Younes Rahmoun, Ghorfa #7, Al-Âna/Hunâ (Traveling to the mangroves of river Wouri, Douala, Cameroon), 'Salon Urbain de Douala', 2010. Courtesy of the artist and Doual'art
OFFICE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART NORWAY ANNOUNCES
'Poetics of the Infra-Ordinary'
A lecture by Art Historian and
Tate Modern Curator
Elvira Dyangani Ose
Wednesday 14 March, 19:00
Live audio
streaming
Office for Contemporary Art Norway
Nedre Gate7, 0551 Oslo
www.oca.no l
info@oca.no
OCA is pleased to announce the opening of its Winter/Spring 2012 Semesterplan with the lecture 'Poetics of the Infra-Ordinary' by Art Historian and Tate Modern Curator Elvira Dyangani Ose as part of her participation in OCA’s International Visitor Programme. This lecture is the first in a series of talks and discussions OCA will host throughout 2012 relating to contemporary art, society and politics in Africa to explore dialogues initiated at 'Condition Report', a symposium organised by Raw Material Company in Dakar in January 2012.
About the Lecture
In his book L'infra-ordinaire published in 1989, Georges
Perec calls to the production of a narrative of daily life, of the
common things. He emphasises the activist potential of the
narration of the habitual, the everyday life, which occurs far from
newspaper headlines and big events. Over the past decades African
urban spaces have witnessed some of the most innovative, engaging
and participatory artistic practices, which seem to follow suit
Perec's analysis. Those projects start from the need to address
issues occurring in their cultural contexts that would otherwise
have remained unnoticed. They produce not only a narrative of daily
life experience, but also create a new vocabulary, which connects
art and society, abolishing the traditional narrative of author
versus spectator. Elvira Dyangani Ose looks at the strategies
of some of these initiatives such as 'Le Salon Urbain de
Douala, SUD', Douala, Cameroon or the 'Picha Recontres',
Lubumbashi Biennale, Democratic Republic of Congo, which pay
special attention to the significance of the space in which the art
intervention is being produced and reflect on the social
relationships that are established in those spaces.
Elvira Dyangani Ose's lecture is also available through radio streaming on OCA's
website.
About the Speaker
Elvira Dyangani Ose was recently appointed curator of international
art at Tate Modern, London, UK. She is currently a Ph.D candidate
in the History of Art and Visual Studies programme at Cornell
University, New York, NY, USA. She holds a graduate degree in the
Theory and History of Architecture from Universtat Politècnica de
Catalunya, Spain. She is a founding member of the Laboratory for
Oral Resources in Equatorial Guinea, an independent research group
on Equatorial Guinea oral tradition studies and also member of the
research group Afroeuropeans at the University of León, Spain. As a
freelance curator she developed several interdisciplinary projects,
focusing on recovering collective memories, interventions in public
space or urban ethnography, most significantly, 'Memoria i
Desconcert: Art a Guinea Ecuatorial', 'Urban Emotion o Authentic
Fiction'. As a specialist in contemporary African art she has been
a guest professor at the University of Barcelona, Spain, and has
taken part in lecture cycles addressing African artistic production
and contemporary culture. In the last two years she curated an
exhibition of contemporary South African artists called 'Olvida
quién soy / Erase me from who I am' in collaboration with Tracy
Murinik, Khwezi Gule and Gabi Ngcobo and 'Tres scenarios/Three
scenarios', both of which took place while she was curator at
Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, CAAM, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria,
Spain. She will also serve as the curator for the next edition of
PICHA, a biennial of photography and video scheduled for the autumn
of 2012 in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Upcoming in OCA Semesterplan –
Winter/Spring 2012
'Poetics of the Infra-ordinary' by Elvira Dyangani Ose will
officially open OCA Semesterplan – Winter/Spring 2012, which will
see the artist and author Matias Faldbakken
presenting 'Portrait Portrait of of a a Generation Generation' in
OCA's public space from Wednesday 28 March to Saturday 23 June.
Also, in May 2012 the filmmaker Peter Watkins will
participate in OCA’s International Studio Programme. During
Watkins's stay at OCA's Munch residency at Ekely in Oslo, his
filmwork will be dedicated a short retrospective to be held at OCA
from 7 to 14 May.
About O3–funds
Elvira Dyangani Ose's lecture at OCA is supported by O3–funds as
underwritten by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for
enhancing collaboration in the contemporary art field with
professional artists in countries designated by the MFA. The
purpose of the O3–funds as allocated to OCA is to further develop
cooperation and professional networking between OCA and the
constituency of artists, independent cultural producers, and
organisations that are located in designated countries. This
includes but is not limited to 'professional research visits by
cultural producers, artists, and curators', 'short-term residencies
for cultural producers and artists', 'seminars, conferences, art
projects, workshops that focus on the further development of
professional exchange and networking between and among countries',
and 'project development on an international scale'.