With the Gown must go to Town, the Department of Painting and Sculpture of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) features the works of forty-three of the Department’s 2015 graduating class of BFA students and eight selected teaching assistants. Also featuring are six special guest artists, all graduates of the same Department, whose works have featured prominently in other important platforms of contemporary art.

In the past decade, the Department has risen to become a hub of ambitious Contemporary Art in West Africa. The new spirit was instigated by an Artist Collective of young tutors inspired by k?rî’k?chä seid’ou’s Emancipatory Art Teaching. The Artist Collective and its networks introduced a new spirit of contemporaneity, material and political sensitivity, and reflective public engagement into the curriculum. The titular the Gown must go to Town, a précis of the ethos of the present curriculum, is a rehash of an important axiom in the acclaimed speech, The African Genius, delivered by Kwame Nkrumah in 1963.

As the exhibition brings the academic ‘gown’ to town, these artists probe the dispositifs and uncertainties of the 21st century. Taking inspiration from the dynamism of the city, the exhibition invites the ‘town’ to teach us. The anticipation is that the barrier between the institution and its outside dissolves, and that the town equally flows through the gown.

Exhibition Opening: Friday 19th June 2015. 5pm-8:30pm.
Daily Viewing: 20th June – 17th July 2015. Mon-Sat. 8am-5pm.

Participating Artists (BFA Class of 2015 – Selected):
Mohammed Taajudeen Abdulai, Michael Adjei Danso, Sandra Kusi Agyei, Joshua Ahenkorah, Dzidepo Mensah Ahlijah, Ronit Akomeah, Effie Amonoo, Larry Amponsah, Lois Selasie Arde-Acquah, Prince Akuffo Asante, Alvin Ashiatey, Fred Afram Asiedu, John Attakora Gyimah, Mustapha Awuni, Emmamuel Kwasi Azumah, Eunice Oppong Baah, Lawrence Baganiah, Osei Sarfo Barima, Samuel Boateng, Elolo Bosoka, Frank Botchway, Joshua Osei Mensah Brobbey, Felix Adu Darko, Francis Djiwornu, Dzidefo Kwami Yao Dogbeten, Adjo Kisser, Farouk Haajar Ameen Kudos, Silas Mensah, George Neequaye, Elvis Nsiah, Stephen Odei Tettey, Ruby Oduro, Emmanuel Opoku Manu, Yaw Owusu, Derrick Owusu Bempah, Belinda Owusu-Boakye, Emmanuel Kwaku Pianim, Gershom Sackey, Kafui Torgbui, Samuel Nii Wellington, Chartwell Cofie, Mary Osei Baah, Bright Gyimah Danso

Participating Artists (BFA Class of 2014 – Selected)
Mavis Tetteh-Ocloo, Gideon Asmah, Kwame Asante Agyare, William Duku, Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi, Francis Anim Sakyi, Godfried Tetteh, Joshua Gblorkpor

Special Guest Artists
Afia Sarpong Prempeh, Jeremiah Quarshie, Selasi Awusi Sosu, Dorothy Amenuke, Edwin Bodjawah, Ibrahim Mahama

Curatorial Team
Artistic Directors: k?rî’k?chä seid’ou, Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu, George Ampratwum Curators: Robin Riskin, Selom Kudjie, Patrick Okanta Ankrah, Mavis Tetteh-Ocloo

Support
Michael Adashie, Dorothy Amenuke, Edwin Bodjawah, Kwabena Afriyie Poku, Kofi Setordji, Odile Tevie, Stéphanie Soleansky

This edition of the KNUST End of Year Show is kindly supported by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, the Nubuke Foundation, the Cultural Attache’s Department of the French Embassy, and friends of blaxTARLINES KUMASI, the Contemporary Art Project Space of the Department of Painting and Sculpture, KNUST and Ibrahim Mahama (Artist)

www.ghanamuseums.org