Press Release - Selected Artists 2016

Kampala, June 29th 2016

KAMPALA ART BIENNALE
September 3 – October 2, 2016
Press preview: September 2

https://kampalabiennale.org / Facebook / Twitter / #KAB16

Issac Kariuki, SIM Card Project, 2015, Ongoing.

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Kampala Art Biennale is pleased to announce the 2nd edition titled Seven Hills and conceived by Elise Atangana. The Biennale will be held from September 3rd to October 2nd, with a preview on September 2nd, 2016.

Seven Hills refers to Kampala’s historical city when the Kingdom of Buganda was built on 7 hills, in a similar way as other famous cities like Rome, Lisbon and Athens. The holy number 7 represents “the whole” in movement. Seven is universally known as a dynamic totality. Pythagoras called it, the “life vehicle”.

Nowadays, Kampala is spread out over 21 hills. One could question which stories, myths and founding legends are still harboured by the Seven Hills of Kampala? What is their current meaning? Are they still symbolic? Which representations are shared today by the inhabitants’ daily lives?

How do evolutions of the landscape – either urban, natural and the potential conflict between human beings and their environment – influence daily habits?

What gestures, attitudes and practices inhabit the public space, both as a physical and now virtual (co)presence? How do they circulate, how do they stay still? How is this controlled?

Emerging and international artists will take on the role of investigators by intervening in situ, within the urban fabric of Kampala on the various phenomena of urban mobility observed locally.

The most of important is to be part of a conversation about the main transformations that are present within the mobility paradigm, but on a smaller scale, a specific context. This will to avoid any generalisation of a phenomenon that concerns everyone, individually and collectively. A plural perspective can open up a dialogue at different level and bring a critical debate that can resonate at the same time locally and globally.

Seven Hills is an organic project that focuses on concepts of Mobility Studies which includes the movement of people, objects, services or digital/virtual travel and how it affects us in our day lives. The researches explore the links between physical and virtual mobilities (movement, representation, practice), and consider their relation
with contemporary art practice.

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCY

Charity Atukunda, Uganda,
Julien Creuzet, France/Martinique,
Isaac Kariuki, Kenya,
Wolf von Kries, Germany,
Immaculate Mali, Uganda,
Sajan Mani, India
Elsadig Mohammed, Sudan,
Kibuuka Mukisa Oscar, Uganda,
Bogosi Sekhukhuni, South Africa,
Xenson Znja, Uganda.

VIRTUAL MOBILITIES OPEN CALL

Gosette Diakota Lubondo, DRC,
Matt Kayem, Uganda,
Abe Gillian Stacey, Uganda,
Alden Paul Mvoutoukoulou, DRC,
Canon Rumanzi, Uganda,
Ronex, Uganda,
Sheila Nakitende, Uganda.

VIRTUAL MOBILITIES FOCUS ON VIDEOS

Thomas Aquillina & Alex Lyons, Uganda/UK
Megan-Leigh Heilig, SouthAfrica
Louis Henderson, UK
Kitso Lynn Lelliott, Botswana
Charlotte Mano, France
Phumulani Ntuli, South Africa
Stéphanie Roland, Belgium.

Pré-programme and events

Kampala Biennale Theme workshops and discussions

Artistic process of production in the context of technological mutations around people’s voices, personal and collective experiences in real life or in our imagination.
Artists will discuss the Kampala Art Biennale, the virtual mobilities in question, the various contexts and impact of Mobilities Turn.

Events

African Modernisms Symposium organized by Iwalewa Haus Bayreuth University
(Re)Thinking Feminism and Black Womanhood organized by The Goethe Institute

Art Education Programme – Seven Hills Art Challenge

An art competition using recycled materials and waste that will run in 25 selected KCCA schools in Kampala, focusing on strengthening the youth with skills to think creatively, innovate and become critical thinkers and learners ready to solve everyday challenges through art.

More Information

Kampala Art Biennale is a showcase of contemporary art from Africa with the goal to display, educate and create debate about the value of art in society.
Kampala Art Biennale was established by Kampala Arts Trust, a collective of visual and performance art practitioners living and working in public and private spaces within the precinct of Kampala City. It was born out of the need for inclusion faced by artists working on the African continent trying to reach the global art scene.
www.kampalabiennale.org

Elise Atangana is an independent curator and producer. She defines her experience in the art field as collective and laboratory adventures. Her research focuses on the links between physical and virtual mobilities/immobilities (movement, representation,practice), and consider their relation with contemporary art practice. Recently, she curated “Entry Prohibited to Foreigner”, Havremagasinet art center (Boden), Sweden 2015, with Abdelkader Damani and Smooth Ugochukwu, «Producing The Commun» at 11th Dakar Biennale, 2014.

Partners

Kampala City Council Authority, Uganda Tourism Board, French Institut, Ifa, l’agence à Paris, Nile Breweries, Turkish Airlines, Afriart Gallery Kampala, Belgium Embassy in Uganda, Irish Embassy in Uganda, Goethe Zentrum Kampala, Uganda Museum, Uganda National Cultural Centre, Makerere Art Gallery, 32 Degrees East.