Call for applicants: Àsìkò 4th CCA, Lagos International Art Programme

Visita ao Castelo Elmina por participantes de 2013, Cape Coast, Ghana. Foto: Mimi Cherono Ng'0k (Cortesia CCA, Lagos)

CALL FOR APPLICANTS
Deadline 2nd March 2014

Àsìkò 4th CCA, Lagos International Art Programme

A History of Contemporary Art in Dakar in 5 Weeks 
Dates: 5th May – 8th June 2014

In 2010 the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos began an innovative project, Àsìkò, CCA, Lagos International Art Programme with the aims of filling a gap in the educational system in Nigeria and many African countries, which tend to ignore the critical methodologies and histories that underpin artistic practice. The programme comes out of the need to build local support structures for art production, critical thought and to provide a conducive framework that encourages and advances the individual research and production of participants. Using the format of part art laboratory, part residency and part informal art academy, over the course of 35 intensive days “A History of Contemporary Art in Dakar in 5 Weeks” will focus partially on technique and primarily on methodology, critical thinking, and the implementation of conceptual ideas.

At the end of the programme held in Accra in 2013, the participants provocatively titled their final presentation, "A History of Contemporary Art in Ghana in the Last Five Weeks." Was this gesture an attempt to indicate that the complex history of contemporary art practice in Ghana could be broached within the temporal period allotted—five weeks? Certainly such an elaborate history condensed and absorbed in the space of 35 days, or 840 hours, is subject to questioning. Despite its inevitable sentiments of reductiveness, the title nonetheless provided a space of examination and reflexivity, a space in which to dwell on the effects of time and its potential in tune with the central theme of “The Archive.”

For the 4th edition of Àsìkò, organised in collaboration with Synergie contemporaine, Dakar led by artist and professor Viyé Diba, we intend to move away from a definitive theme towards a more open discursive model that allows the research interests of both the participants and the faculty to be highlighted. We will focus on and explore African and African Diaspora cultural production, examining its shifts and developments in recent years using the 11th Biennale of Dakar – namely its main international exhibition - as well as the over 150 Dak’Art OFF programmes as an the point of departure. The programme will take into consideration the various aesthetic, contextual strategies and professional techniques deployed by artists and scholars working across a multiplicity of forms including visual art, literature, film and dance and the critical and cultural theory that complements it.

Who Can Apply?

■ Applications are open to artists and curators from Africa and the African Diaspora who have been professionally active for at least 3 years and with a visible commitment to their professional artistic and their curatorial practice.
■ Artists can be working in any media - painting, sculpture, textile, ceramics, photography, video and new media, performance art, writing, theatre and dance.

For additional information and application form please contact:
Àsìkò Project Coordinator, Erin Rice
[email protected]