“With evidence of coded beaded patterns, communicative frequencies with non-human agencies, and connections to ancient practices, new media can embody new forms of consciousness and expressions of ‘otherness’ that have come to define digital art.”

Enos Nyamor

Enos Nyamor looks at digital arts from Africa and their potential for connecting to the past and inventing the future. Photo: C&

Contemporary And (C&) was deliberately founded as an online magazine with the desire for it to be accessible beyond physical distribution boundaries. Free content for readers from Accra to Rio de Janeiro to New York. Accessibility is the bottom line. Connecting people and visualizing their artistic production is what C& has been and is constantly doing. Digital space is the main tool of the global network that creates the content of C&. Digital connections have become even more urgent during recent weeks, in which a pandemic has had and is still having a worldwide impact.

This first C& print edition of 2020 focuses on digital arts and their potential for connecting to the past and inventing the future.

In conversation with David Alabo, the Moroccan Ghanaian artist creating speculative digital African landscapes. Photo: C&

Enos Nyamor asks how much digital art production in Africa is stereotyped. Artists Natalie Paneng and David Alabo speak more specifically in interviews about their practices. Creative producers Ingrid LaFleur and Daniel Kimotho give insights on cryptocurrency and its ability to increase economic activity and output from African perspectives. Nelly Y. Pinkrah discusses how histories of race, Blackness, and (media) technology have always been intimately intertwined. Finally, Awour Onyango focuses on the Kenyan art scene which is countering the erasure of Kenyans from Nairobi’s tech boom through digital and VR work.

In conversation with Natalie Paneng, the South African artist building a bridge between Instagram and the art world. Photo: C&

Do enjoy this utterly analogue version of C& here.

The first 100 to write us, will receive a copy of our new Print Issue #11 Conscious Codes, Anyone? straight to their homes. If you want one, send us a mail to info@contemporaryand.com with your full physical address and the subject: We are Contemporary And.  

Your C& Team