Politics of representation of African contemporary art and culture in European cultural institutions : an Afropolitan experience at Bozar

Akilo, Elena Ndidi

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/27121

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Authors

Akilo, Elena Ndidi

Advisor(s)

Silva, Ana Luísa dos Santos Diniz da

Abstract(s)

The current report corresponds to an internship experience with the duration of 6 months, from the September 18th 2017 to March 17th2018 at The Centre for Fine Arts of Brussels - BOZAR and proposes to rethink the general practices of Othering in the artistic and cultural scene, specifically in reference to Contemporary African arts and cultural activities. Starting from the contextualization of the decolonization of politics of representation via deconstruction of academic and artistic references and collaborative processes in this practice, the general aim is a better understanding of Europe’s contemporary social texture, “not being one culture anymore” (Hall, 1992:297), but a complex layer of ethnicities, including of people and Afropolitan individuals changing the dynamics of the artistic processes. Instead of about “them”, as the African people bound to a place or space, it is rather aiming for an understanding about “us” all in the wide context of Europe and the world. The aim of the internship experience was to investigate how a well-known and respected artistic cultural institution like BOZAR, in Brussels, specifically via its Africa Desk-Afropolitan Platform, can present the best of contemporary artistic creations linked to Africa and its Diaspora in Europe, and how it may positively strive to engage a mix of audiences and to open up perspectives to a new image of Africa, while providing advocacy to the new wave of African Diaspora and young generation of identities resulting from it. Therefore, the report seeks to question what is the essential role of European funded public institutions, functioning within European laws, policies and political agenda, which operate in the arts field while dealing with society and social integration. Moreover, how these institutions can actively implement and open dialogues among European societies and include African voices in today’s global societal and cultural discourses. Finally, after detecting what are the old and static perceptions around African Contemporary Art which are still present today, but maybe not visible, or even silenced, in many circumstances, the report purposes to observe what is the current approach employed by BOZAR that strives to highlight the contemporary creativity of the African Continent and Diaspora in line with its international mission to promote cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue and ultimately to encourage and implement new conversations around this topic to foster a concrete deconstruction of the existent fixed paradigms and ideologies.