Pan-African Circle of Artists Dream of African Integration

Zambia Thu 06-05-2010

Pan-African Circle of Artists Dream of African Integration
By C. Krydz Ikwuemesi

By C. Krydz Ikwuemesi

Press Statement

From May 8 to 16, 2010, Overcoming Maps, the 6th edition of the Pan-African Circle of Artists’ Study tour of Africa will be held in Gambia and Senegal.

Built around the philosophy and symbolism of maps as instruments of “ownership”, “violence” and, in the case of Africa, memorials to the historic Berlin Conference, the project which began in 2001 seeks to promote integration and networking in the field of cultural production Africa.

As in previous editions, Overcoming Maps 6 will involve visual artists, writers, poets, journalists, critics, anthropologists, among others.

The 6th edition will intensify the objectives and the gains of the previous tours by providing participants an opportunity to interrogate the art-social situation in the continent through cross-disciplinary, intellectual and creative interactions.

^{PACA Members with Former President Kenneth Kaunda (m)}

There will be a creativity workshop and roundtable which will be organized as the centralising activities in Gambia the tour to enable participants interact and confront their common challenges and aspirations through their work and purposeful discussions, as cultural actors from a highly tormented continent in an increasingly challenging world.

Following the activities in the Gambia, participants will travel by road to Senegal for further activities with Senegalese artists and others.

According to a programme released by the International Advisory Council of PACA, participants are expected to arrive Banjul on May 8 and will be visiting artists studios same day as well pay courtesy visits to Mama Africa Centre and Adebayo Yusuf’s Gallery, Banjul.

This will be followed by sightseeing on May 9 to enable them relax and get ready for the workshop planned to hold on May 10. The creativity workshop to be held in Alliance Francaise, Banjul, will allow participants to create works from materials to be sourced locally from the environment.

Informal discussions on art and related matters will be organised on a daily basis during the workshop to enable artists, writers and others exchange ideas based both on their work, general cultural backgrounds and professional experiences.

Other activities planned for the Gambia include visit to the Nigerian and Ghanaian Embassies in Banjul; courtesy call on Baba Ceesay, Head of Dept. of Cultural Heritage, National Museum, Banjul.

The Overcoming Maps party will also pay courtesy call on the Vice Chancellor, University of Gambia on Tuesday May 11 and later gather at Alliance Francaise in Banjul for the opening reception of the commemorative international exhibition of the Overcoming Maps 6.

The highlight of the exhibition will be a roundtable with the theme, “Integrating and Exploiting the Field of Cultural Production for Wholesome and Meaningful Development in Africa.” The roundtable will feature reports on the art situation in the participants’ countries.

Lead Speakers will include, Baba Ceesay, Head of Dept. of Cultural Heritage, National Museum, Banjul, Isha Fofana, Director, Mama Africa Centre, Banjul, Dr. Frank Ugiomoh, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Dr Abel Diakparomre, Vice Presdent, PACA-Nigeria. the occasion will be chaired by Dr Gerard Chouin (former Director of Alliance Francaise in Enugu) and Honourable Minister of Culture, Banjul.

Other presentations at the event will feature “The situation of art and creativity in Nigerian Primary and Secondary Schools” Kent Onah (Nigeria); “The Role of Government in the Propagation of Art in Nigeria” – Simon Ikpakronyi; “One Minute Video from Nigeria” – C. krydz Ikwuemesi and Ayo Adewunmi; as well as presentations from participants from Ghana.

Wednesday, May 12, the group will travel by road to Dakar for the commencement of activities scheduled for that city and to enable participants catch up with on-going 9th edition of Dak’Art. At 2.00pmon that day will be the opening of another commemorative exhibition with Roundtable with Senegalese and other artists at les Artistes Plasticiens de Pikin Centre in Dakar.

While the exhibition has the theme “New Encounters”, the roundtable focuses on “Art and the SocioPolitical Realities in Africa.” Lead speakers at the roundtable will include Simon Ikpakronyi, Director, National Gallery of Art Nigeria and Mor Faye, President, les Artistes Plasticiens de Pikin.

On Thursday, May15, the programme in Dakar is concluded with visits to important exhibitions and places in Dakar as may be advised by Mor Faye, President, les Artistes Plasticiens de Pikin, before the party returns to Banjul in the evening of the same day for a grand reception at Mama Africa Centre before the final departure of participants to their various countries on the 16th of May.

The Pan-African Circle of Artists (PACA) was founded at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1991 by some young artists of Nigerian and Ghanaian origins. Part of the aim was to create a forum on which art and culture in Africa could be promoted and disseminated from inside by Africans and on Africa’s terms.

Over the years, PACA has initiated and organised some note-worthy activities as part of its effort at re-imaging the arts and cultural production in Africa. Besides its numerous enriching workshops, lectures, and roundtables, PACA has organised major conferences and biennial exhibitions focussing on very thought-provoking themes and issues.

For instance in 2002, it organised, with the support of Prince Claus Fund (The Netherlands), “the Pan-African Conference on the Status, Role, and Working Condition of the Artist in Africa” and thus provided an opportunity for artists and allied professionals to gather and discuss in Enugu issues in the making and dissemination of art as they affect the African artist.

Also in 2002, the 4th edition of Afrika Heritage, the PACA Biennale, took place at four art centres in Lagos, bringing together about 80 artists, art critics, and historians from fourteen African countries, Britain, USA, and Japan. In 2004, PACA’s epoch-making Overcoming Maps 3 (sponsored also by Prince Claus Fund in the Netherlands) brought over fifty artists together in a study tour, by road, of 6 countries in West Africa, including Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Ghana.

Overcoming Maps 4 was subsequently held in Kenya and Uganda in 2005 and the 6th and 7th editions of the PACA Biennale was held in Lagos and Enugu respectively in 2007 and 2009. The 5th edition of Overcoming Maps was held in Zambia in January 2008 bringing together artists from different parts of Africa.

As the International President of the group, Prof Jerry Buhari, has said the other day in Zaria, “Overcoming Maps 6 is a monument to PACA’s resilience and a demonstration of its commitment to art and action inside the continent.”

This is very apt, especially in view of the fact that the 6th edition of Overcoming Maps is the funded by the various participants, although the Pan African Circle of Artists hopes to publish a report of the tour in the next few months.

C. Krydz Ikwuemesi
International Secretary
The Pan African Circle of Artists

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Your Comments

Nigeria Association of Visual and Performing Artists(NAVPA): Dear Sir, This Association is holding arts & craft exhibition in Osogbo,Osun State.Nigeria.@ heritage hotel on 23th -28th August,2010 during Osun Osogbo Festiavl. Your Association is well invited to the Exhibition and i will like to hear more from you about inviting you the programme.Your site is well wonderful and interesting,. For The Arts. Ganiyu Ibikunle Gen, Secretary. CALL 08035014081.

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