Art: Backlash on Kenya’s Performance at 55th Venice Biennial Continues..

Backlash on Kenya's de-tasteful performance at Venice continues this time on a well written post in the blogosphere. I like his assertion below; 

The presence of a national pavilion, especially for countries participating for the first time, signifies a confidence; a newfound progressiveness and cultural involvement by governments, which demonstrates to the world the brilliance of contemporary artists available within the nation’s borders. It also goes to demonstrate a society with a heightened creative capacity, one that continuously speaks to itself and possesses a cultural consciousness that the government continuously supports. - cryptic paradoxes

You can read the whole article here 

Nairobi Graffiti Train: Keeping the Peace by All Means before the March 4 2013 Elections!

Kenya in the run up to the March 4, 2013 General election was awash with peace campaigns of all manner. A good example is the graffiti peace train. The logic behind this was the train passes smack in the middle of one of the informal settlements in the city which was a hot spot in the disputed 2007 elections.

Nairobi graffiti train from Marc Hofer on Vimeo.

Creative Kenya: Just a Band's New Video Dunia ina Mambo

 Listen to Just a Band latest music video with some subtle political overtones of the 1980′s and based on the soundtrack of a popular detective sitcom of early 90′s called Tahamaki

Research Findings: From Theatre Royal to Pop-up Galleries - Timeline of Art Venues in Nairobi by Olivier Marcel

Maybe one day Nairobi will be laid out with tarred roads, with avenues of flowering trees, flanked by noble spaces and stately squares; a cathedral worthy of faith and country, museums and galleries of art, theatres and public offices. - Dutton Eric in Kenya Mountain, 1929

In Volume XI n° 3 – 2013 of Mambo! [IFRA Publication] Olivier Marcel takes a closer look at art venues in Nairobi from 1910 to present day. Then, he goes ahead to give a visual representation/mapping of art venues vis a vis key political events in Kenya and East Africa.

In his finding Oliver posits that most of the art venues and institutions in Nairobi lack institutional memory.

An astonishing example is the fifty year old Goethe-Institut, which has virtually nothing but testimonies to account for the activity that preceded the arrival of the current director in 2007. Additionally, when a venue shuts down, as did Wahome Mutahi’s popular Citrus Whispers Theatre in Ngara, its memory is only shared orally in small circles of theatre enthusiasts and progressively fades into oblivion.

Marcel also observes that there might be differences of intention between local organizers and their western counter parts. Western donors will usually partner with art organizers with the sole agenda of putting Nairobi on the Map! 

This paper also points out how foreign donors came to settle in the art space. As is always the case most of the foreign donors have a role play and an agenda they seek to push.  Marcel makes this clear by pointing out how informal settlements have become attractive for art projects which are usually financed by foreign donors.

   

Download the publication here [pdf]

Olivier Marcel is a PhD student in geography who is currently completing his thesis titled “Tracing Art from Nairobi, Geog­raphy of Art Mobilities in an East African Metropolis” (Bordeaux 3 University - LAM, UMR 5115).

European Union Election Observation Mission to Kenya: Final Report

EU Election Observation Mission Report

Download the EU election observation mission report here

Kenya Rising: Record Sales figures achieved by Kenyan Artists at AfricaNow Exhibition at Bonhams London

AfricaNow Poster

Bonham's has an exhibition and sale aptly titled AfricaNow which has been take place each year from 2009. The focus of AfricaNow exhibition is to bring to the world the flourishing modern and contemporary African art. 

This year’s exhibition has seen the hosting of a charity auction of eight lots by eight contemporary Kenyan artists, in association with The African Arts Trust and Circle Art Agency with the generous sponsorship of Afren. The proceeds from this auction are intended to go directly to projects that support the development of visual art education in this country

The eight artists included in this auction represent all that is best from the current crop of Kenyan contemporary artists. These artists were selected by Danda Jaroljmek of Circle Art Agency and Robert Devereux of African Arts Trust.

Download the AfricaNow catalogue here

Artists who participated and Prices their work fetched

1.  Joseph Bertiers (Kenyan, born 1963) Yesterday afternoon, 2013 Sold for £4,000 inc. premium

Yesterday Afternoon by Joseph Bertiers

Yesterday afternoon depicts a busy market scene after the announcement of the failure of the biometric BVR vote-tallying system at the recent Kenyan elections in March 2013. The IEBC announced they would be counting the votes by hand, which caused panic-buying by Kenyans anxious to get home. In the ensuing rush, traders got top prices for their wares.

2. Michael W. Soi (Kenyan, born 1972) China loves Africa 6 Sold for £3,250 inc. premium

China loves Africa by Michael Soi

China loves Africa 6 is part of a series of ten works created between 2012 and 2013 which addresses the presence of China in Africa. Soi views China’s involvement in Africa as a type of economic recolonisation.

3.  Anthony Okello (Kenyan, born 1976) Masquerade, 2013 each 42 x 63cm (16 9/16 x 24 13/16). diptych (2) Sold for £6,250 inc. premium
4. James Muriuki (Kenyan, born 1977) Untitled (from the series 'Undefined Constructions'), 2013 Sold for £1,250 inc. premium
5. Beatrice Wanjiku (Kenyan, born 1978) This constant yearning, 2013 Sold for £2,500 inc. premium
6. Peterson Kamwathi (Kenyan, born 1980) Untitled (from the 'Peri-Urban Encounters' series) Sold for £3,250 inc. premium
7. Paul Onditi (Kenyan, born 1980) Half Life, 2013 Sold for £3,125 inc. premium

8. Cyrus Kabiru (Kenyan, born 1984) C-Stunners Mini Morris Sold for £1,500 inc. premium

Source: http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20560/

Uchaguzi 2013 M&E Report: A Post Mortem of Uchaguzi Project 2013

Screen Shot of Uchaguzi

iHub Research recently released the highly anticipated report on the Uchaguzi deployment.  Below are some of the highlights I picked from M&E report.

On Technology

Such election watch projects should not be geared so much towards the technology itself, but rather should explore best practices for building viable partnerships around such technology platforms to amplify citizens’ voices in the electoral process in the long term – and thus contribute towards an improved democracy.

On Publicity & Outreach

The fragmented mode of publicity and outreach made it the weakest link in the deployment. Therewas no overall guiding strategy hence each partner was left to his or her own approach leaving room for duplication of efforts or missing some activities. There was only one documented strategy, around the community radio outreach.

On Citizen Experience

“Don’t risk missing the bigger story here: the simple act of residents recording actual ground level events themselves will have a long-term transformative impact on society – nowhere perhaps, as profoundly as in places like informal settlements.” - Erica Hagen, co-founder of Map Kibera & GroundTruth Initiative

Key Take Away

Incidentally the key recommendations for the Uchaguzi deployment were done three years ago. This is from the Uchaguzi: Case Study by Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Knight Foundation written in 2010 after the first deployment of Uchaguzi in Kenya and the general election in Tanzania. Their recommendations were as follows;

• Plan early. One resounding challenge was aiming to achieve many objectives in such a short time period. Planning early, from 6-12 months prior to an election/referendum was strongly and widely recommended.
• Further build effective partnerships. Defining and agreeing on roles, responsibilities and expectations will help partners implement a successful project.
• Develop Strategies (e.g., campaign, feedback to action, security and privacy). Strategies should aim to 1) improve the filtering and verifying large volumes of information; 2) strengthen feedback loops and action by building an urgent response team, and; 3) provide any necessary security & privacy plans for the project and its users.
• Use simulation. Simulation exercises can help identify obstacles, test new technology, and improve workflows and communication approaches. These activities can better prepare people for an upcoming election/referendum day and provide a wealth of community building and learning opportunities.
• Paper maps. Uchaguzi-Tanzania participants recommend transforming the web-based map into paper maps. This would help local partners share the information with communities that are unable to access the map in its online format. Sharing maps in a newspaper immediately after the election would also broaden the reach of Uchaguzi efforts.

About Uchaguzi

Uchaguzi was developed to avert crisis by acting as an early warning system or preventing the escalation of identified incidents to crisis proportions. This is a buildup of the Ushahidi deployment which was done in December 2007 and early 2008.

Uchaguzi enabled Kenyans to keep an eye on the vote and provided avenues through which they could report any incidences significant to the election, with any technology available to them thereby facilitating collaboration between wananchi (Swahili for citizens), election observers, humanitarian response agencies, civil society, community-based organizations, and law enforcement agencies to monitor elections.

Download the report here

Economic Insights: Kenya 2013 Budget Brief by KPMG

KPMG Budget Brief

Download the Budget brief prepared by KPMG here

Public Lecture: Virtuous Leadership Alexandre Havard, Jul. 15 2013 @ Strathmore University Auditorium

Public Lecture: Virtuous Leadership by Alexandre Havard Poster