. But now I believe it amounts to denial of the status of these works as Sculptures, and of the artists achievement in this genre, and I am having none of that. It makes me think of the days when African sculptors were described as "carvers." So, people, help me keep down my Thanksgiving turkey.

For CBS's helpful coverage of the Toronto show, click here

Benjamin Zephaniah on Basquiat: BBC Radio 4

2010-11-26T13:28:00.000-05:00

[Program Announcement]

Zephania with Anina Nosei, (Basquiat's Untitled, 1981); courtesy BBC 4

"Decoding Basquiat" - BBC Radio 4 - 11.30am Tuesday 30th November

50 years after the birth of one of America’s most enigmatic visual artists, Benjamin Zephaniah visits New York to read between the lines of Jean Michel Basquiat’s graffiti-inspired paintings.

When he died at the age of 27 Basquiat had been painting for less than a decade, but had achieved a unique feat: rising from graffiti writer to international art star. Basquiat’s prodigious talents and “cool status” made him a hero of the converging disco, hiphop and no-wave music scenes. By 1983 Basquiat had given up graffiti and was one of the most sought-after art commodities on the planet, surrounded by a string of sometimes contradictory mythologies: bohemian, ladies’ man, genius, drug addict, poet, inarticulate.

Text was a constant in Basquiat’s work. From his street poetry, to his vast canvasses filled with lists from various sources: medical terminologies, Greek mythology and jazz LP liner notes. Benjamin will attempt to interpret his texts and symbols, to get beyond Basquiat’s artist as rockstar mythology. Can we draw conclusions about Basquiat's inner world from the words he used?

Contributors include gallerist Annina Nosei who gave Basquiat his first solo show, Art historian Richard Marshall, art writer Michael Holman, music journalist Greg Tate, composer Lisle Ellis, Chika Okeke-Agulu from Princeton University and Basquiat’s long term girlfriend Suzanne Malouk.

“SAMO as an end to mindwash religion, nowhere politics and bogus philosophy”

- Basquiat street tag, 1979

December 22nd 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Basquiat’s birth.

Panel on African Independence

2010-11-05T18:16:00.003-04:00

AFRICA 1960: BEYOND INDEPENDENCE

Scholars from the fields of art history, history, economics, political science and journalism discuss the legacy of African Independence in recognition of the 17 African nations that gained independence in 1960. Cosponsored by Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and George Washington University Department of History.

Keynote address by Chika Okeke-Agulu, Princeton University
"Postcolonial dilemmas: African Independence and the politics of cultural autonomy"

Participants
Howard French
Columbia University, School of Journalism

Todd Moss
Center for Global Development

Markus Goldstein
World Bank

Moderated by Nemata Blyden
George Washington University

Thursday, November 11
1—4 pm
George Washington University Campus
Marvin Center, Grand Ballroom, 3rd floor
800 21st Street NW (between H & I Streets)

New PhD in Africana Studies at Brown University

2010-11-03T17:48:00.003-04:00

Brown University has just launched a brand new Ph.D. Program in Africana Studies, which is an important landmark for this Ivy League university. Described as "an interdisciplinary program focusing on the artistic, historical, literary, and theoretical expressions of the various cultures of Africa and the African Diaspora," it should be a grade-A destination for ambitious, high-achieving graduate students. As is now customary for similar programs in the League, the Brown Graduate School offers incoming doctoral students five years of guaranteed financial support, including a stipend, tuition remission, health-services fee, and a health-insurance subsidy. This support--which may take the form of a teaching assistantship, research assistantship, fellowship,or proctorship--helps to defray the cost of tuition, and also provides a stipend to assist with living expenses during the student’s program

The program is now accepting Ph.D. applications for Fall 2011.

For more information: Click here

ACLS African Humanities Program Fellowship

2010-11-02T16:03:00.002-04:00

The deadline for applications for the 2010-2011 ACLS African Humanities Program fellowship competition is less than one month away!  Please take a moment to remind your colleagues, students, and other contacts of the deadline, and to encourage all who are eligible to apply. Your help is an important link in ACLS' attempt to reach all of our colleagues based on the continent, and to encourage those eligible for the fellowships to apply!

The deadline for electronic submission of applications is 1 December
2010

Eligibility:
-Fellowships support projects in the humanities, broadly defined.

-Applicant must be a national of a country in sub-Saharan Africa.

-Dissertation completion fellowships are available for the final year of dissertation writing. The applicant must be PhD candidate at a university in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, or Uganda. The applicant must be in residence at that university during the fellowship year.

-Early career postdoctoral fellowships are available to humanities scholars who completed the PhD in the last five years.  The applicant must be in residence at and affiliated with an institution of higher education in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, or Uganda.

Application materials and further information about the program are available at the AHP website:

Contemporary Art and the Nigerian Law Makers

2010-11-02T07:46:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, I received a copy of a document that is supposed to be a bill for a new Nigerian Gallery of Art law soon to be authorized by the House of Representatives in Abuja. When I first heard that a new bill was in the making, I thought, finally, someone has found the courage to do the right thing by providing a more sensible mandate, but also more crucially a framework for establishing a serious institution comparable to what exists elsewhere in the sane world. I thought, finally, perhaps there will be a law stating that the government will commit to building a national gallery of art in Abuja, rather than the disgraceful infrastructure lacking decent proper spaces or resources to exhibit and conserve any contemporary art worth its name. I thought, finally, the law makers would enable a process that will lead to construction of at least just one GALLERY OF ART for a nation that in spite of its wealth, has up till now not done what so many countries in Africa have accomplished--even the ones whose entire annual budgets are not up to the amount Nigeria spends on importing generators for federal agencies--which is to actually BUILD a decent national gallery however modest. I thought perhaps someone feels ashamed that in the 50th year of Nigeria, the so-called golden anniversary national art exhibition last month had to be mounted in the Abuja sports stadium, rather than in a proper gallery space.

Well, as it turns out, I must have been drinking something more intoxicating than "Sapele Water." For the document I saw yesterday is nothing but a plan by some conniving crooks to kill and to totally mess up what is already a lackluster contemporary art industry in Nigeria. Rather than consider laws that should strengthen the National Gallery in terms of making it a semi-autonomous progressive institution not stage-managed by civil service bureaucrats and politicians, this bill-in-the-making is a shameless attempt to hijack and micromanage key aspects of contemporary art transaction in Nigeria. It looks like some people have suddenly realized that there is money in art, and thus are scheming for a way to milk this cow, legally. I am under no illusion that some folks are trying to legalize what is clearly a parasitical impulse, especially with the relatively high sale numbers turned in by new private auction houses in Nigeria.

I do not know who is behind this bill (sponsored by Tunde Akogun) from within the art industry, but it must be said that THIS NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART BILL STINKS! and must be rejected by anyone who cares about the present and future of contemporary art in Nigeria. Let me be clear that if this bill passes, it will have a most devastating effect on artists, collectors, private galleries, and everyone involved in the field of contemporary art. Just imagine the nonsense about registration of all artists practicing in Nigeria, including those who do not live in Nigeria but wish to have their works exhibited or sold in Nigeria. Not even in efficiently managed dictatorial regimes did government mandate registration of all artists, including those who never wished to do business with government. Moreover, I am sure the National Gallery of Art could spend its time taking care of the works in its collection, rather than be turned into a money collecting and management agency. Just imagine the scale of transactions in contemporary art in Nigeria, and you would realize what it means for the NGA to supposedly micromanage every art sales and auctions, every building construction funded by government, and the registration status of art and artists. To me, this bill effectively kills the hope that some of us have that the National Gallery of Nigeria will one day become the type of institution imagined by the visionary members of the Federal Society of Art and Humanities in the 1960s.

Finally, if you don't believe me when I say that this bill has been drafted by people who are more interested in money that in art, consider this. Twice in the bill we are told that works of art without proof of paid royalty or clearance permit will be DUMPED in the National collection of the NGA. So, here you go. The bill effectively will legalize the transformation of the NGA such as it is currently into a dump.

Just in case you wonder what has got me this riled up, here below are a few of the clauses in the proposed bill:

Every contemporary visual work of art sold in this country or otherwise shall attract a 5% deduction from the total cost, paid in cash as royalty to the original artist estate whether he is alive or dead.

This royalty shall be made payable to the Embellishment Committee of the National Gallery who shall within one month remit same to the estate of the affected Artist after a 1 % administrative deduction from the gross sale.

Every contemporary visual work of art engaged in an exhibition, displayed for sale which does not comply with section 19 shall be confiscated and dumped in the National Collection for art until the royalty of 10% of the sale and another 5 % as fine is paid by the artist selling, auctioning or exhibiting.

Where the Director-General or the person authorized in writing by him is certified that the object is a contemporary works of art, he may issue permit hereinafter called "Clearance Permit'¹ in respect of that object or where he is satisfied that the object is contemporary works of art and that the object is not the property of another artist, he shall issue a "Clearance Permit" and a number identifying such work of an where there was none existing pursuant to section 19 of this Act.

Where a permit is not produced and surrendered within one month, the Gallery shall dump it in the national collection of art at the National gallery of Art.

Every contemporary visual work of art originating in Nigeria or not originating in Nigeria but is being sold or auctioned or exhibited for sale in Nigeria, shall be registered, stamped. and issued a number by the Gallery.

The number so issued shall be unique to the art work and shall be issued-to identify the art work throughout Nigeria and to locate the estate of the original artist.

Every Artist or Art collector practicing in the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall register and obtain a registration number from the National Gallery of Art—

In Memoriam: Agbo Folarin and Gregory Isaacs

2010-10-27T01:41:00.002-04:00

The light of our world shines dimmer with the deaths of two remarkable men, the Nigerian sculptor Agbo Folarin, and the Jamaican Reggae star Gregory Isaacs.

Agbo Folarin, who retired as a professor of art at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, was a leading artist of the renowned Ife School. His many sculptural commissions at Ife in no small way have defined, for many, the visual character the beautiful campus. A teacher of acclaimed artists and scholars, Folarin's place in the history of Nigerian art is assured. But thinking about a common problem of Nigerian artists, I worry what happens to the work he left behind and about his invaluable archives. I pray though there are few among his bereaved family who would take on the task of safeguarding the materials that will constitute the basis of future research on the life and work of the master sculptor.

Gregory Isaacs, the gentleman cool ruler who, despite long struggles with his personal demons, gave to reggae music its coolest riddims, its most romantic lyrics, its heart tingling rhymes. I cannot forget the days back in the Umuahia of my youth when my brother Ike and I struggled mightily to extract the bass riddims from Isaacs' (but also Black Uhuru, Marley, etc) sounds with the aid of earthen pots and primitive speakers, which was all we could afford. How so much I pined to weave my own version of the man's silk-threaded voice. Listening to him as I write this now, I cannot help but say: Lord a mercy!

Did the sun come out today?

Achebe's 2010 Gish Prize

2010-10-26T01:31:00.008-04:00

Chinua Achebe at home(Aug. 7, 2010). Photo copyright: Chika Okeke-Agulu

Tomorrow (October 27), Chinua Achebe the master of the written word will receive the 2010 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in New York. One of the world's most prestigious awards in the arts, the $300,000 Gish Prize winners include individuals who have defined and extended the horizons of the visual, performing, and literary arts since the later part of the 20th century. And it is no surprise that the same man who, at the expense of his own art, has been indefatigably committed to the development of modern African literature (just imagine this field without the "African Writers Series," published by Heinemann, or the journal Okike!) has now put an African name in the rarefied list of Gish Winners. It sure promises to be a blast of an event at the Hudson Theatre, Millennium Broadway, with many Achebephiles, friends and family in attendance. But first I have to find a "business attire" I am told I must wear to see the big masquerade in the public arena!

The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize Recipients:
2010 Chinua Achebe, author
2009 Pete Seeger, folk musician, singer and social activist
2008 Robert Redford, filmmaker, activist, Sundance Institute founder
2007 Laurie Anderson, multimedia performance artist
2006 Shirin Neshat, visual artist and filmmaker
2005 Peter Sellars, theatre and opera director
2004 Ornette Coleman, jazz innovator
2003 Bill T. Jones, dancer/choreographer
2002 Lloyd Richards, theatre director
2001 Jennifer Tipton, lighting designer
2000 Merce Cunningham, dancer/choreographer
1999 Arthur Miller, author/playwright
1998 Isabel Allende, author
1997 Bob Dylan, singer/songwriter
1996 Robert Wilson, artist/director
1995 Ingmar Bergman, film director
1994 Frank Gehry, architect

For further information on the 2010 Gish Prize, Click HERE

From my photo files

2010-10-21T23:26:00.001-04:00

Okwui Enwezor and El Anatsui at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu

On Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi

2010-10-21T18:46:00.007-04:00

Photos: Courtesy of Delhi Art Gallery

Late this summer I was in New Delhi visiting a bit of its art world, and was struck by the work some of its elite modern and contemporary art galleries in the realm of documentation and research. I had gone to the Delhi Art Gallery to look at its collection of Indian mid-20th-century modernists, particularly Francis Newton Souza who my friend Ulli Beier once held as a model for young Nigerian artists. Of course I saw the art I was after, but it was the range of publications commissioned and produced by the DAG that I found astounding. For years this gallery and others like it, such as the Vahdehra Art Gallery, have been at the forefront of producing scholarly publications on especially modern Indian artists. And they have, I think, helped in increasing international scholarly (and yes, commercial) attention these artists are attracting now.

When I think of how these commercial art galleries participate in serious knowledge production only very few galleries, even blue chips of New York's Chelsea district, come to mind. Here you have substantial monographic studies of individual artists-- from Souza, and Raza to Sunil Das, Rabin Mondal, etc--and their wonderful survey volumes, Manifestations. I just involuntarily pined for the day galleries in Lagos will grow up to doing this kind of crucial groundwork. To really invest in artists whose work they claim promote. So, there I was so thrilled at the work being done by commercial galleries in New Delhi; like a child confronted by a candy-bearer, I packed so much books published by just the DAG and Kadehra, that I had to pay excess luggage on my way back to base. Contrast this with my visit to the "high-end" Mydrim Gallery in Lagos earlier in the summer: I came out empty-handed. Oh, the wish, the wish.