Join us on July 26th at 18:00 CEST / 19:00 EAT for an artist talk with Isaac Kariuki, co-presented with distant.gallery, moderated by Rose Jepkorir and Mika’il, the Muezzin. ⁣

Africa’s already hostile and bizarre relationship with social media found a new antagonist in February 2020 when videos emerged on Weibo of young children from Malawi chanting racist slogans in Mandarin as requested by patrons. The children, under the ruse of learning a new language, then became points of mockery and amusement. Another node in the web of exploited African children emerged. ⁣

In Isaac Kariuki’s new show, the fractured politics of observing and being observed online are gambled with in a YouTube-style carrousel of African entertainers and their spectators. The traditional tourist attraction of bone-breaking and contortioning leave the carnival and into the murky terrain of reaction vloggers. Who is performing, and to what end, in a lineage of colonialism and survival occupation are questioned.⁣

distant.gallery