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10:00 AM-6:00 PM, EAT
In Search of South A: Land, Language and the Stranger
Monday - Saturday: Exhibition | A showcase of an experiment, installations, and an experience - a field that has emerged out of various readings, gatherings, and workshops
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Goethe-Institut, Auditorium
- Price Free
What if land in Kenya is more than something we own? How does it shape social realities beyond its function as property?
The Goethe-Institut Kenya and its partners from Down River Road: Brian Muraya, Muthoni Mwangi, Kamwangi Njue and Cynthia Nyakiro along with friends (Adam Yawe, Antony Muisyo and Kabi Kimari) have taken up the challenge to view the question of land through research which culminates in artistic presentations.
“Theatre of Undelivered Translations” installation by Brian Muraya
These two names are the story we wish to share: 'Land, Language and the Stranger' | 'In Search of South A'. This sharing marks the space of our exhibition, taking place from the 3rd - 18th of September. The artists named above, showcase an experiment, installations, and an experience - a field that has emerged out of various readings, gatherings, and workshops.
“Xenogarden” sound scultpures and installation by Kamwangi Njue and Cynthia Nyakiro
'Land, Language and the Stranger' is the first name, the name that led the unfolding and unfurling of a question unto the land. We invited Down River Road into a collaboration with partners from Burkina Faso and Cameroon [organised under their respective Goethe-Instituts] into a question: "Who Owns the Land?" This question, after much debate and debauchery unto it, was rejected. Instead, an emphasis on tending to the land was opened up. It is through here that we shared our differences, opened up zones of experimentation and worked this out collectively in study, extending it into the practice of what we intend to show and share.
“Sculpture of Time Another” by Kabi Kimari
'In Search of South A', a question less about a place and more about the responsibilities involved in its possibility and translation, became an avenue and a fold in which we could offer and open up more interpretations of the study, the practices and the experiments that emerged out of 'Land, Language and the Stranger'. It is therefore a fold; a fold that doesn't define the work but opens it up more, as much as it too is opened up by the work.
“Calo-Radio” installation by Antony Musyi and Adam Yawe
The exhibition space will be open Monday to Saturday, from 10 am - 6 pm.
There will be additional works-in-progress shown, as well as some collaborative works made over the term of the project.
The impetus for the project ‘In Search of South A’ came from Moritz Kasper, Bethuel Muthee, Adam Yawe, Alina Oswald, Elizabeth Wamuchiru, Lutivini Majanja, Makau Kitata, Raphael Kariuki, and Sophie Schramm.
South A Canvases: Collective pieces done by various artists
This project is part of a larger project called 'Sediment', that asks the overall question: “Who Owns the Land?”. This overarching project also includes works from partners in Cameroon and Burkina Faso in collaboration with the Humboldt Forum Berlin.
Artists' Bios
Brian Muraya* is a reader faithful to what tolerates only infidelity.
Cynthia Nyakiro is an artist born and based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her practice spans a range of media such as mixed media collages, handmade paper, sculpture, video and photography. Influenced primarily by the natural world, she explores materiality, human and beyond-human experiences through an experimental and process-driven approach.
Kamwangi Njue is an artist-researcher and author of Through The Tinnitus, an audio-image work that explores spatial and sonic phenomena through psychoacoustics. He works with text and sound.
Kabi Kimari is an antidisciplinary artist/ portal maker — experimenting with different mediums. The theme is spirit based; trying to make sense of self and the world through spiritual practices. Right now she's working through/ from themes of home. The work happens before she knows what’s going to unfold, it lets her know who it is and how it wants to be portrayed, in whatever medium it wants, almost like the characters already exist, and she's creating a portal for them.
Mũthoni Mwangi is an independent artist researcher working within African Philosophies and Digital Heritage to deconstruct and decolonize systems of knowledge. They are a poet, zine maker and amateur textile artist. They have shown their work previously at the KLA Art festival 2024 in Kampala, Uganda and Kilele 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Goethe-Institut Kenya and its partners from Down River Road: Brian Muraya, Muthoni Mwangi, Kamwangi Njue and Cynthia Nyakiro along with friends (Adam Yawe, Antony Muisyo and Kabi Kimari) have taken up the challenge to view the question of land through research which culminates in artistic presentations.
These two names are the story we wish to share: 'Land, Language and the Stranger' | 'In Search of South A'. This sharing marks the space of our exhibition, taking place from the 3rd - 18th of September. The artists named above, showcase an experiment, installations, and an experience - a field that has emerged out of various readings, gatherings, and workshops.
'Land, Language and the Stranger' is the first name, the name that led the unfolding and unfurling of a question unto the land. We invited Down River Road into a collaboration with partners from Burkina Faso and Cameroon [organised under their respective Goethe-Instituts] into a question: "Who Owns the Land?" This question, after much debate and debauchery unto it, was rejected. Instead, an emphasis on tending to the land was opened up. It is through here that we shared our differences, opened up zones of experimentation and worked this out collectively in study, extending it into the practice of what we intend to show and share.
'In Search of South A', a question less about a place and more about the responsibilities involved in its possibility and translation, became an avenue and a fold in which we could offer and open up more interpretations of the study, the practices and the experiments that emerged out of 'Land, Language and the Stranger'. It is therefore a fold; a fold that doesn't define the work but opens it up more, as much as it too is opened up by the work.
The exhibition space will be open Monday to Saturday, from 10 am - 6 pm.
There will be additional works-in-progress shown, as well as some collaborative works made over the term of the project.
The impetus for the project ‘In Search of South A’ came from Moritz Kasper, Bethuel Muthee, Adam Yawe, Alina Oswald, Elizabeth Wamuchiru, Lutivini Majanja, Makau Kitata, Raphael Kariuki, and Sophie Schramm.
This project is part of a larger project called 'Sediment', that asks the overall question: “Who Owns the Land?”. This overarching project also includes works from partners in Cameroon and Burkina Faso in collaboration with the Humboldt Forum Berlin.
Artists' Bios
Brian Muraya* is a reader faithful to what tolerates only infidelity.
Cynthia Nyakiro is an artist born and based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her practice spans a range of media such as mixed media collages, handmade paper, sculpture, video and photography. Influenced primarily by the natural world, she explores materiality, human and beyond-human experiences through an experimental and process-driven approach.
Kamwangi Njue is an artist-researcher and author of Through The Tinnitus, an audio-image work that explores spatial and sonic phenomena through psychoacoustics. He works with text and sound.
Kabi Kimari is an antidisciplinary artist/ portal maker — experimenting with different mediums. The theme is spirit based; trying to make sense of self and the world through spiritual practices. Right now she's working through/ from themes of home. The work happens before she knows what’s going to unfold, it lets her know who it is and how it wants to be portrayed, in whatever medium it wants, almost like the characters already exist, and she's creating a portal for them.
Mũthoni Mwangi is an independent artist researcher working within African Philosophies and Digital Heritage to deconstruct and decolonize systems of knowledge. They are a poet, zine maker and amateur textile artist. They have shown their work previously at the KLA Art festival 2024 in Kampala, Uganda and Kilele 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya.