Kampala Art Biennale 2016
SEVEN HILLS
3 September – 2 October 2016
Kampala Art Biennale is pleased to announce the 2nd edition titled Seven Hills, conceived by Elise Atangana. The Biennale will be held from September 3rd to October 2nd, with a preview on September 2nd, 2016.
Seven Hills refers to Kampala’s historical city when the Kingdom of Buganda was built on 7 hills, in a similar way as other famous cities like Rome, Lisbon and Athens. The holy number 7 represents “the whole” in movement. Seven is universally known as a dynamic totality. Pythagoras called it, the “life vehicle”.
Nowadays, Kampala is spread out over 21 hills. One could question which stories, myths and founding legends are still harboured by the Seven Hills of Kampala? What is their current meaning? Are they still symbolic? Which representations are shared today by the inhabitants’ daily lives?
How do evolutions of the landscape – either urban, natural and the potential conflict between human beings and their environment – influence daily habits?
What gestures, attitudes and practices inhabit the public space, both as a physical and now virtual (co)presence? How do they circulate, how do they stay still? How is this controlled?
Emerging and international artists will take on the role of investigators by intervening in situ, within the urban fabric of Kampala on the various phenomena of urban mobility observed locally.
The most important is to be part of a conversation about the main transformations that are present within the mobility paradigm, but on a smaller scale, a specific context. This will avoid any generalisation of a phenomenon that concerns everyone, individually and collectively. A plural perspective can open up a dialogue at different levels and bring a critical debate that can resonate at the same time locally and globally.
Seven Hills is an organic project that focuses on concepts of Mobility Studies which includes the movement of people, objects, services or digital/virtual travel and how it affects us in our day lives. The research explores the links between physical and virtual mobilities (movement, representation, practice), and consider their relation with contemporary art practice.
ARTISTS IN RESIDENCY
Bogosi Sekhukhuni, South Africa,
Charity Atukunda, Uganda,
Elsadig Mohammed, Sudan,
Immaculate Mali, Uganda,
Isaac Kariuki, Kenya,
Julien Creuzet, France/Martinique,
Kibuuka Mukisa Oscar, Uganda,
Virginie Yassef, France,
Wolf von Kries, Germany,
Xenson Znja, Uganda,
VIRTUAL MOBILITIES OPEN CALL
Abe Gillian Stacey, Uganda,
Alden Paul Mvoutoukoulou, DRC,
Canon Rumanzi, Uganda,
Gosette Diakota Lubondo, DRC,
Matt Kayem, Uganda,
Ronex, Uganda,
Sheila Nakitende, Uganda.
FOCUS ON SELECTED VIDEOS
Charlotte Mano, France
Kitso Lynn Lelliott, Botswana
Louis Henderson, UK,
Megan-Leigh Heilig, South Africa,
Phumulani Ntuli, South Africa,
Stéphanie Roland, Belgium,
Thomas Aquillina & Alex Lyons, Uganda/UK
Pré-programme and events
Kampala Biennale Theme workshops and discussions
Artistic process of production in the context of technological mutations around people’s voices, personal and collective experiences in real life or in our imagination. Artists will discuss the Kampala Art Biennale, the virtual mobilities in question, the various contexts and
Events
African Modernisms Symposium organized by Iwalewa Haus Bayreuth University
Re)Thinking Feminism and Black Womanhood organized by The Goethe Institute
Art Education Programme – Seven Hills Art Challenge
An art competition using recycled materials and waste that will run in 25 selected KCCA schools in Kampala, focusing on strengthening the youth with skills to think creatively, innovate and become critical thinkers and learners ready to solve everyday challenges through art.