Mentorship Program for East African Curators

There is a need to understand curatorial practice as a technology, which is to say the need to see the space and practice of curating as a possibility of researching, or creating a set of knowledge and applying them within a specific context with the support of aesthetic tools. In the process of creation of concepts and contexts together with artists, educators, historians, cultural theorists and others scientists, there is a need for methodological rigour in the ‘systematic treatment’ (tekhnologia) or the translation or manifestation of ‘art, craft’ (tekhnē) into space, in relation with one another and with the audience.

In this talk, we will deliberate on Congossa (Kongossa) — the art of spreading public rumours, knowledge by word of mouth or gossip — as a key methodology in the implementation of curatorial practice as a technology. Thinking of Congossa both as practice and metaphor of research and mediation, we will look at a few curatorial projects as case studies.

During her session, she will discuss institutional building, drawing from her experiences with Raw Material Company and Zeitz MOCAA, as well as exhibition making, referencing "When We See Us."

In his ground breaking 1958 novel Things Fall Apart, Nigerian author Chinua Achebe staged the decline of a man obstinately struggling against the mutation of his society. Ironically, this 19th century story line seems to ridicule the world of today. For the current abolition of frontiers made virtually possible thanks to the internet—much like the (re)-discovery of lands in past centuries—has, instead of opening up an infinite realm of inspiring encounters, created a vast intersection of fratricidal conflicts. This disturbing context based on power control, ostracism and fear can lead us to conclude that the Other is not our brother or sister, has never been and never will be. It is an enemy to neutralize or destroy so as to maintain our own system of values alive and intact. And it matters little if this murder necessitates our own loss.

When things fall apart: Critical voices on the radars is a metaphor of Achebe's novel. But rather than staging the dichotomy of a hostile geopolitical, economic, socio-cultural and religious relationship based on "us" versus "them," the exhibition analyzes our common chronic pathologies. Built as a series of wake up calls, it tells us that the little we have retained of history could be the reason why societies, throughout the entire world, create their own Nemesis by living in an almost constant state of intolerance, withdrawal into oneself and fear. Using humor, poetry, radical protest or interactive role-play, 12 voices direct a critical gaze at a world that is drifting to emphasize the vital necessity to learn to live together, for the survival of communities is at stake, for the survival of humanity is at stake. Because human beings, architects of their past and their present, behave as tragic gravediggers of their own destiny.

When things fall apart: Critical voices on the radars is a platform for artists who are taking a radical stand for a salutary change of mind-set and attitude. It probes how their positions and voices are acting as a warning that mirrors societies in turbulent times. If some of them are demanding Equal Justice and Social Change by addressing gender, race, sexuality, politics, democracy and human development issues; others are embracing a globally resonant humanitarian cause with an Empathy that will uplift humanity, redefine otherness, rehabilitate solidarity, and lead us to believe that the best is yet to come.