Siegenthaler, Fiona

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14.12.2016Kampala Art Biennale – Photo essay by Fiona Siegenthalerstartjournal.org/2016/12/kampala-art-biennale-photo-essay-by-ﬁona-siegenthaler/The documentation and representation of an event is never objective but individual and biased. This is mostapparent when you have the privilege of both, being a team member and an observer of a key art event like theKampala Art Biennale. This is exactly the position I have: As a coordinator of the talks, I worked together with thesmall but highly engaged team on our aim to make the Kampala Art Biennale the best possible event and oﬀer thevisitors a professional, informed and attractive exhibition at the six diﬀerent venues, including the talks and arteducation program. However, as a social anthropologist specializing in the relationship of art and social space, I amalso interested in the less representative aspects of a Biennale, such as the team spirit that comes up when goalsand ambitions seem higher than what time and means allow; or the strange behavior of art works and objects inboth, the process of their becoming and after their completion; or the inventiveness and ﬂexibility of artists working ina place that is rich in both, unexpected events and informed, helpful, and skilled colleagues.For this photo essay, I try to take advantage of the privileged but also ambiguous position as a Kampala ArtBiennale team member and an external observer; between the opportunity to be an ‘insider’ while trying to maintainalso the ‘outsider’ perspective. I therefore have tried to create a photo essay that reﬂects oﬃcial andrepresentational impressions of the Biennale alongside with unoﬃcial, haphazard, ‘backstage’ situations. Theseimpressions are inevitably selective – and from time to time a bit tongue-in-cheek.Photo 1One of the ﬁrst team meetings after the arrival of Biennale curator Elise Atangana from Paris. With six exhibition1/15venues, three public talks (two of them at Alliance Française) and an education program involving 25 KCCA schoolsin Kampala, we were all very busy, and I think we never managed to take a picture of the entire crew… Left to right:Martha Kazungu, Daudi Karungi, Elise Atangana, Eric Mukalazi, Adrian Migadde. Missing in the picture: ElizabethMbabazi, Lucie Touya, Jantien Zuurbier, Igor Devernay, the volunteers (Ekwang Olwol Peter, Drazu Rita Masendi,Kalende Rebecca, Bagabo Deborah, Wasswa Lawrence, Nansubuga Shakirah, Opondo Leonard, Nakamya Lydiah,Nanteza Moreen, Bogere Gilbert, Kiiza Ezra, Rebecca Nampewo, Iteka Christa Aniella, Patrick Bongelembe,Namiyonga Priscilla Charity), and myself.Photo 2 2/15Photo 3Oﬃcial opening ceremony of the 2nd Kampala Art Biennale on Friday morning 2nd  September 2016 at UgandaMuseum.The Biennale homepage (kampalabiennale.org) and program booklet oﬀer extensive information about theparticipating artists and their works. However, here a small pic of works that impressed me…3/15Photo 4Xenson Znja’s Ndiboota Exporters in the gardens of the Uganda Museum. A wheelbarrow absurdly resting on adead tree with a barkcloth-wrapped cargo earmarked for export. Where to? How? For what purpose? To whoseadvantage and to whose disadvantage? Like many of my favorite works at the Biennale, it is a multi-layered workthat explores the ambiguities and contradictions of (seemingly) mobile humans and goods, and the opportunitiesand pitfalls coming with economic, political and social power relations.4/15Photo 5Alden Paul Mvoutoukoulou’s En-vi-ron-ne-ment connecté at the Uganda Museum. A visually intriguing, beautifuland poetic work at ﬁrst sight. Zooming in and discovering the medical material he uses for his virtual cities, theviewer is however faced with pervasive questions about what is a healthy, what a sick city? What auxiliaries – formobility, for social networking, and for a globalized urban life as such – are reasonable? And at which point do weexceed our human limits?5/15Photo 6A fraction of Elsadig Mohammed’s Visions and Dreams at Afriart Gallery. An extremely powerful installation thatinvolves the entire body of the viewer. A year ago, I had read a text by the artist that describes the vibrant world oftextures that inspires his imagination, and as I entered the space, I immediately found myself in the text again.Added by objects like a toilet bowl or an ashtray, the narration continues like a riddle.6/15Photo 7Immy Mali’s performance Safe Here at the opening of the Railway Station attracted a large audience that wascaptivated by her lengthy struggle to climb and drive a bicycle – a childhood memory of restricted mobility painfullymade felt to the visitors. They trudge through the many failed attempts of the artist and are somewhat relieved as the30 minutes of performance are over. A very diﬀerent sensation to that of most kids in Kampala who feel that their 30-minute break at school always ends far too soon.7/15Photo 8Similarly, Sajan Mani’s 50-hours performance liquidity Ar reﬂected the state of limbo experienced by people who aremarginalized and displaced from where they are, but who also cannot really reach other shores. This exhaustingstate of longing while never really belonging is reﬂected by both the location and the duration of the performance.There is something existential about the decision to spend two nights and two days in a red boat in a vast butsomewhat ignored grassﬁeld next to the museum. The photograph was taken early in the performance as he tried tomobilize the sluggish boat.8/15Photo 99/15Photo 10This is the most beautifully decorated classroom I’ve ever seen. It hosted school kids from ﬁve diﬀerent KCCAschools who participate in the Seven Hills Art Challenge. They compete with twenty other schools in developing themost compelling artwork reﬂecting their daily experiences with Kampala as a city in motion. The winners will beannounced on 2 October at Kampala City Festival. Art education team: Jantien Zuurbier, Henry Mzili Mujunga andvolunteers.10/15Photo 1111/15Photo 12There is a general agreement that art is a product of creativity – no matter if made by professional artists or talentedkids eager to learn. Creativity however also was a fundamental part of the Biennale behind the scene. Like in otherexhibitions worldwide, some initial plans had to be altered due to unexpected challenges for which new solutionswere found. This is one example: Unable to ﬁnd the TV she needed for her mesmerizing installation I was her andshe was me and those we might become at Uganda Museum, Kitso Lynn Lelliott followed a suggestion of theBiennale Director and simply painted it on cardboard in a cloak-and-dagger operation.12/15Photo 1313/15Photo 14The Barrier Wolf von Kries found for his installation at Makerere Art Gallery after a long search with many virtuallysurrealist conversations and negotiations will deﬁnitely shape the oral history of this Biennale (no space here tonarrate these stories…). The ﬁnal installation saw this rough and somewhat violent and violated metal monsterbedded softly on a white fur carpet, as if it was prepared for a digniﬁed rest after its wild life on the roads ofKampala. Who would guess that before this rest, it was once more exposed to a hammer massage to be broughtinto its ﬁnal shape?14/15Photo 5Ronex Ahimbisibwe’s Rx2…wireless outside Makerere Art Gallery was conceived as an interactive artwork from thebeginning. Therefore, it was expected to be used by visitors of the exhibition or students on Makerere Universitycampus. Representing online-symbols typically used for internet and mobile phone connections, these sculpturesexplicitly refer to exchange and communication while in their function as actual outdoor furniture, they also serve asa platform for online as well as face-to-face interactions. However, as they were shifted and rearranged by theirusers according to their needs, the sculptures developed their own dynamics. Perhaps more than initially intended,this work embodies for me a fascinating example of the dynamics at play when art transgresses the symbolic sphereand becomes a mobile means of lived social space.Fiona Siegenthaler is a Senior Lecturer and Post-Doc researcher at the Chair for Social Anthropology, University ofBasel (Switzerland). During one of her research stays in Kampala she also coordinated the talks and symposiumsprogram for the second Kampala Art Biennale 2016.15/15

Kampala Art Biennale - A Photo Essay

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Kampala Art Biennale - A Photo Essay

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