Mashing Up the Archive

The African continent is the focus and basis of all activities at the Iwalewa House in Bayreuth. The production and presentation of discourse-oriented contemporary art has been the main task of the Iwalewa House, which is part of the Africa Center at the University of Bayreuth, for the past thirty years. Working together with artists and institutions, the Iwalewa House actively presents the latest developments in Africa’s contemporary culture. Despite the increased focus, when the German public encounters African art today, it still views it as something rather exotic.
Conceived as a “contact zone” in the 1990s, the museum is not limited to one specific building; the artworks are displayed around town in places marked by political and social tensions. In this way, the limited space of the museum is allowed to extend into the sphere of everyday life. With the help of the guest curator from Nairobi (Kenya), vacant buildings, a DIY store and a tanning salon will be used as venues for a mini festival. The project aims to increase public awareness of African cultures and the conditions of Africans living in the diaspora. In connection with the university, the fellow will critically examine the 600 pieces of the collection along with the archived materials. The goal is to have this material viewed from a different perspective and presented in new contexts.

Exhibition “Mashup”

This exhibition presents the compiled results of the fellowship project with works by African contemporary artists, produced during their time as artists-in-residence and at both “Mashup the Archive” festivals in 2013 and 2014. The exhibition also marks the grand opening of the new exhibition rooms at the Iwalewa House. The central feature of the “Mashup” project comprises six artist-in-residence fellowships. Each artist was invited to explore the archive and art collection of the Iwalewa House and respond to what they discovered with new artworks of their own. For example, Kevo Stero and Otieno Gomba from Nairobi have developed installations and paintings highlighting the traditional concept of masks. Uche Uzorka from Lagos has created collages which critically examine the openness of the archive. Sam Hopkins and Simon Rittmeier jointly present an artist book, in which they develop their fictional idea of a lost archive. Leading experts have been invited to participate in two discussion forums, “Mashup as Defiance: Culture, Appropriation and Postcolonialism” and “Aura: The Object in Postcolonial Art Collections”, both of which aim to explore the subject of the exhibition at a deeper level. The guest speakers include Nina Huber, Eduardo Navas, Françoise Vergès and Giulia Grechi.
The project is accompanied by a new virtual user interface which will provide access to the archive in the future and promote the development of new digital techniques for its presentation.

Curator: Sam Hopkins & team
Artists: Kevo Stero, Otieno Gomba, Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi, Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, Délio Jasse and Uche Uzorka