Management (No Longer) Reserves The Right of Admission

When "Gentleman's Club" opens on Sunday 24th June, it will not only be just another show but a celebration of how far we've come. In terms of technical ability, intellectual capacity and freedom of publicly showing work that was unexhibitable just a couple of years ago.

For most artists, compiling a decent body of work is very fulfilling. Selling is nice (as it helps sort out our material obligations) but getting to show it in a good exhibition is ultimate. Nothing beats the feeling of having your peers in a space -  conventional or otherwise as your work takes centre stage accompanied by the clinking of wine glasses, smell of fresh samosas + spring rolls, a handful of red dots next to the art on show and (semi) intelligent conversations as people gather to celebrate your hard work... or laziness. That to most artists is probably the one and only objective critic session they'll ever have (of course before the brain + alcohol become buddies).

Over the years, our art scene has been labelled as conservative. Meaning we have been afraid. So afraid of what we've called taboo subjects - politics, nudity, religion, sexuality... and anything we put in the box labelled UnAfrican! This translates to some artworks never getting to see the light of day for what are deemed 'cultural reasons'. A polite way of saying your work makes certain people uncomfortable.

You see, artists are... Strange! (for lack of a better word). We live in the same city, go to the same schools, shop in the same stores, read the same books, agree on most things arty but are very individual in our creations. The thing that sets us apart is the one we call inspiration.

Some people are inspired by nature, others religion, others politics, maybe love or fashion or just women. Others seek inspiration in the night.

Spaces, depending on their custodians, have had their fair share of challenges in dealing with all the diverse subjects that come out of artist studios making them sometimes go for the easiest option politically. Censorship.

Not sure who has been a culprit or victim before my time but a handful of times I've been witness and victim.

First was in the year 2001; Patrick Mukabi, Peter Klashorst and myself had worked long & hard to put up what to us was supposed to be a blockbuster show at the East African Contemporary Gallery (Nairobi Museum). All went well till the works got into the space. Curated by Gert Meijerink of the Amsterdam Institute of Painting, the show was titled "Nairobi Day & Night Club" and was a black & white interpretation of the title. Panye had beautiful paintings of graceful women during the day. Klas had very good ones of the not so good people of the night. I had the in between.

Word spread quickly and the management decided to edit the show and remove the culturally offensive work. Protests, blackmails and compromises later, we had a show. Not as blockbuster as we'd have loved but among the few conceptualized shows at the Nairobi Museum.

Come 2005, an artist and dealer got together a posse of artists and put up a show of nude works at Le Rustique restaurant. It was a big hit and someone thought it a good idea to move it to Karen. The works were put up in a high end restaurant till someone called the cops to complain about pornographic stuff in their club.

Some of the paintings were arrested! Not sure what the charge sheet read or how they left the cop shop but knowing Kenya, someone gave and another received. The show ended prematurely!

More recently, Michael Soi aka the Snakedoctor was to have a show whose content was the going ons in the mushrooming Nairobi strip clubs. He couldn't show the work as the 'expected audience' would be offended. I was personally offended as it was censoring within a creative space. Soi has not been so lucky. He booked and confirmed a show in an upmarket pub & restaurant. The owner soon discovered he intended to show politically motivated paintings and as fate would have it, the show never took off as a regular patron was a big man.

Fast forward and coming Sunday is the opening of the "The Gentleman's Club."

It is a juxtaposition of the two artists’ view of Nairobi with a bias toward the night. Both have been accused of degrading women by portraying them negatively and supporting the vices that come with the still of the night.

Whether they do or not we'll never know (or is irrelevant for now). One thing however is that what happens in Nairobi does happen. Art imitates life. The Nairobi night is perceived as dangerous, heathen, black, ugly & full of sin - gambling, crime, prostitution, bar brawls etc.

Amid all the madness, there is happiness/fun. It is when you enjoy your favourite dinners. When your spouse, or brother or sister is earning their daily bread (honestly). When you're running across town to catch those annoying night flights. When in a bus heading to the village. Or when you make a trip to The Gentleman's Club! At such times there's alot to see! Some of us close our eyes because what we see is not pretty. But some open them wider, and stare! Because they know they shall reference those moments in their work. When making their art.

Those that closed their eyes (and they that were seen) will be upset by the artworks generated from those moments. They will do all in their power to stop the work from being seen. They shall burry their heads in the sand and believe that these things did not happen. But come morning, they shall replay these nightly topics discussed graphically on their home radios and car stereos, truly enjoying these taboo subjects.

Maybe the power of a picture (read painting) is so overwhelming and plays with our conscience hence the resistance. We're okay with having strip club adverts in our daily newspapers and at bus stops (high density public platforms) but it's not okay for artists to exhibit works inspired by this culture in (semi) public spaces. Don't know why, but one thing is for sure, come Sunday, for the first time artists have a rare chance of going all out - all guns blazing & bare knuckled to show their studio output without being worried about censorship & terms like sensitive audiences, culturally offensive blah blah blah! And it’ all for arts sake.

It's not often that artists are ‘Free To Decide’ what to show as someone else's opinion carries the day. So am really looking forward to the vernissage on Sunday. Cold beer on the Snakedoctor if you can find your way to One Off Contemporary Art Gallery #16 Rosslyn Lone Tree Nairobi.

Built on Quicksand, Sustained by Hype

I never met Ruth Schaffner!

I must also admit my work has never found its way into Gallery Watatu with the exception of it passing through for framing by Owino - the late resident framer, en route to other spaces for exhibitions. Most of the (not so) young artists probably sail the same boat as I in that they also have never exhibited there; whether it’s by choice or by being locked out is a story for another day! From Kyalo, Mukabi, Michael Soi, Jimmah Kimani, Peterson Kamwathi, Beatrice Wanjiku, Anthony Okello, Peter Walala, Jimmy Ogonga... a large percentage of those referred to as 2nd generation Kenyan artists.

So, when last week a local daily carried the story of the “major auction and final closure" not many tears were shed! It was comparable to this week when 2 politicians died and the political class are busy turning well known villains into instant heroes.

Flashback... A little over 40 years ago three artistic friends -Jony Waite, Robin Anderson and David Hart - created a privately-owned space they named "Watatu" - Swahili for 3 people. It is not very clear (or well documented) when it changed hands but the new owner became Ruth Schaffner, a German-born American collector of post-war art.

With Ruth at the helm, Watatu was an instant 'hit' and was home of what was loosely referred to as créme de la créme of indigenous Kenyan (read naive) art. Artists like Jak Katarikawe, Ancent Soi, Sane + Eunice Wadu, Wanyu Brush, Elijah Ooko, Kivuthi Mbuno, Samuel + Jackson Wanjau & Chain Muhandi among others soon became overnight celebrities.

One thing everyone agrees with is that Ruth Schaffner was an art dealer extraordinaire!

Urban legend has it that artist villages, Ngecha and Banana Hill sprouted as a result of Ruth's patronage. Young and ambitious guys out of college would walk into the gallery, head held high armed with a diploma/degree and they would leave crestfallen as they'd be told, "They weren't good enough unless they painted like Sane, or Brush, or Muhandi..."

The strong and maybe too proud, never came back and carried on with their practice minus Watatu. The weak, tried to be like Sane! like Meek Gichugu... and even got cool names to boot!

People 'got rich' and for once Kenyan art 'was on the world map' and then it happened in 1996!

Ruth Schaffner died! There was pandemonium in the art scene. Grown men cried! They did not sob. They wailed.

This was around the same time Kuona Trust and One Off Gallery were starting and all those who never got into Watatu were having alternative spaces to show (and sell). For most of us, Watatu was never an option. It simply wasn't there. For most, the connection was Owino, the framer.

Fast forward and we heard rumours of watatu being broke and some staff hawking artworks to make ends meet but that was private property, and we weren't supposed to trespass!

Then this year - I guess shit hit the fan! Watatu crumbled, and is now falling.

That Watatu is obsolete and going under was never the issue. It was HOW this was happening that most had a problem with. An auction had allegedly taken place and another one was scheduled yet no information was forthcoming. It felt like someone was keen to tie up a good deal in a hush. Fate had it that through social media, information leaked and was shared.

On the day of the second auction, two dozen people in the arts were there, some to claim what was rightfully theirs, some for curiosity, maybe a handful for moral support, some to buy expensive work cheaply and some to just heckle. The gods of creativity got us a reprieve and the auction was postponed to 16th June.

We have accepted that closure is inevitable but does it really matter?

Our beloved RaMoMa 'died' recently. We never mourned and moved on like it never was. Today, Watatu is in High Dependency Unit and we're already shopping for a coffin! A glimpse at www.gallerywatatu.com gives an indicator on who the gallery represented. You won't find the names of the young, prolific award winning Kenyan artists shifting the dynamics of the local art scene. Why? We may never know.

Maybe, before we get all emotional and use words like History, Heritage etcetera, we should define the relationship we had with Watatu, with the institution, with they that ran (down) the space. And when I personally do that, I can say with my head held high that, "I'm not gonna lack sleep over Gallery Watatu's closure."

We have other art spaces/institutions that have gone the same way. We get all mushy when they are in the red then amnesia creeps in immediately they're unable to stay afloat. Is it lack of strategy? Are our institutions too elite? Could it be the personnel? Or is it that we don't support each other? Maybe one day we'll find out. Maybe.

I love quoting strange artists that I meet and a wise one summed it up well... "The old order empires built on quicksand and sustained by hype, are finally crumbling.”

And as this happens, another one inhales on his ciggy, reflects, and as he exhales, with the smoke comes the words, "Nothing, I feel absolutely nothing."

Art Appreciation

Hmmmm… It’s been a while!

We all pretend or assume we know/understand what art is. Maybe we know, maybe we don’t (but that’s a story for another day). When we add the word “appreciation” to our understanding of art, it becomes a totally different ball game.

Art Appreciation is/may be the knowledge and understanding of the qualities that identify all art. Huh! Maybe this is just a polite way of saying art appreciation is one’s ability to withstand art without pretence, peer pressure, fear or favour. This translates to being able to look at artworks and form your own independent opinions about them without necessarily referencing the artist. I think.

However, rather unfortunately with the current trends, art appreciation has become another cliché phrase. It’s the case of nobody gives a damn. Yet we pretend we do!

In the small pond we call Nairobi, art is big business! I know you’re wondering, “How?”

Outside production, 95ish% of art is NGO based. This is big business you know. Most of these institutions have impressive constitutions/missions/visions etc and among them is “improving art appreciation locally” this is loosely referred to as audience development in donor rhetoric.

Sounds noble I guess but sometimes it’s not the ‘Whats?’ that matter, it’s the ‘Hows?’

I love (some) NGOs with The Kenya Red Cross being my favorite. Maybe it’s because I find it being result oriented. However, most of these art based NGOs aka not-for-profit institutions are report-based loosely translating to, “What’s in the report at the end of the year is actually more important (for them) than what actually happened during the year.” Shame.

How do you encourage art appreciation or develop an audience? Everyone working in the arts in Kenya has an answer to this and a great formula on paper to boot. However, that’s exactly where it stops! Strange it is if your job is to develop audiences yet you’re never in the audience yourself at any time of your work. There’s a gig in Nairobi almost bi-weekly. That’s pretty good for our small pond. The audience is almost always the same - the participating artists, two journalists (Frank Whalley + Margaretta Wa Gacheru), two dozen art appreciators, artists and their offspring.

Conveniently absent day in, day out are those mandated with running our art scene! Those that teach our kids (for years in university) how to be artists, those that sit in the ministry (& department of culture), they that are supposed to watch over my practice, they that are supposed to enlighten us and make us appreciate art more, they that we trust with building our audience.

These are not just a handful of people! We’re talking hundreds! A minister here, a couple of assistants, some Permanent Secretary… a whole department in charge of visual arts. Add to these all the cultural managers of all the institutions set up to support and raise the profile of visual arts, then to these add the new kids on the block – Curators.

The latest trend is what practicing artists have christened the Seminar Contemporary Platforms - where “important people in the arts” gather and talk about art. I heard from a wise artist that it’s probably part of the Kenyan Vision 2030 – I believed her.

How do you stop art from seeming cool and elitist during seminars and boardroom tête-à-têtes while allowing it to flourish in its real world? The artists’ studios, the galleries, exhibitions etc. Maybe am using so many words to ask, “When will we see all these art technocrats appear at an art event? Where it’s not about talking while drinking mineral water and making notes on branded five star hotel notepads but appreciating art while having a beer or blended scotch! Where art is visual? Not verbal”

How this rhetoric trickles down to the mainstream practice remains to be seen/felt.

My take is that it would be very difficult to convince your mechanic, or my bartender, or the house help to attend an art event or to try having a conversation with an artwork if you, the person living off art(ists) seems clueless or uninterested in doing the same.

Maybe we should be trying to convince ourselves to be part of the audience. Just maybe.

Public Art

I must admit I have trouble putting a definition that I truly believe in to some of these artsy phrases. Public Art aka Art in public (and semi public) spaces is one very ambiguous statement in that you put together two words that would individually challenge any above average linguist especially when put in an artistic context.

Every time my English is challenged, I run to Wikipedia… according to them, the term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all.

Where I come from (read Nairobi), any ‘strange looking thing’ in any open space or next to a building is loosely tucked in a box labeled public art!

Historically public art was in the form of monuments and memorials with artists like Michelangelo and Gian Lorenzo Bernini being commissioned to create works that are still breathtaking centuries later. Recently however, it has become more conceptual with artists interpreting cultures, attitudes and lifestyles of the people in relation to the space coming up with interventions that are simply, spot on! (for lack of a better adjective)

In my index, among the most successful works in this category is the Charging Bull (also referred to as the Wall Street Bull or the Bowling Green Bull), the 3.2 ton bronze sculpture by Arturo Di Modica that stands in Bowling Green Park near Wall Street in Manhattan, New York City. The oversize sculpture depicts a bull, the symbol of aggressive financial optimism and prosperity, leaning back on its haunches and with its head lowered as if ready to charge. The sculpture is both a popular tourist destination which draws thousands of people a day, as well as "one of the most iconic images of New York.

the wall street bull

Also is Christ the Redeemer (constructed between 1922 and 1931), a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; considered the largest Art Deco statue in the world. It is 39.6 metres tall and 30 metres wide. It weighs 635 tonnes and is located at the peak of the 700-metre Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. A symbol of Brazilian Christianity, the statue has become an icon for Rio de Janeiro and Brazil. It is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone. It is now a part of the new Seven Wonders of the World.

Christ the Redeemer watching over Rio.

Back home?! Hmmmm! When monuments were considered public art, we had a few. Uhuru Gardens, Nyayo Monument... but artistically, we still lag behind. Way behind. By the turn of the millennium, Nairobi got a handful of public sculptures thanks to Kuona Trust’s International Artists Residency Programme. Jeevanjee Gardens in downtown Nairobi has sculptures by Kenyans Edward ‘Masakhalia’ Bulima (Portrait of Jeevanjee) & Morris Foit (Birth in the Garden) and Nitaya Ueareeworakul (Thailand).

The Nairobi museum also benefitted from hosting Kuona (1995-2003). Sculptures by Ugandans Francis Nnagenda, Kizito Maria Kasule, Kenyan Jackson Wanjau and Japanese artist Yukinori Yamamura makes it some form of mini sculpture park. Omega Ludenyi’s ‘Tree of Life’ also sits at the Sarit Centre car park.

However, we have no public artwork that is uniquely Kenyan or Nairobian! The space custodians – City Council of Nairobi have erected ‘things’ at the major roundabouts and the government through Kenyatta University is busy erecting monuments to ‘honour our heroes.’ First Dedan Kimathi and recently Tom Mboya (Ironically, history suggests both were terminated by the government).

Dedan Kimathi (l) & Tom Mboya

Most people admit that the government finding money to commission public art is a good move. Me too! However, those that sit down to decide the What? Why? Where?… need to style up! And pretty fast! What we’ve seen coming up recently is a big joke! The artist’s technical ability may not be in question, but the content is. If this is not checked, Nairobi will end up being a city where ‘freedom fighters’ cast in bronze stand high up on 15 foot pedestals looking down at us mere mortals.

Sculptures at Nairobi Museum (r) Francis Nnagenda's Mother & Child

The Nairobi Museum is not doing very well either. A sculpture by Jackson Wanjau (Kenyan sculptor extraordinaire) is tucked at a very bad place - literally between a rock and a very hard place! This happens while prime space along the main entrance is reserved to some sculpture that is… weak (I tried really hard not use the word ‘bad’). In terms of material used, and how it’s put together. The Achilles Heel of public art is that it should resonate with the public. Those who interact with the space. Every time I go to the museum, I don’t feel that piece. Neither do my friends. Nor my family. I wonder who does?!

The reason every Nairobian has been making a pilgrimage to the Vulture Graffiti in downtown Nairobi is simple. For the first time in a long while, someone has given them what they have longed for in terms of art in a (not so) public space.

Nairobi is starved of public art for two reasons; Money and bureaucracy at the council offices. But for anyone who’s overcome these challenges and is hitting the road to create another artwork in public (or semi public), please don’t give us another ‘freedom fighter on a pedestal'… and whatever it is, make it coherent and well thought of.

Of Counterfeits, Fakes & Cheap Imitations

I love the Kenyan art scene! It’s (probably) all based in Nairobi – the big city in the (currently very hot) sun. This may be due to the fact that whatever infrastructure that exists for the arts, is city based. Also, a large chunk of the direct consumers of Kenyan contemporary culture is tucked in the high-rise blue chip companies and multinationals or the leafy suburbs that house the countless expatriates who ply their trade with the UN.

Indigenous Kenyans too are slowly starting to ‘partake’ of art though this is limited mainly to the Yuppies – Young Upwardly Mobile professionals who make up a great percentage of the rapidly growing middle class.

With this scenario on an upward curve, there seems to be a ‘boom’ in the art business locally and just like the California gold rush of 1848 - 1855, no one wants to miss the gravy train.

Artists are – (un)fortunate (for luck of a better word). With or without a boom, they have to open their studios daily. They have to be inspired to create.  They have to respond to their spaces. They have to interrogate humanity – socially, politically etc. It is their duty.  And this loosely translates to – New artworks being created daily.

Sometimes the artist understands and can articulate the Whats? and Whys? about their work. Sometimes they do go the whole nine yards and even curate their projects. Most of the time though, they let the professionals do it. And that’s my beef for the day!

Professionals? Who are these professionals? You see, Art is strange. Stranger than love. Than Religion. Than Science. The artist is (supposed to be) God! He is the creator. But there are others who hover around him. Those, who live off him. They, who are irrelevant without the artist but have somehow managed to convince themselves that in the contemporary art hierarchy, the artist is at the bottom of the food chain! (Read Seven Days In The Art World by Sarah Thornton)

They come in different forms, shapes, colours and titles – Art Dealers, Curators, Art Theorists, Art Historians… the list is endless. With all due respect, I have many a friend (or rather know many people) falling in this category and some I hold in high regard. Unfortunately back at home (read Kenya), Hmmmm! The situation is fluid – these are deemed as ‘cool occupations’. A mechanic bored of popping them hoods, becomes an Art Dealer. A retired Montessori teacher catches the curatorial bus… anyone whose career is going through a rough patch finds a safe haven in the arts!

That’s okay. It starts being un-okay when you have 20 curators doing incoherent projects all over town. When you have uninformed  ‘art historians’  and ‘theorists’ who are clueless about the Kenyan art scene now, and what it was like 5 or 10 years ago. It stops being okay when you have intellectually lazy people carelessly using respectable titles doing silly (again, for lack of a better word) projects that equate to nothing. Those that, are not at all relevant/useful within our context. People who are not intelligent enough to interpret/articulate the conversations from the global podium within the local stage.

If a city has 10 art dealers, 5 curators, 3 theorists… and 3 dozen artists, you expect it to be abuzz with a handful of good curated exhibitions, maybe an Annual Art Fair and probably one or two intellectually nourishing journal/newsletter/book – whatever!

You’d expect to feel the Kenyan presence in Biennales & International Art Fairs – because that’s what the real curators I know do.

But what do we have? A handful of dudes with fancy titles, living off artist commissions from sales of artworks in small cafes and corporate corridors. People with no medal whatsoever to show for their several years of  fancy titles. Not an event. Not a text; Like a singer without a song. Or a painter without a painting. People who prey for any social gathering so that they have another chance to introduce themselves while attaching buzz words/titles to their names… Ogonga Thom, Independent Curator… Michael Soi, Art Dealer Extraordinaire… John Kamicha, Art Theorist & Critic etc.

This makes the local art scene feel like a circus of wannabes. And with every sunrise we have to navigate a field full of fakes, counterfeits & cheap imitations.

Abuse of Office

Of all the occupations known to man, none operates without a code of conduct that stipulates the acceptable rules and regulations. This also includes consequences should these be breached. All, except one. The doctors have their Medical Practitioners & Dentists Board, the lawyers – Law Society of Kenya, lecturers – University Academic Staff Union, hawkers too have something like Nairobi Petty Traders Association!

Visual Arts, a career that falls loosely between a job and a divine calling, one full of royalty, and geniuses, and those whose places are reserved next to the almighty, is governed by… NOTHING!

Before you cast your first stone… let’s make this clear: I am not advocating for ARTIST CENCORSHIP!

When an artist abuses his privilege (freedom of expression) and creates work that is culturally, socially, or religiously offensive, how is the audience supposed to deal with it? If in an attempt to create a sensation, the artworks become an insult, how is the intended audience supposed to react?

It is known that artists (not only the creators but their groupies who include curators, dealers, theorists, historians etc) enjoy any publicity. This includes any outrage as a result of offensive work.

Damaso's controversial painting.

In July 2010, South African artist Yuill Damaso reveled in the limelight after making a painting depicting the autopsy of Nelson Mandela. Abomination! Can the same artist depict his father, or mother, or girlfriend dead?! Or did he just need the world’s most popular sage to help his selfish cause? According to Damaso, that was his way of paying tribute to Nelson Mandela!

Similarly, Danish artist duo Surrend ( which comprises Jan Eggesborg & Pia Betelsen) depicted the Danish Royal family in a pornographic cartoon that even the bluest of blue film industry will not be able to achieve in the near future. 

Surrend's cartoon

When does the artist cross the social commentary/entertainment/protest line and blur the focus turning into a subjective, insulting, sensation seeking wanna-be? Or are they just hirelings of a third party? Sometimes I think most of these artists are just victims of handouts for which they will do anything the hand that giveth asks. Talk of “He who pays the pipe calls the tune.”

Back home, Kenyans have been marveling at a series of graffiti of what should have been a subject in school. The interesting thing about it is that it loosely falls in the guerilla art movement and hits the Kenyan politician with bare knuckles. It makes for a very successful artwork without being offensive and it’s probably the artwork that has gotten the most attention recently (debatable).

Graffiti by Anonymous artists in downtown Nairobi

Another artist (who I can’t stop calling a moron) has used the same instruments (spray paint), the same platform (public wall space) and the same subject (the Kenyan politician) and expects me (and you) to salute him at the guerilla parade! This artist has trashed the whole philosophy of social responsibility by artists and expects Kenyans to forget a good lesson urging us to vote wisely – by telling us to vote for the same vulture we’re being warned against! Sadly, it’s not one (bad) painting. Not two… maybe twenty spread all over Nairobi. 

Some of the texts by 'mercenary artists' in Nairobi

As a consumer of this horrible art, who do I complain to? How can I talk to the artist to tell him how I feel about his (bad) artworks? How do I deal with the visual pollution? Should I go see the Mayor/Town Clerk? Am I supposed to get him/her through the politician who commissioned him?

This is just one (pathetic) artist… or maybe just one (body of) work that is offensive… one that you cannot describe using one positive word. But as creative people – artists, curators, writers… how many times have we subjected our audience to something offensive? Artworks that are irritating.

Since we don’t want to be censored, maybe it’s up to us not to abuse our office by engaging in “silly commissions” and soberly being considerate to our intended audience. As a man I considered not very wise once said, “There’s a very thin line between thought-provoking & outright insulting.”

I moved him from the “not very wise” box to the “somehow wise” one.

“Can Africans save Africa?”

With reference to the Contemporary Kenyan Art Scene

While lazying about and flipping channels on TV after an uninspired painting session, I stumbled upon an interesting conversation on CNBC with the above title and tried to put it in a context in regard to my practice.

This made me re-evaluate my journey as an artist - How I started, where I am, where am headed, my expectations, frustrations and the far apart triumphs.

Brainstorming with like-minded artists (over some blended scotch), lots of conversations came up and the main issue was “the disconnect” between the Arts Schools, Art Spaces & the practicing Artists and the suspicions between the cultural organizations that makes it unable for them to run any art activity worth writing home about as a collective.

With the exception of Sarakasi Trust, all visual art organizations and art spaces are run by indigenous Kenyans and most artists agree that this may be a step in the right direction. This is fuelled by the notion that “Kenyans cultural managers will have the interest of Kenya art at heart.”

However, this does not seem to be the case as most organizations that were strong and very supportive of arts have either shifted their dynamics or are just not adapting to change (as fast as practicing artists are) leaving us wondering what their relevance or role in the arts is.

Events that graced the artistic calendar – The Kenya Museum Society Arts Festival, The East African Industries Art Competition, The Art Panorama, The HFCK Exhibition… etc. stopped happening without any information forthcoming and we’re left in the periphery as our neighbours hold annual Art Fairs, Biennales and art competitions re-writing their art history while we dwell in petty politics sometimes forgetting our relevance in the art world.

However, all is not lost as we have seen the emergence of Manjano, an annual Nairobi art exhibition & competition which has been running for 3 years (thanks to the GoDown Art Centre).

It is with this in mind that we’ve been flirting with the idea of bringing together all art practitioners and artists to one forum to talk, fight and have a laugh while addressing challenges related to our work and the possibilities of doing a collaborative projects together. The wish list would include; Practicing artists, Art Teachers (KU & BBIFA), Cultural Managers (Kuona, GoDown, African Colours, Banana Hill, Ngecha, Nuru Studios, Milele, CCAEA etc), Gallerists (Watatu, One Off, Nairobi Gallery), Government - on condition it’s not the sitting Culture Minister. Pun intended.

This should be an information platform where the participants try to define art in their terms, and tell the others their role and what they do, to create an understanding of each other and how we can complement each others practice.

The catch however is, this should not be another summit or seminar where guys sit, talk, earn healthy allowances and forget what they talked about immediately they sign above the dotted line, then off they go for shopping.

It should be a good time to have Kenyans talk about Kenyan issues as opposed to having expatriates sit round a table and decide what’s good for us and you never know, maybe at the end of it all, we may see a prestigious annual arts competition… or a Nairobi International Art Fair… or even a Kenyan Biennale.

Or maybe… It’s just a lazy artist dreaming!