Thursday, 28 Mar 2024
Month: June 2011

Photo of Michael Ouma. Taken from his Myspace-site.

Acoustic moments: A portrait of Michael Ouma

A talented and multidimensional artist in his own right, Michael Ouma has been there and done that and lived to play the tune. His insight into music is almost legendary and gives one the sense that he plays from a totally otherworldly place compared to his peers. His passion for music and his desire to see the day when Uganda’s music and its instruments are recognized globally fuel his daily pursuit to become better at what he does.

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(c) Digital art by Eria Sane Nsubuga, 2011.

Sane: Artists should put their creative minds into Ugandan culture

Ugandan artists must be passionate students of Ugandan tribal cultural norms and values, artifacts, material culture, and oral history if they are to win back their much needed relevance. Artists should go ‘native’, then perhaps it would be more interesting for the local language newspapers to write about visual arts. Sane sums up some discussion points after an Art Forum at Goethe Zentrum.

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Still image from video, courtesy of Cyril Ducottet & Bayimba Cultural Foundation

Do we really care about our Arts and Culture? Ugandans speak out at their 2nd national conference

In May newly elected parliamentarians were sworn in amidst colourful cultural performances from all over Uganda. How significant that across the road from them, the theme “We don’t care about Ugandan arts and culture” was discussed at the 2nd Annual Conference on Arts and Culture. Several speakers tried to prove the audience that we do need to care. But the question arises; will art ever be put on the agenda of politicians if we merely consider it to be part of our every day life as the speakers illustrated. And what are the underlying challenges?

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Isha's Hidden Treasures in broad daylight

Poetry in Session: An intellectual revival in Kampala

In the midst of the proliferation of entertainment joints extolling the virtues of “baby take off your clothes’’ music, a remarkable revolution of poetry is taking place, in the Kampala suburb of Kira Road, at a gallery called Isha’s Hidden Treasures. What started last November with an audience of 15 people has now turned into a much-anticipated meeting of minds. Achola Rosario reviews the event.

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How to Curate Your Own Art Exhibit

Curation can be described as the sorting and presentation of work/art for presentation to an audience. Its role is pivotal to the reception of work from the artist or gallery to the target audience, and it plays a major role in the success or failure of selling work. Photographer Roshan Karmali gives you some key ideas if you want to curate your own artwork.

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David Oduki at ‘Let Us Share Beauty’: “Adapt exhibitions to global trends”

David Oduki, the co-founder of Royal African Foundation, attended the opening of the exhibition “Let Us Share Beauty” in Utrecht, the Netherlands. “Local galleries in Uganda should be aware of global trends and adapt exhibitions to those trends. They also should promote the likes of Collin Sekajugo and explain their recycling message to the local public,” David Oduki tells Startjournal.

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