Travel Network Grant [Basel, etc.]
We’re pleased to be supporting the Travel Network Grant initiative by artlink, which invites six female curators from our region to join a curated research trip to various Swiss cities from 12 – 21 June 2023.
The trip is designed to introduce the visiting curators to a variety of individuals, organisations and institutions in the contemporary Swiss arts scene. The aim is to promote exchange and expand international and intercontinental networks for the professional development of the curators, and to provide the opportunity to discuss future collaborations across disciplines, countries and continents.
The group will visit Basel, Lausanne, Geneva, Bern and Zürich. The Basel programme will be concentrated around Art Basel events, while in other cities the curators will visit a range of studios, galleries, off-spaces, and museums as well as have occasion to meet with Swiss artists and curators.
The six participating curators were selected by a jury through an invitation-based application process.
ABOUT THE CURATORS
Essé Dabla-Attikpo [Togo and Benin] is an Accra-based independent curator, art consultant and cultural producer. Her main interests are African contemporary art and urban cultures. She has been actively producing cultural events in France and West Africa for over ten years. Essé is the founder of This No Be Art, an art consultancy which creates unique experiences around African contemporary art. She holds a Master’s Degree in project Management and Intercultural Studies from La Sorbonne, Paris, France.
I believe that to stay relevant in my field, but also to be able to better advise the artists I work with it is of prime importance to have a good understanding of the market and the art industry. Being part of such an opportunity is a great way to do so but also to acquire knowledge, meet colleagues and peers and develop my network.
Khanya Mashabela [South Africa] is an art administrator, art historian, critic, lecturer, and poet with a BA (Honours) in Art History from the Michaelis School of Fine Art. Born in Johannesburg but currently based in Cape Town, Khanya is a curator at A4 Art Foundation, a not-for-profit laboratory for the arts of southern Africa.
I am interested in seeing the frameworks which underpin both private and public institutions in Switzerland, the relationships between the two sectors, and how different institutions address the needs of their communities.
Mirembe [Uganda] is a curator, editor, writer and researcher. Their curatorial practice engages the multiplicities and complexities of Black subjectivity for artists and writers in Africa and its diaspora. They hold a BA (Honours) in History from the University of the Western Cape. Currently, Mirembe is working as a project manager for the Njabala Foundation and conducting research for an archive of African women artists from the 1960s.
With this research trip, I am particularly interested in topics on institution building as a way to make meaningful connections for Njabala Foundation, and how to support the art historical research we are undertaking on women artists, as well as a personal interest in engaging critically with work by Black artists.
Oyindamola Fakeye [Nigeria] is artistic director of the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) Lagos and curator of the Àsìkò Art School, an experimental art-school project for artists and curators living and working in Africa. Oyindamola co-founded the Video Art Network Lagos in 2009 alongside artist Jude Anogwih and Emeka Ogboh. She is currently the company director for Res Artis, an international professional body for artists residencies, and sits on the board of Arts in Medicine Projects.
I benefitted very early on in my career through actively pursuing a large network I could speak to, collaborate with and gain opportunities through. I’m therefore looking forward to connecting with peers from across the continent who are likely creating and delivering art programming with similar challenges as myself. I hope that a trip like [this] will allow me to foster new allies with who I can work synergistically on programming in Nigeria, Africa and globally.
Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo [Kenya] is a writer, artist and independent curator living and working in Nairobi. She is currently the co-founder of Magic Door, an experimental imprint in Nairobi, and served as the Head of Programs at the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute. In East Africa, she has worked with key cultural organizations, including the Goethe Institut, Kuona Trust Arts Center, Circle Art Agency and 32° East | Ugandan Arts Trust. Rosie has a BA in Economics and Art from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA, and has participated in artist and curation programmes with Asiko Art School and VANSA.
This opportunity to experience Switzerland at the height of its art calendar and connect with other arts and culture practitioners from the African continent and Switzerland creates possibilities for new knowledge exchange and trans-disciplinary collaborations. My curatorial approach is hinged on a commitment to generative collaborative processes, centering local context and deep research.
Sarah Abdu Bushra [Ethiopia] is a curator of visual and performing arts exhibitions. Her research interest lies in art coming from three East African countries – Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda; and documenting the underlying ties among these localities towards establishing a robust network that grows into an interconnected arts ecosystem. She works to sharpen the East African gaze by centring its archives as well as contemporary practices of art-making, contributing to the plurality of existing narratives concerning exhibition making and curatorial praxis. She is a co-founder of Contemporary Nights, an Addis-based artist-cum-curatorial collective, a 2020 curatorial fellow at ARAK collection, and a recipient of 2021 visas pour la creation residency in collaboration with Versant Sud, Marseille.
I want to continue this work of connecting and expanding our understanding between these two localities, East Africa and Europe, to generate tangible channels to facilitate the flow of ideas, practices, and reflections, and to rethink ways of mapping and linking the Global South with its Northern counterpart.
