Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking

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Installation View

Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking

An exhibition presented by Ghanaian blaxTARLINES and the art communities of Uganda at Amasaka Gallery in Masaka City until 13 January, 2024.

8. janvier 2024

We are creating our own accesses and silent invasions. Such silent revolutions spread like a mycorrhizal underground network that is sprouting between Ghanaian blaxTARLINES and the art communities of Uganda. This Uganda-Ghana Exchange program, organized by UNDER GROUND Contemporary Art (Uganda), Vodo Art Society and Lab (Uganda), Weaver Bird Residency and Amasaka Gallery (Uganda), hosts the blaxTARLINES art community (Ghana) to stage an exhibition that delves into the expansive concept of hacking, exploring its applications to materials, ideologies, and intangible viral forms.

The exhibition silently invades an architecture abandoned to its unrealized future: Like foliage slowly expanding in a construction left to its fate, art is sprouting on unfinished brick walls like unusual mushrooms, mingling with the structure to finally overtake it. Whether it is abandoned architectures, habits of viewing art, norms of communication, the social resignifications of collective memories, the politics of safety and surveillance, the politics of representation, historical narratives– hacking as a form of insertion of new subjectivities into existing (and often narrowly defined) systems can take many forms and have many subjects. It is not more and not less than hijacking the vantage point to steer the narration towards new perspectives.

With Ethel Aanyu (Uganda), Bright Ackwerh (Ghana), Adjo Kisser (Ghana), Afia Prempeh (Ghana), Akosua Odeibea Amoah-Yeboah (Ghana), Akanyijuka Evans (Uganda), Aloka Trevor (Uganda), Hassan Issah (Ghana), KasaggaDennis (Uganda), Kasangati Godelive Kabena (DRC), Jacqueline Katesi Kalange (Uganda), Matt Kayem (Uganda), Kiggundu Rodney (Uganda), Kiyingi Henry (Uganda), Kyakonye Allan (Uganda), M A K A N O (DRC), NantezaFlorence (Uganda), Dan Ngaara Ngalamulume (Rwanda), Odur Ronald (Uganda), Ojok Simon Peter (Uganda), Frederick Ebenezer Okai (Ghana), Jonathan Okoronkwo (Ghana), Piloya Irene (Uganda), Daniel Arnan Quarshie(Ghana), Sandra Suubi (Uganda), Lisa C Soto (Puerto Rico/Ghana), Xenson Ssenkaaba (Uganda), Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson (Ghana), Wamala Kyeyune Joseph (Uganda), Yiga Joshua (Uganda).

Curated by Nantume Violet, Julia Gyemant, Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson, Zitoni Kayonga Tristan Tani and Sascia Bailer.

Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson, Ethel Aanyu, Dan ‘Ngaara’ Ngalamulume at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Wasswa James

Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson, Blue: A noodles Substrate Microtopography, 2023, video installation and Blue noodles, 2021, noodles, 205 x 105 cm at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Odur Ronald, Muwawa, 2021, Installation of objects made of aluminum printing plates and copper wires, variable dimensions. Courtesy of the Artist and 32° EAST, and Ethel Aanyu, Opala, 2023, archival print on canvas, 85 x 81 cm at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Odur Ronald Muwawa, 2021, (detail) at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Dan ‘Ngaara’ Ngalamulume, Aloka Trevor and Hassan Issah at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Trevor Aloka, Surveillances, 2023, Charcoal on paper, group of 25, overall dimension 160 x 215 cm at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Wasswa James

Trevor Aloka, Surveillances, 2023, (detail) at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Wasswa James

Hassan Issah, Lyrical Opulence, 2023, locally welded iron cage on wallpaper, variable dimensions and An old story, 2023, 52 works on paper on locally welded table at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Installation view, Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson, Blue noodles, 2021, noodles, 205 x 105 cm and Dan ‘Ngaara’ Ngalamulume, Skydream III, 2023, Acrylics on canvas, 83.5 x 87 cm at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Dan ‘Ngaara’ Ngalamulume, Skydream III, 2023, (detail) at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Installation view, Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson, Dan ‘Ngaara’ Ngalamulume, Kyakonye Allan, Wamala Kyeyune Joseph, Akanyijuka Evans, Lisa C Soto, Sandra Suubi at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Bright Ackwerh, Kamulari twongeremu? (Shall we add some more pepper?), 2023, two digital prints on paper, each 84 x 84 cm at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Dan ‘Ngaara’ Ngalamulume, A walk in the Park, 2023, Acrylics on canvas, 87 x 126 cm and Makano Bwato, Drowning and Drowning in Yellow, 2023, acrylic on canvas, each 100 x 100 cm at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking Photo: Atiko Anthony

Daniel Arnan Quarshie, Maame Adakaba, 2023, jewelry box, plinth and glass box; Rewinder, 2023, music box, plinth and glass box and Afia Prempeh, Girl with the chewing stick, 2022, Oil on canvas, 139 x 109 cm at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Afia Prempeh, Housewife Dream, 2022, Oil on canvas, 88 x 82 cm and Matt Kayem, Slumber Party, 2023, Acrylics, oil pastels on denim and bark-cloth, 153 x 214 cm. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Matt Kayem, Slumber Party, 2022, Acrylics, oil pastels on denim and bark-cloth, 153 x 214 cm, Ethel Aanyu, Esikadikit, 2023, archival print on canvas, 98 x 71 cm at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Kabena Godlive Kasangati, Made 5, 2023, and Makano Bwato, Drowning, 2023 at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Kabena Godlive Kasangati, Made 5, 2023, 2-channel colour video with sound, 3:28 min, Edition of 3 + 2 AP at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Makano Bwato (from left to right): Blue heart, 2023, Acrylic, spray paint on woven matt, 87 x 180 cm, Sex or Love, 2023, Acrylic, spray paint on mattress and carpet, 190 x 90 x 18 cm, The Migrant, 2023, Acrylics on boxes, 38 x 38 x 35 cm, wEGOt, 2023, Acrylic, oil pastel and spray paint on canvas, 150 x 100 cm. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Piloya Irene, Metaphors of Reflection (DAA II, III, IV and GOMSI), 2023, installation comprising photography and Kyenkyen barkcloth, variable dimensions at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Jonathan Okoronkwo, Metabubbles, 2023, video work, 2 mins 59 sec at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Akosua Odeibea Amoah-Yeboah, Konvershin, 2022, video work, 2:23 minutes (left) Diallo, 2021, video work, 10:00 minutes (right) at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Wasswa James

Yiga Joshua, Kapyata, 2023, Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100 cm at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Kyakonye Allan, The first caesarean, 2021, egg-tempera on tinfoil, 120 x 180 cm and Ethel Aanyu, Esikadikit, 2023, archival print on canvas, 98 x 71 cm at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Lisa C Soto, It reminds me of home, 2023, Instruments, games, teapots, cups, foraged leaves, mats, 365 x 275 cm at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Wasswa James

Lisa C Soto, tea ceremony in her installation It reminds me of home (2023) on November 14, 2023 at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Wasswa James

Frederick Ebenezer Okai, Me Nko M’abrabϽ, 2023, wire mash, pottery objects, variable dimensions (Site-specific installation) at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Frederick Ebenezer Okai, Me Nko M’abrabϽ, 2023, detail. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Yiga Joshua, Cave of dolls, 2022-2023, banana fiber dolls on colored boards, variable dimensions. at Silent Invasions: The Art of Material Hacking. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Childhood memoir, 2023, performance with Drum beat Uganda, November 10, 7 pm. Photo: Wasswa James

Childhood memoir, 2023, installation from barkcloth, bamboo, cotton, sisal, acrylic paint, nylon, thread, 620 x 1240 x 100 cm. Photo: Wasswa James

Sandra Suubi, Olugoye lwaffe, 2023, public procession from Masaka Central Market to Amasaka Gallery, November 11, 2023. Photo: Atiko Anthony

Kabena Godlive Kasangati, Made 11, performance staged during Silent Invasions The Art of Material Hacking, Sunday, November 12, 2023. Duration 2 hours. Photo: Atiko Anthony