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Africa - Arts and New Media

UNPLUGGED Symposium: Plug-In II: Artistic Aggression

What does the age of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) imply for the dark continent? Can art perhaps offer Africa a means of resistance and a way out of her exclusion? These question will discussed during the Plug-In II of the UNPLUGGED Symposium: Sunday, Sept. 8, 15.00 – 18.00.

Today, there is every indication that the new partition of Africa has assumed forms of artistic aggression designed to rob the continent of any cultural, philosophical and civilisatory identity. How is this to be understood in the context of the much-lauded globalisation? This will be the focus of art theorist Iba Ndiaye Diadji's presentation.

For Oumou Sy, fashion designer and Internet pioneer from Senegal, a label 'made in Africa' is a strong and dynamic concept which symbolises not only a market or an economic value in the age of globalisation, but also an African identity and a positive image of Africa. It can contribute to the general introduction of an 'Africa' label.

Davis O. Nejo, a Nigerian curator living in Vienna, deals with the question of 'unpluggedness' in the African context. He shows that Africa is 'plugged in' in another way – and art and new media offer totally new possibilities.

Jay Rutledge will concentrate on the 'impure' urban part of Africa, which is the most 'plugged in' and has already taken the step into the new Media Age – and doesn’t fit into the Western picture of Africa.

Marcus Neustetter from The Trinity Session in South Africa shows that the web, like any space, is being colonized by those who understand how to use the medium to their advantage. While there have been independence fighters that have tried to break down the dystopian arrangements that have manifested themselves through the dictates of the online powers, these are starting to show neo-colonialist tendencies, especially in terms of the commercial power of the Internet. Those that were disempowered should be taking on the medium and becoming active participants. This is, however, not always the case in South Africa.






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