CCA Lagos is calling for applications for the 5th edition of its International Art Programme Àsìkò. It will take place from 22nd June until 18th July 2015.

Using the format of part art laboratory, part residency and part informal art academy, over the course of 28 intensive days “The History of Contemporary Art in Maputo in 4 weeks” will focus partially on technique and primarily on methodology, critical thinking, and the implementation of conceptual ideas. The programme will be of benefit to art and cultural producers interested in thinking through the conception and execution of their practice, who are curious and interested in experimenting with modes of practice and thought outside of the traditional modes of working but not to its total exclusion. It will focus principally on artistic production from Africa and the African Diaspora.

Curatorial Segment of the Programme

The programme will include the 4th curatorial segment begun in 2012 responding to an urgent and continuing need for more curators on the continent. Over the past three years 7 participants have taken advantage of this course to develop their skills and their knowledge. During the 28 day course, curatorial participants will be encouraged to develop their research methodologies, hone their proposal development as well as their critical writing skills, engage closely with artists from across the continent as well as with experienced professionals from around the world. The curators will be challenged to develop and engage new curatorial formats and strategies for the final programme under experienced curatorial supervision.

 “A History of Contemporary Art in Maputo in 4 weeks

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.”  This examination continued in 2014 in Dakar, challenging received ideas and opening the parameters for alternative as well as individual perspectives.

For the 5th edition of Àsìkò, we intend to move away from a definitive theme towards a more open discursive model that allows individual perspectives and research interests of both the participants and the faculty to be highlighted. We will continue to focus on and explore African and African Diaspora cultural production, examining its shifts and developments in recent years and its place within a global cultural context. Within the curatorial segment we continue a discussion begun in Dakar on the need to excavate exhibition histories in Africa in order to complete what Art History exists today .  The programme attempts to take into consideration the various aesthetic and contextual strategies deployed by artists working across a multiplicity of forms and to engage with art historians and curators  on 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 and writing.

Deadline: Monday April 19 2015

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www.ccalagos.org/