The Nigerian Art of Patronage
Deji Toye looks at the legacy of arts funding in Nigeria and questions whether the longstanding trend of patronage over policy remains in the interests of the benefactors rather than the creators of the works or the wider public audience. George Ufot had a problem, which did not start as one, but now was. He […]
Mining the Biennale
In late 2012, two contemporary art exhibitions opened in the same country, with the same themes and bearing the same title. Cédric Vincent* exposes the tangled web of intrigue, political rhetoric, trash talk and cyber manipulations that caused all the chaos at both Benin biennales. *translated by Dominique Malaquais Everything was looking good for the […]
Boyhood and Transit
Reliving his personal journey to developing a passion for the game, Bongani Kona reflects on the rise and fall of three Zimbabweans in South African rugby. You ask me to tell you about rugby. These are the facts: the game is contested between two opposing teams, with fifteen players and seven substitutes in each team. […]
Love and Learning Under the World Bank
Stacy Hardy recounts seventeen stories of the hierarchies, the anti-heroes, the hard knocks and the histrionics that have been visited upon universities as a result of decades of decidedly imperialist structural adjustment. Additional research by Oddveig Nicole Sarmiento. 1. At a meeting of African university vice chancellors held in Harare in 1986, a World Bank […]
A Political Economy of Noise
Kangsen Feka Wakai traces the uncharacteristic journey through a “noisy era” of one of Africa’s heralded statesmen and reveals that his road less travelled has set him somewhat apart in the hood of the neo-liberal BigMan. Like most Big Men, Joachim Alberto Chissano has lived an eventful life. And like many of his generation, he […]