Welcome to the Goethe-Institut in Kenya

Amnesia is an exhibition project which aesthetically aims at advanced African contemporary art and thematically at the critical scrutiny of colonialism and the question of African cultural identities. It was started by and is also artistically directed by the Kenyan multi-media artist Jimmy Ogonga and Nairobi Arts Trust / Centre for the Contemporary Art of East Africa. The project includes several curators and artists from Africa and the diaspora. Among them is Simon Njami, one of the most prolific curators in the world of art internationally. The project partners are Goethe-Institut Nairobi, Ford Foundation and the National Museum Nairobi. The project is conceived as a process. It comprises the curatorial phase and the emergence of the project. During the first phase in October 2007, Jimmy Ogonga and Simon Njami undertook preliminary considerations and together with the project partners got an overall view of the local art scene. They then introduced the concept in two presentations. Further presentations followed during the second phase in February 2008 and this time besides Simon Njami, multimedia artist Ingrid Mwangi and photographer Aida Muluneh gave presentations. With the third phase, Amnesia is moving towards a new step, also made of workshops and exhibitions. An exhibition at the National Museum shows the outcome of a workshop facilitated by Andrew Tshabangu. The forth phase in the Amnesia project in June will focus on dance.

CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND

The Amnesia project is based on several observations focusing on East Africa and at the same time not losing sight of the Pan-African viewpoint. Failure to address the consequences of colonialism is one of the hidden problem areas of the Kenyan society. Jimmy Ogonga is formulating the same as a post-colonial loss of memory resulting in assimilation, conformism and insecurity of a cultural identity. The social crisis Kenya has witnessed after the elections in December 2007 has shown once again how important the question of consequences of colonialism, of memory and of cultural identities is. As Jimmy Ogonga put it: „Amnesia is a provocative conceptual framework for an art project with the intention of examining the cultural and creative consequences of collective cultural memory loss. It propagates the examination of the cultural & creative consequences of multi-generational breakage & colonialism, such as displacement, loss, confusion, anger, pain, fear, mis-education & identity crises. The project is celebrating the cultural clash that begat multiculturalism and from it attempts to sow the seed of a common history which the present & future generations can excel in as brothers and sisters, irrespective of race, faith, gender or heritage.“

CURATORS/GUESTS

Jimmy Ogonga
Jimmy Ogonga is a multi-media artist and sculptor from Nairobi, and founder of the Nairobi Arts Trust and has participated in numerous international exhibitions. His last exhibition, Catastrophe, was at both the Goethe-Institut, Nairobi, and at the Go-Down Arts Centre.
http://www.jimmyogonga.com
http://kenya.africancolours.net/content/16200

Simon Njami
Simon Njami co-authored the Revue Noir and was one of the organizers of the African section of the Biennale in Sao Paolo in 2004, the Bamako Photography Festival, African Remix and together with Fernando Alvim, the African pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
http://www.africaremixjoburg.com
http://www.joburgartfair.co.za/curated/simon.html

IngridMwangiRobertHutter
Ingrid Mwangi Robert Hutter live and work as a multi-media group in Ludwigshafen and Nairobi. Numerous individual exhibitions among them: Next Flag I, Ingrid Mwangi and Rober Hutter, Godfried Donkor at Casino Luxembourg (2003); Video Works – Ingrid Mwangi and Robert Hutter at the Nairobi Arts Trust/Centre of Contemporary Art of East Africa and GoDown Arts Centre, Nairobi (2003); international Triennale of Contemporary Art, Yokohama (2005) ; Africa Remix (2004 – 07); Intimate Distance, Arts Centre Lophem, Belgium (2003) Your Own Soul, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken/Städtische Galerie Erlangen (2003) and My Heart of Darkness, sculpture museum, Glaskasten Marl (2001).
http://www.ingridmwangi.de

Aida Muluneh
The Ethiopian Aida Muluneh is one of the most important African photographers. She studied at Havard University in Washington D.C./USA. She is a film-maker and freelance journalist in New York. She recently received an award at the 7th edition of Photography Encounters in Bamako.
http://www.ducktape.ca/gallery/aida/index.html
http://www.contempafricanart.com/artist.asp?artistid=AidaMuluneh

Andrew Tshabangu
Born in 1966 in Soweto (South Africa), Andrew Tshabangu has studied at a number of institutions, amongst them at the Institute of Advancement for Journalism in 1998 and at the Alexandra Community art centre in Johannesburg. Since 1995 he taught photography at several Photography workshops and courses. He has exhibited in numerous single and group exhibitions, amongst them several exhibitions in Europe, for example in „contemporary art from South Africa“ Berlin, and at the Festival Internazionale di Roma 2004. He lives and works in Johannesburg (South Africa).
http://www.africultures.com/anglais/articles_anglais/40photo.htm
http://www.galerie-seippel.de/cologne/tshabangu.php

Bili Bidjocka
Bili Bidjocka, geboren 1962 in Douala, Kamerun, lebt seit 1974 in Paris. Seine Kunstwerke entstehen oft auf Reisen, wobei er die Fundstücke, die er dabei macht, und die Exzesse urbanen Lebens in Kunst transformiert. Er arbeitet mit Metaphern für Verlust, Abwesenheit, Verfall und Erneuerung in seinen Installationen. Sein Werk behandelt Themen wie Nationalität, Bestimmtheit/Unbestimmtheit und Identität. Bili hatte zahlreiche internationale Einzel- und Gruppenausstellungen, u.a. wurden seine Werke in Africa Remix, Trienal de Luanda und im Afrika Pavillion der 52. Venedig Biennale gezeigt.
http://universes-in-universe.de/specials/africa-remix/bidjocka/english.htm
http://www.sindikadokolofoundation.org/collection/artist.cfm?id=172188

Amnesia: Calender of Events