Fucking good art#25 Writing about! ~in selfless service to our community~ ~in selfless service to our community~ in selfless ser

Editorial first week comprised a hectic Good evening, I’m Patrick Mefang // Public art or art in public spaces? schedule of visits to art insti- Writing about tutions and cultural funding // Never swallow the past // Cultural context of Douala // Editorial: 3 Talking About! bodies. Interspersed amongst Writing About Talking About // Art and gentrification: a problematic these visits were several public infatuation // Interview with Goddy Leye // Wine and smoke on the Lucia Babina and Zoë Gray or semi-public events, which enabled us to broaden the water // Cultural context of Douala // What happens when we conversation to include ad- 4 make time to talk with our ditional interlocutors. For peers from another coun- the second week, each of our try, from another continent, guests worked together with a from another cultural context host, a carefully chosen artist, altogether? For the project collective or institution who Talking About!, we invited six had been “match-made” with artists and cultural practition- our guests. Achille Atina Tah ers from Douala (Cameroon) worked with me [Zoë Gray] to travel to Rotterdam in at Witte de With; Ruth September 2009 to gain Belinga with Annie Fletcher an overview of the Dutch and Charles Esche at the contemporary art scene. Part Van Abbemuseum; Goddy workshop, part tour, Talking Leye and Hervé Youmbi with About! was primarily a peer- Kim Bouvy & Elian Somers to-peer exchange, a sequence at Het Wilde Weten, with of conversations between our David Maroto (Duende), and Cameroonian guests and their me [Lucia Babina] of iStrike; Dutch counterparts. From the Lionel Manga with Emil- outset, we were determined iano Gandolfi & Alexander that we would not predeter- Vollebregt at TU Delft; and mine the topic of conversation Achillekà Komguen worked nor did we want to specify the with Rob Hamelijnck &

outcomes of this two-week Nienke Terpsma5 at Fucking trip. Good Art.

Our model for this open- This last pairing was made ended approach was an earlier as Achilleka is the found- project in which we had both ing editor of the magazine been involved, one as co-or- DIARTgonale and was look- ganizer, the other as guest. In ing for ways to develop his 2007 the Rotterdam-based publication in new directions. foundation iStrike and the One idea that emerged from organisation doual’art from this pairing was to create a Douala worked together magazine that combines the on the event SUD – Salon formats and readerships of Urbain de Douala, a week- their respective publications. long festival that took place The outcome is the maga- across the city, comprising a zine you hold in your hands. series of performances and This issue ofFucking Good Art – of which we are proud the inauguration of many1 works in public space. iStrike to be the guest editors – is and doual’art invited a group designed to be inserted inside Editorial: DIARTgonale. The format is of Dutch-based artists2 and curators to attend. Beyond adapted to fit the size of its Who’s writing meeting members of the local Cameroonian sister publica- art scene, there were no de- tion, yet it retains its signature fined prior expectations of us, pink paper and design. The no requirements to produce same articles that appear something as a direct result here in English will appear of the trip. Within this open in French in DIARTgonale, framework and rather impro- with certain differences due vised atmosphere, many con- to the differences between our nections were made between editorial decisions and those the Dutch visitors and their of Diartgonale’s editor. Cameroonian homologues, connections based on personal Within the pages of Fuck- affinity, chance, timing. ing Good Art – Writing About! you will find the transcript of One of the people we met an artwork by Libia Castro there, Achille Atina Tah, & Olafur Olafsson, a story a young cultural mediator of one young Cameroonian’s then working for doual’art, attempt to cross the Sahara mentioned one evening that desert and make it to the he would be keen to see how promised land of Fortress Eu- institutions functioned in rope. As a counterpoint, artist the Netherlands. This started Goddy Leye – in conversation a chain of extended con- with Emiliano Gandolfi – versations – with other arts narrates his European training professionals both here and and how he decided to invest there, with funding bodies, his career in a life-long project with artists, with embassies, in the district of Bonendale with visa agencies – which in Douala. Goddy Leye and lasted almost two years. The his frequent collaborator conclusion of those conversa- Ruth Belinga each present tions was Talking About! The a short text ruminating upon the ideas they encoun- fusion with DJ Nemawashi in come to the conclusion relation to itself but in the To this effect, the curator is in museum is a big museum of from one country to another, We were greatly surprised to tered during Talking About!, attendance. Public art or art in public spaces? that no common artistic or political context of its presen- The curator’s role in contemporary direct contact with artists, art contemporary art in a small depending on its socio-cul- notice the massive partici- in relation respectively to art 5 Full biographies of all the aesthetic perspective is being tation? promoters, the general public, Dutch city. It has four cura- tural reality. In some coun- pation of journalists and of guests and hosts can be found art’s new mission and gentrification, and to the together with the detailed Achille Edouard Atina Tah drawn. Here at home, tradi- the local and the international tors in addition to the director tries, the relationship between the public during exhibition professional practice of curat- programme of Talking tional as well as new genres A tara, I should stop now Ruth Afane Belinga art market. This requires cura- Charles Esche, who is also artist and spectator-consumer openings. Rotterdam-Douala, 2009 ing. Achille Atina also explores About! on the weblog: www. (such as video) are being used. and yet I still have so much tor to have a certain mobility, a curator. According to the are less developed. This is talkingabout-rotterdam. Douala-Yaoindé, 2010 certain ideas that came to light 1 Is this a strength or a weak- more to say. You can’t imagine curiosity, a sense of organiza- museum’s head curator, An- largely due to the fact that the With the experience gained in Rotterdam, in his examina- blogspot.com A tara, there in the land of sible to reduce the city to an ness? A tara, it is henceforth how much my last trip was a tion and negotiation skills, but nie Fletcher, a good exhibi- museums and institutions that at the Van Abbemuseum, I tion of public art and what it the white folks, I kept asking external object that is exterior urgent that an artistic logic slap in the face. You should Today, artworks are not and can- creative process. But it is clear above all, a great knowledge tion takes a year or more of function as meeting-points now envision creating an open could mean in a Cameroonian myself why public contempo- to ourselves, observable from is established. Contemporary know that in the universe of not be what they used to be. The that the spectator – should of culture. Curators listen to preparation. Fletcher works still adopt a traditional ap- and independent space for the context. Rob Hamelijnck and rary art – so despised and ne- afar. The phenomenon of the artworks should use their the city, submitted to extreme developments in current artistic he want to assume an artistic society and guide the artist to in close collaboration with proach of looking at artworks presentation of contemporary Nienke Terpsma present the glected here, forever debated city needs to be henceforth physical, plastic strength by conditions (cars, crowds, etc.), practice are irrefutable and have responsibility – needs to act as produce works that are rel- artists. She discusses with and, consequently, remain art in Bonendale, Douala. To transcript of their harbour only in terms of function or presented as a component unifying with their immediate contemporary public artworks produced a decisive change in the a mirror to the artist. In other evant to society’s needs. As for them projects initiated by the very commercial. ArtBakery this effect, the first project tour with Achilleka Komguen beauty – was so highly viewed inherent to human life, as an environment (through a dia- need to indicate that we can meaning of art. words, in order to establish exhibitions, they work with museum. Then, she proposes experienced this two years ago (which is currently underway) and Lionel Manga. Musing on the old continent [Eu- articulation of relationships lectic between in-situ/ex-situ). still create heterogeneity in the Mikel Dufrenne, Paris, 1972 a complementary process of designers to arrange the space artworks to the other curators when it gathered young con- is to gather information on together about what art could rope]. A tara, as artistic and and experiences, whether in However, this should not be midst of the fashion for the creation, the viewer needs to of the museum. Sometimes, who then judge together their temporary artists, young art Cameroon’s contemporary mean in such a massive, indus- cultural projects are supported Rotterdam, Douala, Yaoundé simply a formal relationship, identical, common political Art in a given society is the en- consistently go from theory this arrangement of spaces relevance to the project. Once historians, journalists and gal- artists in order to establish a trial context, their conversation and financed, so the social or even in my native Okola. but should take the entire space amidst the influence of semble of works that aim to satisfy to practice, from vision to forces the viewer to be impli- the proposal is validated, they lerists to organize a number database that will be ac- ranges from the situation in and even political frame- My trip gave me the occasion environment into consid- the Media. The artworks offer society’s aesthetic necessities. creation. cated in an artwork’s creative discuss together the arrange- of exhibitions in Douala. The cessible for consultation at Rotterdam to that in Douala. works are strongly affected. to reconsider one important eration, involving the whole us a sensual experience that Etienne Souriau. Date? process. A close collaboration ment of the museum’s spaces, exhibition projects included ArtBakery. A network will Annette Schemmel meditates When speaking of public thing: the ‘urban’ is not a vol- urban context, maybe even in confronts us with their physical It is at this level that the between exhibiting artists the communication plan for Ladies, presenting artworks then be established between upon retellings of history in the art, we touch upon the arts ume that is simply exterior to a playful way. For example, an presence in space. It is their Nowadays, few artists draw curator intervenes. The cura- and other participants in the advertisement on the Internet by six artists during Women’s artists, the newspaper Di- light of the 50th anniversary of and aesthetics, but also (by the individual. The city is not artwork could play with ele- way of ‘doing politics’: to fight sketches of their work, as tradi- tor is not a mere planner of project is more than neces- and newspapers, and so on. Day in April 2008, produced artgonal, ArtBakery’s resident Cameroonian independence, a process of generalization) placed in front of us, A tara. ments of time as well as space, with their presence against tion would have them do. They visual art exhibitions, but he is sary, but this collaboration is Meetings are held on a daily in collaboration with Galerie artists, and young theorists, whilst Lionel Manga and Alex- upon the city and the urban The city should be understood with the qualities of light and reifications (of the body, of the do not create just an artwork, also theorist. The curator has not always easy. Sometimes basis until the project is real- le Carré; and Masoma, the which will enable everyone to ander Vollebregt explore what sphere, then upon politics and as a network of relations in sound, as a way to engage gaze, etc.) – and this only with but participate instead in the double task of defining artists consider the role of the ized. Afterwards, they work first solo show of artist Justine participate effectively in the it might mean to take things to the organization of society which we insert ourselves. with its context. their playfulness. creating an entire art scene that a rigorous epistemology of curator superfluous, and on on gathering information Gaga in Douala, May 2008, creative process, while also (or upon the models we make Our existence unfolds as a focuses on aesthetics, on the aesthetics, to include himself the “next level”. the other hand, some curators about the artists for archival produced in collaboration1 giving a better visibility to We hope that the texts pre- of it). The proof is that those shared experience of the city, A tara, what if a cultural and notes relationship between people, in artistic practice, and to attempt to undermine the purposes. In this way, they with Galerie Keuko. In- contemporary art. sented here in this special issue who dare to speak up, even a universe of architecturally political logic also existed 1 Author’s note: A tara is a and on different psychological include himself in the crea- role of the artist, and impose have the tools to present the depth research was done to of Fucking Good Art give you a negatively, of art’s relationship constructed relationships. It is in our country? You see, I typically Cameroonian ex- or physical phenomena. Most tive process. His role is, more their personal taste in art to same exhibition years later. present a general overview sense of the collective adven- with the city, never cease to not for nothing that public art never thought that artworks pression, used particularly by artists are conscious of and precisely, a productive one the public. The curator’s role is of Cameroon’s art scene, raise political issues. is an art performed in public, the people living in the centre assume this new status of art that is at once critical, analyti- ture we have experienced to in public space settle sim- of the country, but understood thus of capital importance in Involvement in any creative to present artists’ different notes date. We also hope that they A tara. ply for a play on forms and throughout. It is an expression within society. cal and practical. The curator the creative process and in the act is the starting point for methodologies, and to present 1 Two additional exhibi- form the springboard for fur- A tara, does public art not recognizable signs; they aim of familiarity and affection – through his work – needs promotion of art today. an appreciation of artistic a proper ‘reading’ of the exhi- tions were planned, but have ther adventures and conversa- create a form of collective Why is it that there in Europe instead to animate, in one used towards a conversation The artist’s vocation is social to establish new relationships activity. I have observed such bitions. The installation of the not yet been realized: Fresh, tions, between the participants inscription in the space of the we are able to consider public way or another, the relation- partner. It is similar to “my and his activity has a pre- with artists, with the public, During my trip to The an appreciation for artistic exhibitions’ spaces was also presenting Cameroon’s new city? In other words, is it not spaces and streets as poten- friend” or “my brother” and is cise goal. His socio-aesthetic and with theorists. He needs wave of contemporary artists, of Talking About!, the contribu- ships between passersby. In also used to attract someone’s Netherlands as part of Talking activity through the testimo- taken into careful consid- all of whom had completed tors to Writing About! and also a platform where everyone tial moments for extending Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The attention, rather than using responsibility puts him in the to allow new creative methods About!, I was able to explore nies of artists and cultural eration. In the absence of a residencies at ArtBakery, and amongst those of you whom we is found? This seemed to be our relationships to others Hague and Eindhoven – the their name. position of a mediator. His to be developed that can com- this reality over four days mediators, in Europe and in catalogue, the production of Galerie le Carré; Le Phoenix, have not yet met. the case in Amsterdam and with and through the media- cities we visited – it seemed work should include the ply with the ‘new aesthetics’ at the Van Abbemuseum in Africa. But it is clear that this educational sheets proved to featuring over thirty canvases in Rotterdam. A tara, and tion of artworks, and not in that the artworks in public spectator in each step of the and respond to society’s needs. Eindhoven. The Van Abbe- interest can vary considerably be the most adequate solution. by painter Pascal Kenfack. notes what if in our country, we also our country? Why? Do they space successfully played 1 The festivalSalon Urbain established a politics of art, a deserve it more than us? with a predicted exacerbation Notes de Douala was part of the politics of taste, a politics of of judgment and taste, thus their loaded past and are think the past is something to program SUD 2007 which Are our habits to blame? relations between tastes, at the forcing passersby to become Never swallow thus now back on stage, fully leave behind in order to then 1 Jörn Rüsen is a Senior Fel- was realized by iStrike and moment when public space A tara, you know well that low at Kulturwissenschaftli- doual’art and included also the spectators, to talk amongst rehabilitated. The German proceed to something more is being sacrificed as it has everything happens in the eye the past ches Institut Essen and project Ars&Urbis International themselves. The city in this re-unification that is equiva- pleasant. Actually the past is head of the research project Workshop (Douala 2007), the recently been in Yaoundé and of the spectator. His gaze is manner is created and undone Annette Schemmel, image contri- lent with the gaining of full always already a part of us, ‘Der Humanismus in der publication Douala in Transla- in Douala? not always captured by the at the very expense of the political autonomy as a nation shaping our personalities, our Epoche der Globalisierung tion (episode publishers, Rot- butions by Marjolijn Dijkman artwork. We should even ask artwork. state, conceded by the Allies lives, we cannot get rid of it. – Ein interkultureller Dialog terdam 2007), and WideSUD A tara, in any case, thanks to ourselves: at what precise über Kultur, Menschheit (2008). For further information of World War II, is here often Those who try to present it to the project Talking About!, moment is his gaze caught During our discussion at und Werte’ / ‘Humanism in see www.istrike.net Talking About! taught me to Enough Room for Space, art misunderstood as a national us in a handy portion deserve the era of globalisation - an 2 The group consisted of questions were raised around by the work? When does he speak with pertinence about activist Lionel Manga brought achievement that allows to our suspiciousness. intercultural dialogue about representatives from de Ap- the meaning of the city, of stop? And even: what is it contemporary public art, to end a period of public remorse culture, humanity and values’. pel, Museum Boijmans van up the notions of Memory our cities. Because, you see, it in the work that makes him envisage analysing today the about the Holocaust and to Slightly nervous about my Beuningen, Rijksakademie, TU seems to me that the presence stop? You know it, A tara, an and History as useful topics Delft, and several Dutch-based meaning of public art itself start ‘moving forward’, to 6-months-old daughter’s of public art contributes to the artwork establishes a play for a joint project by European artists - Zoe Gray (Witte de and of art in public space. and African artists. Of course wherever that might be. patience span, I sat down in With), Patricia Pulles (Sons- creation of a multi-faceted sit- of distances, of volumes (in The experience allowed me he is referring to Cameroon’s Kameruner, a pastry speciality this somewhat grandiose, beek 2008), Edith Rijnja (Rijk- uation: spatial, temporal (since front/behind); it forces us to construct analytical tools In the middle of October now scarcely populated main sakademie), Esther Vossen (De colonisation, I thought, linking from Berlin, here spelled phoneti- when?), reflexive (why?), po- to reconstruct our path: to that can be applied to public cally, seen in a bakery in Berlin- 2009, I attended a conference auditorium of HKW, located Appel), Alexander Vollebregt litical (who decided?), artistic bypass, avoid, or enter into the us together whether we like it (TU Delft), Libia Casto & art in other contexts. To begin Neukölln, my neighbourhood. in Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen within arm’s reach of the new (what is the genre?), aesthetic. work. or not. But the main reason for Ólafur Ólafsson - together with, I learned to analyse the Lionel’s suggestion was the 50th der Welt (House of World governmental district of reu- with the authors. But, in a wider sense, with its th syntax of public art: its tem- anniversary of Cameroon’s in- Cultures) that took the 20 nited Germany. A recurring 3 We visited the Prem- play between presence (here) Perhaps it is necessary to learn poral and spatial dimension; anniversary of 1989 as an oc- voice on the stage belonged sela Foundation, Platform 21, dependence, coming up in 2010 and absence (there), public art how to distinguish different the operations and provoked casion to rethink the notions to an elderly historian from SMART Project Space, De helps us outline a contempo- genres of interventions in (as I learned soon afterwards) Appel, De Bazel, Prins Claus movements; the potentially of Memory and History. The the University of Essena rary urban concern. I came public space. For instance, the and the inevitable public cel- Fonds, Das Arts, If I Can’t short lifetime of a work; the ebrations planned for this event end of Apartheid in South who repeatedly and with Dance I Don’t Want To Be Part to the realization, A tara, that distinction between artworks disappearance of artworks; the that would enable Cameroon’s Africa that also dates back to considerable self-satisfaction Of Your Revolution (all Amster- public art questions our tra- produced in public or those routes and sites that are given this year was a reason to invite presented this same idea, that dam); De Paviljoens (Almere); undemocratic government to ditional approach to the city, performed in public on the value or in which value is historians, psychologists, Germany’s way of dealing Casco and BAK (Utrecht); our routes through the city, artists’ initiative. Then,A tara, present 50 years of unfulfilled Stroom (The Hague); Museum ascribed; the introduction of ethnologists and artists from with the (Nazi) past and the and thus, our way of living the cannot we also – as they do promises as a history of success Boijmans van Beuningen, NAi, art into pre-existing spaces in to the people. Can you imagine (South) Africa and Germany steps historiography had Nederlands Fotomuseum and city. You just had to look at over there – create manifes- the city (squares, crossroads, that I can’t remember having to exchange publicly. The con- taken in this process, had been Witte de With (all Rotter- how the city spoke to me and tations of public art which in front of ‘important’ build- ference’s English title, ‘Deal- so successfully accomplished dam). questioned me during my trip function to open up the ‘mu- heard about Cameroon’s his- ings); the choice of locations; ing with the past, Reaching that South Africans should decision about what and how From flames to the light, the 4 The guests presented their to the Netherlands, and to see seum’ to the city, to establish a tory during 13 years of school, work at Rijksakademie van the power attributed to a although it had been a German the future’, suggested that ‘the take it as an example. Now I to remember to historians event-show of the battle of how the art in public space, public presence of artworks, to Verdun, France, 2009 Beeldende Kunsten. The space, the manipulations of future’ was a foreign land that was happy that my daughter and officials, I guess we have indeed the entire construc- disseminate art in big cities, to colony? And yet, Memory and discussion I Am Public: Art space. Then, I saw how to ana- could only be reached when was too little to understand found a perfect starting point and Social Change in Douala tion of the city, gave me the a broad public? This could be, History are domains in which My daughter Lilo and me lyse the semantics of public the past had been dealt with; a word. We weren’t going to for engaging in an artistic and watching a colonial painting was held at Witte de With. key to understanding today’s for example, a public exhibi- Germans consider themselves art: its references to forms, just as if you told your child swallow this easy and pre- intellectual co-production: of the old harbour of Douala in There was a discussion session cultural habits of the inhabit- tion held on the city’s streets world-champion. at Enough Room for Space codes, and to the hierarchies Histories that are not fully dealt that he first has to eat up yes- chewed version of history that The ambivalence and open- the book Deutsche Architektur ants of the Schengen zone. I where each artist would be with are not visible, not spoken in Kamerun, 1884 – 1914 and a drinks reception hosted between media and subjects. terday’s vegetables before he was brought forward in this ness of art makes it a perfect could understand thanks to offered a street corner. One of the effects of the lately about and not commercialised? © (Stuttgart, 1988) by Fucking Good Art. A night Finally, the message of public can go back to play or else he patronising manner. medium to negotiate these of films selected by the guests the contemporary artworks regained national self-esteem Marjolijn Dijkman Is our art the problem? art’s messages: in particular, will spend the next ten years topics, just as Lionel sug- was shown at WORM, titled that I touched and saw in in Germany — due to the the discourse on public art. To on your lap, facing the dread- So, if we agree that we don’t gested. Cameraroon! Het Wilde Weten this country with its long and You would say, A tara, that in peaceful re-unification in 1989 hosted a program about the which general political order ful spoon. It also suggested want to be spoon fed with established artistic tradition. terms of public art, there is and the celebratory football role of local artist collectives in should public contemporary world-cup in 2006 — is the that dealing with the past the popular/public version of a global context, titled The Glo- a wide diversity of practices. art be referred? How is its often heard idea that Germans meant to digest it in order to Memory and History because cal Artist Collective. Finally, club You should know that, for me, Even if we limit ourselves to ‘message’ being heard, not in get history as a result. I don’t we don’t want to delegate the Attent presented Lions club from now on it is impos- a general overview, we quickly have ‘successfully” dealt with international, a night of funk panies) or in order to attract to develop socially conscious artists, who can’t afford them, ciation. If art is about making were developed further after intention of going back to that we developed with the who made the design drew years old (even if sometimes it Art and gentrification: tourists or investors (thinks projects. The end results are simply move away before visible (Paul Klee) or about Interview with 1998 when we founded a Cameroon immediately after local council, the Develop- direct inspiration from Palo- is difficult to keep the smaller a problematic infatuation the city council), or just to an improved image of the being kicked out. The council the gaze (Marcel Duch- Goddy Leye collective called The Dreamers. the end of the residency pro- ment Committee. They would mino’s shelter. Since all these ones from coming anyway...). improve on the overall image area and a free bonus for the uses the arts to “solve” severe amp), then, the gentrification My studio became a public gram. I was already planning meet regularly to explain to art projects were developed in These kids have the opportu- Goddy Leye of the locality (thinks the city officials from the council or social problems (like drug enterprise, way beyond the By Emiliano Gandolfi space where people would to start the ArtBakery project the inhabitants what we were Bessengue, the local inhabit- nity to work with up to 6 artists council, the local and regional the local government, who trafficking) but does not financial or political agenda of come regularly and question as a major engagement, but planning to do, so when the ants started seeing their own teaching them how to draw, Right Bank of the Wouri river, October 2009 governments). One way of usually come and talk about provide any sustained support the city councils and the real Rotterdam, September 2009 our work. before starting this long-term project finally started every- neighbourhood with differ- paint, to work with clay and achieving this is to encourage how efficient their methods to the artists, leaving them estate companies, can help in project, I decided to test some one was already informed and ent eyes. Now the river-bank also introducing them to po- Artistic intervention in public in infamous neighbourhoods artists to either settle there or and policies are. Actually, in dire straits. Real estate the shift of mind-sets. And EG: How did the frequenta- of the ideas I was develop- was excited about helping is kept cleaner and people etry, theatre, dance, and in the space as the means to improve and artists are asked to engage to implement creative projects they are right. Their policy companies pay a token fee for everybody knows that poverty tion of the local people actu- ing in a project that would us. The shelter by Palomino are more receptive: they pay past two editions we also intro- the living conditions of inhab- in social issues and (kind in the area. This is attained could consist in letting oth- artists to reshape the image starts with the depreciation ally influence your work as an involve the inhabitants of a finally hosted the radio sta- attention to the beauty of the duced them to environmental itants has become as com- of ) refurbish the place. The through cheap rents, financial ers do their job and they of a neighbourhood just for of the self. This could explain artist? neighbourhood. I also wanted tion by James Beckett. The space they live in. For exam- issues, to preserve ancient mon in the West as in Africa. request comes both from support to arts projects with just arrive in time to harvest them to sell it and make huge why such a rich land as Africa to work on a collaborative radio involved the local young ple, there is a young barber knowledge about the medi- Hordes of a new genre of social independent art organisations a social component, or even and appropriate the results profits. In developing coun- is still bound, some 50 years GL: It was a fundamental effort, including artists that I people in broadcasting music, who decorated his shop in a cal use of plants and also raise worker are invading our neigh- and local governments willing through the law (in the Neth- without having to foot the tries, nobody even bothers to after independence, to beg contribution. In an art gallery, knew could bring a substantial and also issues about their terrific way. He makes sure ecological awareness. Besides bourhoods with artistic projects to cleanse the image an area erlands for example, prop- bill, not even through a public pay for the job that the artists for help from less wealthy at least in a place such as contribution to Douala. neighbourhood. We couldn’t that he changes regularly the this projects with kids, we have to be realized in collaboration is presenting to the rest of the erty law allows people, often acknowledgement of the ef- – out of passion and concern countries… Douala where there isn’t really talk directly about politics, but decoration because he believes outreach projects with young- with the local populations. The community or to the world at artists, to squat an abandoned forts put in by the artists, the – will do anyway. Worst of all, any art criticism, there is no EG: So it was a project we could influence how the that he is living an environ- sters in which we teach them stakes here are multiple, and are large. The phenomenon is well building). It is a commonplace organisations and the people. artists are not social workers. Maybe art could help the sincere attempt to understand intended as a tool for public people would perceive their ment were art is present. And how to use a camera and video as much artistic as political or established in the West and that these actions by creative It is again a win-win situ- The general trend is for the people in underdeveloped the message behind the work. involvement in a neighbour- neighbourhood, developing he is proud of it. equipment, how to do editing, economic. Communities, asso- is now flourishing in Af- people always result in the ation: the area is improved, authorities and the develop- neighbourhoods to perceive However, the people from the hood of Douala. And how did – from a condition of illegal- whereas other courses develop ciations, real estate companies rica, as the desire to improve increase of property value and the population gets a better ers to run away from their themselves in a positive way neighbourhood shared with us it unfold? ity and marginality – a sense EG: Bessengue City was a writing skills and so on. It is are all implicated to varying things and ideas is shared by the up-scaling of the image of environment, the artists get responsibilities and to let the and thus make visible the po- their observations on the con- of belonging. testing ground for another crucial for the way they per- degrees whilst their precise art makers and art lovers the the place. It is therefore ap- moral satisfaction for a job unqualified artists do the job, tential that otherwise would tent of the work. To further GL: Bessengue is one of the important project held in ceive themselves and their own relationship to art and to artists world over. parently a ‘win-win’ situation. well done, and the officials get badly perhaps, but free of remain hidden. enlarge this dimension, we poorest neighbourhoods in EG: Was it legal to broadcast? Douala. With ArtBakery your habitat, through these skills remains unclear. the medals… charge. And then the infatuation started making exhibitions in Douala, completely self-built interest in working with a they start being more critical ‘Gentrification’ is the key In countries like ours, this between art and gentrification public space, for example on a by its 10,000 inhabitants GL: In fact broadcasting was collective and involving local about what they see, while also Since the early sixties, commu- word, when urban developers, process is hardly planned But here and there, the art- Artists and activists carry on would be meaningful. roundabout in the city centre. in an area that is dramati- illegal, and as a precaution we communities - in making and being eventually useful skills to nity art has spread quite rapidly city councils and real estate and in general, artists related ists are far from uncritical. with the gentrification exer- Through these events, many cally flooded during the rainy even limited the range of the understanding art - was con- build a profession. For Art- and dramatically, settling in less agents think of the process, to the neighbourhood want It seems to many that the cise all the same, quite aware people became our supporters season. In this neighbour- radio to 4 km, but that was solidated by the foundation of Bakery, it is of primary impor- developed areas and attempt- especially in the West and in their environment to look gentrification process uses of the shortcomings of their and many more entered into hood, a local NGO called enough to cover the entire an art residency program. tance to open the eyes of the ing to improve the lives of South Africa. An area that is different. So they work, in the poorly paid labour of the honeymoon with developers contact for the first time with doual’art was already working district. We even received a community to the effects and the locals through art related deemed unworthy would need most cases without sup- artists too easily. Once the and local governments, but art and with the relevance of with art projects as means of visit from the regional del- GL: In order to work on Art- possibilities of art, even though actions and projects. Art is thus some cleansing before it is port, with the people (and area is gentrified, the rents also conscious of the need of EG: Even though you have its message. Also importantly, development and in 2001, I egate that had been alerted by Bakery, in 2003 I decided to not everything we do is related frequently used as a remedy sold (think real estate com- sometimes against all odds) start to skyrocket and most the people for care and appre- an international career, your showing our works in public was involved in working on a the rumour that there was a move back to Cameroon and to art, or is actually an art piece artistic development has spaces was a way to train project. It was an important pirate radio. But the fact that start a project that could func- itself. We do public screenings, been strongly connected to ourselves, as we were chal- occasion to reflect upon what this was not a radio, but sim- tion as a residency program for example, we regularly show the specific conditions of lenged with the questions that it meant to make art in an ply an ‘artistic project’, defined for artists, and that could also foreign films and documenta- your home-town of Douala. were coming from the public. environment were people are a legal loophole within which become a place to give sup- ries, also to overcome the cliché Additionally, your work is It was a way to have people suffering problems related to we could operate freely. We port and train young artists that Europe is like paradise... pervaded by alternative forms engaged in a dialogue, which poverty. At last our conclusion started broadcasting everyday and curators. These programs This is not necessarily art, but of engagement, in terms of is something that seldom was that it was certainly more from 4 to 7 o’clock, actually it were integrated from the start it contributes to shape a critical your interest in working in a happens in a gallery setting. relevant to act in neighbour- was even a daily challenge to with the ambition of interact- understanding. We even have collective process - involving On the other side, we learned hood such as this, than in stop the transmission because ing with the local community a television broadcast called people from outside the art through this process how to some other posh art venue. the youngsters running the as a fundamental aspect of the Bonendale TV. context in your projects - and communicate more effec- We decided to work on a program were having too art process. The first stage was your lifelong involvement tively – borrowing ‘informal’ medium-term project with much fun! They had a huge to define what an artist-in- EG: You frequently refer to in several artists’ collectives. communication tools – and the ambition to achieve a number of programs everyday, residence program could be in the notion that “development Could you tell us more about at the same time we used this long-term effect. To do this, from rap shows, interviews, a place like Douala, and this is an aesthetic project.” What how this interest in collabora- experience back in the gallery I called some of the artists music, comedies, etc. After the brought us to initiate instead role do you think art can have tive work actually started? setting. By confronting the whom I had met in Amster- first month, the project was a ‘portfolio program’. We help in shaping an alternative in audience, we got used to re- dam and who could bring a meant to leave the equipment young artists to develop the Bonendale? GL: I must say that it started ceiving new ideas, but we also contribution to the project. to a group of local young- tools to enter the art world, out of necessity. In Cameroon understood the importance of For instance, I challenged sters that went on organizing and on the other hand, we in- GL: With art you deal with we don’t have that many art relating our projects to a spe- Jesus Palomino – a Spanish programs and events for two vite experienced international images and visions, and chang- galleries, so in order to get cific context and to consider artist well known for build- more months. They took over artists to share their own view, ing an image of a place has a our message across we – as making our own audience ing shelters in museums – to wonderfully, they looked exchange ideas and stimulate huge impact on people. Part a group of artists – decided part of the work. rethink his practice in a new for funding by themselves discussions. Parallel to this of the trauma of most under- to start engaging the audi- perspective and build a shelter and continued broadcasting program, we also organize developed countries, comes ence in a different way. We EG: It’s interesting to take among thousand of other regularly. master classes. from the negative image they started working as a collective into consideration the shifting shelters. Most interestingly, have of themselves. So it is very in 1993, with a group called notion of art in a city where he turned into a work of art EG: In a way Bessengue City EG: Bonendale is a neigh- important for artists to change Prime Art, focusing prima- there are no art museums, nor something that is completely was a seminal project in terms bourhood on the outskirts this image, and if you succeed, rily on how to define new any art academy, and where common in this environment, of its involvement of the of the city, which could be confidence will follow, as will forms of experimentation in even freedom of speech is not and by doing so he encour- local community and for the perceived as a separate village. the demand for a better stand- art. In those years I had the a given. Art becomes a way to aged the local inhabitants to definition of art as a form of The activities that ArtBakery ard of life. One of the biggest fortune to study at the École raise awareness on important have a different perception development. Do you think produces are embedded in the problems is to switch from one Supérieure d’Art de Greno- issues. To what extent did this of their own surroundings. we could say that new skills place, but in a way it is also image that is purely negative, ble, so I was bringing back first attempt to open up the Inspired by his broadcasting were developed among the an invasive presence. How to a new one, which can be a to Cameroon some ground- field to confrontation develop project in the Rijksakademie, inhabitants of Bessengue? does the relationship with the spark of energy. breaking experiences and new into an art practice in which I also asked James Beckett, community work? notions on art. In those years people actually became part an Amsterdam-based South GL: I must say that it is next to painting, we started of the process, as in your Bes- African artist, to start a lo- always difficult to define the GL: The work with the working more and more with sengue City project? cal radio. Finally, I invited a causalities of these kinds of community is a fundamental performance, with installa- third artist called Hartanto, projects, even though some aspect of ArtBakery. For us, tions and video. But the most GL: Bessengue City came al- who worked on establishing consequences are clearly dis- it is very important that the important aspect was that most four years after the first connections between people cernible from this experience. art that we produce has some we had the chance to come experiences with the Dream- in Bessengue and inhabit- For instance, at least four kind of relationship with the together regularly to discuss ers, and it represented the be- ants from his home-town in of the youngsters who were local inhabitants. In fact, we our works, and this became ginning of a different type of Indonesia. involved in the radio project consider them our first audi- vital for our personal growth. engagement with the neigh- are now working in commu- ence. That is why many of our Another important aspect bourhood. We soon realized EG: And what was the reac- nication businesses, in radios programs are aimed at intro- that we had to resolve was not that the participation of the tion of the local inhabitants to and in advertising companies. ducing an aesthetic vocabulary having a real venue in which public was not simply provid- all these art projects? The radio brought different to the community. In order to to exhibit, nor an audience. So ing a different understanding possibilities in their life and do this, we also organize a se- we decided to make our own of our works, but that in fact GL: The involvement of the stimulated new interests. An- ries of projects that we define art system by involving the the role of the public was vital people of Bessengue was, in other clear consequence was as ‘outreach’. For instance, we people from neighbourhood to the existence of the work fact, our main goal and for us that a water pump - as a com- have being running for four where we had our studio to of art itself. In those years, I to be effective, it was funda- munal space for women - was years now a program called come over and to engage in was at the Rijksakademie in mental both to the role of built in the neighbourhood Ateliers Vacances in which we a dialogue. These experiences Amsterdam, but I had the doual’art and the relationship by doual’art, and the architect gather 30 to 50 young people from the village from 6 to 16

you don’t have the papers.” ‘the fey’. They show you the off your shoe and you put it in all. Whenever he cried, some- day. You train yourself because there; up to you to make it. You Patrick’s Story 2008 / Good evening, B. ABA. They show you how the heel. You put the money one always sent him money. there is a barrier, a barrier of 6 leave, you get caught, or you do Avant-garde Citizens, Douala, Right. to forge money and all that, in there. He used it for the girls, he meters. And that’s the border; whatever you want. Cameroon I’m Patrick Me- A video work by Libia Castro Anyway, it worked out like and all that. Apart from the heel, you was always looking for girls. it’s in Tanger, Tanger is the & Òlafur Òlafsson fang. that! can also put money into a He lived… he thought he was border. So you train yourself Right, that’s how it is! Transcription French: To start with I slept. The next Right. ‘Colgate’, the toothpaste in Cameroon, he lived like we to sprint and to climb because And even if you succeed in Marilyn Douala Bell I was born in New-Bell (Cam- morning my trafficker took I was there for about a week. tubes. You open the end of do here, when we have some the barrier is real high, 6 me- crossing… because amidst… Translation English: eroon). I grew up in New-Bell, me to take the cars. They are When you have the feeling the tube, you open the end of cash. Yeah, so that’s what he ters and sometimes electrified, inside there, we are so packed Marianne Kirch and Peter I had a childhood like all the Kann those old 504s that are used that you’re ready, when you the tube, you put the money did when he was there. at night they electrify it; on that people die! So packed that other children there. I am the on the borders over there. know that you have learned inside, wrapped up well in Right. I couldn’t handle being the other side there are dogs. there’s no oxygen, you can’t first-born of a family of five Transcription from the video Right. So I took the 504. I the work a bit and you can plastic, and then you know with him because, well, his So, even if you make it over even breath. You die! You die… children, three girls and two work Patrick’s Story (2008) drove until Nigeria, from move on… yes, yes, you move it’s your tube. If they come lifestyle did not allow for sav- the barrier, you need to run, First... first it’s the cold that which is part of Libia Castro boys. I attended elementary Banki to Maidougouri. I paid on. And, let me tell you that to search you, if they come to ing; he got me used to living with the policemen over there. kills you. You are on the open & Ólafur Ólafsson’s Avant- school and got all the required the customs along the way, to learn that kind of work search you, you know all they like him. Policemen with those things sea. You also die from famine. garde Citizens ongoing diplomas. I finished high project the Nigerian police. I paid over there is a lot less expen- are going to find is toothpaste, Right. they put on you – to elec- You also die, ...it’s that you can school and got my Baccalauréat 500 nairas which is equal to, sive, but if someone wants I tell you! Unfortunately for him, he got trocute you. You know, these die of suffocation because we’re F3. about… which is equal to to teach you that here, you So, it’s kind of like that. sick, sick for a long time. He things they put on you to like, so packed. A boat that can about 4000 F CFA. will pay for the rest of your This means that when you caught a sexually transmitted shock you! Don’t know what normally take 200, they put in Right. life. Even before I left I had a don’t put your money in those disease. it’s called. 5000. It’s terrible! My troubles start from the In Maidougouri I took the friend who was a feyman. He places, they’ll ‘bobele’ you, So, Right. It paralyzed him. Right. So, in a sense, the And on the other side, when pockets and my papers. moment of my mother’s death bus for Kano. 6 hours of driv- did the Dubai route. He had they’ll ‘choa’ you. This means, He stayed sick, for a long training in Tangier is for that. you cross over, the border po- With all that, I was trapped. I in 2001… February 2001. So, ing. It takes forever, you are refused to teach me because it you get searched, they strip time, a long time until he… There’s also a camp of refu- lice, the water police stop you, don’t have any papers… I only after her death I was desper- tired. costs a lot of money to learn you. until he died. Peace to his gees there. We all stayed there. the Spanish. have a little money left, and ate. I had to find a job in the that kind of work. But over soul. When he died they You live.. you live… in French as I know that without papers Brasseries. Right. I worked Right. there, you can learn it for free. So, I was lucky, I got all the tried to repatriate his body we call that… so... there’s no Right. Those are the things, I you can’t go on to Europe, for one year…afterwards they In Kano… I stopped in Kano. way to Tamanrasset. to Cameroon, because all the house to live in, so we live, didn’t try that. But those are I rather went back to Cam- didn’t hire me. I spent the night there, at the Right. Tamanrasset, that’s where Cameroonians back there we call it… I can’t remember the things that, when you are in eroon. train station. After I’d had a little bit of you’ll find .... There’s patrons. knew each other. There are the expression, or maybe it’s Tanger, they tell about to pre- Right. There’s a place there where training, I went on to Agades. There’s a Cameroonian there, places where everyone meets ‘under the stars’, we often say. pare you. They prepare you for I only spent a month there. It was necessary for me to keep everyone sleeps. It’s a big Agades is already a border a Cameroonian who has up at night, where you go Yes, ok, under the stars, we what you are going to say when Why one month? Because I going; I had to provide for my station, everyone sleeps there. city. It’s on the border, and lived there siiince...the age when you’ve got nothing to live like that. You sleep, you you get to the other side. When stopped over in another city little brothers, All the travelers, even the that border separates three of Ahidjo. He has lived there do, you hang out there. We sleep on the bare ground. You the police catches you, from in Nigeria where I met some so, I had to do other things. Nigerians. You pay 50 naira, countries: Nigeria, Algeria since the age of Ahidjo. He is do all sorts of things… And have nothing but sheets to what we’ve been told, when the really great Nigerians. They As I couldn’t find anything that equals 250 F CFA... just and Libya. To get to Libya like a representative. He is like if anyone can help you out, he cover yourself from the cold police catches you, now there, were in the phone business. to do, I decided, with a group for sleeping, with mosquitoes you have to cross there. Even a counselor, but he is not a helps you out, and so on. and the mosquitoes. you have no papers on you to They sold telephones, tel- of friends, to set out on an all around and everything. if you are someone special? counselor, it’s not official. He identify you. When they catch ephone accessories, chargers, adventure. So, one morning, The next morning I took… No matter how you try to do is like a representative. So, anyways that was how we So, in the morning, if some- you, they ask you questions, you in. he didn’t have enough money, the Ivory Coast was better over.” Because, when I came batteries, telephones as well. I I decided to leave. I had a bit the car for… I think, the car it? At the moment it’s very We can him, we call him… lived! one has a bit of money, he don’t reply. You pretend to be Right. too, to keep her, so he decided than Cameroon. I said that I back I always had my lonely stayed with them over there. of money saved, on me, and as for Agades. I took the car difficult to cross over there. we call him… And little by little, we got by. helps you out. If the govern- deaf. If you really need to speak, And at that point... These to leave. came from the Ivory Coast. corner. I was always alone Right. As I had been stripped, usual, I had to touch my grand- for… yes, yes for Zenden, Anyway, I forgot the name. I We were already a group. And ment is aware, they give you you speak the way you do back things I tell you, they told us Where’s the proof? There’s no there; I thought to myself, I I explained my situation to mother for cash. Kano-Zenden. It takes So, I preferred to go via Al- forgot what we called him, I we stuck together. There’s a bags of rice and cans and stuff home. For example, if you ask in Tanger. I didn’t get there. Right. We were together proof. analyzed. them. They took me in for a forever, it’s really a long trip, geria by crossing through the tell you! But... he’s a repre- reunion of Cameroonians like that. That’s how you live. me, “What is your name?”, I At that point, as we had been over there, in Algeria and in So, all these people, all of us Right. In this period my while. So, with that, I left. and then the only annoying desert. sentative anyway, who has there. And we stuck together. Right, all the while waiting answer in my local dialect. I am prepared for when we would Morocco. ... Others said that they came friends really supported me. On D-day, I was the only thing on the way was the Now there, that’s another lived there since the time of We lived like we do here, and for your day to cross over. Bamileke; you can’t tell. I can be in situations such as these, He even has a family. He from South Africa, because if I have a friend in the United What made things go wrong, one to leave because all of my border police. Otherwise the thing, man! Ahidjo and everyone who we saved so we could go on. When you cross over, you are even insult you in my dialect we would be able to get out had an older sister who had they send you back to South States who told me not to do what even made me go back friends backed out at the last journey through the country The desert, crossing the desert gets there, you say that you on the other side, if you are because you can’t tell. easily. a good position. But for him, Africa you have also made it again, that it was stupid. to Cameroon was that I didn’t minute. doesn’t bother you. But it’s takes a long time, if you’re not are Cameroonian, you say Right. caught they make you go back So, it’s a bit like that. Right. At that point, when it’s not the barrier that kills it! There you’ve also made And so on and so on. speak their English so well. the border police that bother lucky you won’t make it, it’s that you are Cameroonian, again right there. They make I don’t have any papers so they you play mute, you don’t him, it’s crossing the road. it. So, as we didn’t have any Right. But I didn’t understand I tried with pidgin and they I didn’t take.... because there’s you. So, when you don’t have just a matter of luck. You pray he welcomes you. He’s also a What made me feel bad is you jump across the same can’t identify me. answer a single question, you Because over there it’s not papers, they dumped us all in that. didn’t understand that. They two ways out, two ways out of the papers, you have to pay to God to protect you… until Bamileke, he’s already married that I never sent money to my barrier again. Tough luck. You I don’t speak the same language don’t have a single paper on our little roads, it’s these huge the desert, and this time in Instead I prepared for the real don’t understand French. I Cameroon to Nigeria. the customs in order to go you arrive. Right. This time I with kids and everything. family. Of course I didn’t have fall, you get cut up, you break as you do. you, they put you in the camp major roads. Morocco, that’s a the desert, they gave us each thing this time, that is with couldn’t speak that kind of The first one is by Mamfe –You through. was lucky. It took me a week Right. So, he welcomed me, much. But anyways, it was your bones. Tough luck. It’s And then, when you’re in a of refugees, you live, you live, little like the white man. It’s a 250.000 F CFA. my papers to begin with. So I English that they spoke over pass through Mamfe and you and two days traveling. he welcomed me. I spent al- symbolic, even to send 100 none of their business. It’s situation like that, they put you you live there, you live there little like the white man. They was prepared, the second trip there. Otherwise I would have arrive in the water via Ikok. I That’s what I did, because I most a month there with him, euros even one time! your problem. in a camp of refugees. until the day that you don’t think that they have made it. With that, well, I went back I had a passport on me. I had stayed in Nigeria, because didn’t take that one because I’m had saved. I left with almost All you have with you is water because, when you get there, Right. That’s how you spend But then, that’s already on the have any family, you have no- But life over there is good, by the same route. my passport that I had made. Nigeria is ahead of Cameroon afraid of water. 350.000 F CFA. and these biscuits. You leave you have to stop, you have no Right. your time there. Spanish territory, in the camp body, you are tired. Even now too. The infrastructures are I went through Niger. I took like the elephant outgrows Instead I went by Yaounde. from there with a huge quan- money, you have to stop. He Actually, life isn’t so different of refugees. some people are still living good, the roads, big. Right. the same route as I knew the Right. I left again last year the chick. Nigeria surpasses Ngaoundere, the great North! Right. tity of water. Almost 20 liters finds you work, you work and I made the effort. When my from here. It’s the same life. over there. Crossing the road, he has that way... I went back. I run out in November. I left again last Cameroon in everything, for As a newcomer I thought of water, which doesn’t even most of the money’s for him. friend died, I went on by Except that over there, there’s There’s also another tactic: you If you manage to escape from accident and he dies. Because of money at the border, in year in November. I left… as everything. In money, in eve- Right. that was a lot and yet it’s last you, it’s not even enough. So, for, say,100 euros, you get myself. We tried to repatriate a distinction: there’s blacks arrive, you say there is war in the camp, you leave. there, that’s heavy traffic Banki. I was already used to it, I took rything, they are ahead of us! Near Maroua, Maroua is a nothing. I had no idea what And the biscuits, those are 35 and the rest is for him. him back to Cameroon, we and whites. The whites, the your country; you are trying to If you don’t succeed, because roads. The cars there go by Ok, there I‘m already in the same route. But now, this So, I was doing well over border city, there is a city next was in store for me. some special biscuits. You buy Yeah, you know you have to paid our respects and then I Arabs, they take themselves escape, you are trying to escape it is a big camp, guarded and 180 to 200 per hour. Cameroon. I called home in time, in Kano there was a cur- there in Nigeria. They took to the border called Maroua- them, they sell them at that try and save up a bit of money went on my way. I couldn’t for whites, think they’re the war. Now this is a special surveyed. ... And they feed Right. We had to repatriate Douala. They sent me a… few. I didn’t know that there good care of me. I spent my Mora, Mora-Banki. I spent the Right. So, in Zenden, I spent market in Zenden. These are like that before going on. stay there any longer because whites; They quarantine us. case. They call your country and you, they take care of you, his body to Cameroon. what’s it called? What’s the was a curfew. I went out for time with them. For about night in Banki. almost a week in Zenden be- special biscuits, made specially I was alone. I went on to Mo- ask if there’s really a war going because over there there’s a lot company? A Union Transfer, a walk, why, we’re in Africa. I a month. Right. One day I Anyway it took me three cause there’s a ghetto of Cam- just for that. You eat one bis- Anyway, I spent some time rocco. In Morocco… Morocco Right. The Spanish govern- on there? Is that city really at of injured people. We… our repatriation came Union Transfer or something, went out for a walk and a beer said, “well, I have to go back days to get out of Cameroon, eroonians, Africans. That’s cuit you can last all day. in Tamanrasset. I took the is too… it’s a country…there’s ment, the European Union, war? Between which people? Always injured people, injured from the fact that we didn’t whatever Union that is. Yes, before going to bed because to Cameroon.” They gave me because it’s not easy. Because where everyone gets together. So, that’s what you carry with route to Oran. Oran is a lot too much racism. They think they hang together; they had How many people have left people over there, and it’s have any papers and moreo- that’s what they did for me. sleep didn’t come easily. I was some money. They counted I have to sleep in the train in If you go there, you’re looking you. like Douala. Algiers is the they are whites. The Moroc- an agreement, had their deal Cameroon to emigrate? and all. even because they are injured ver the Spanish government And I went all the way back restless and anxious to go. the exact amount to get to Ngaoundere. for your brother; you ask, economic capital. Oran is also cans think that they are in because they already had a lot And so on … that they put them there. and the European Union home to Douala, but I have So, in Kano, the curfew, they Douala, and I arrived in And then again in the train they’ll tell you, “yes, he’s been And then there’s different one of the big cities in Alge- Europe. So life isn’t easy there, of immigrants. They inquire on all that. Because if you arrive in good have subsidized this project been away 9 months, I have picked me up, the Nigerian Douala with that money on from Ngaoundere to Maroua here, well, that was ... about a ways of keeping the money. ria, it’s the third capital. it’s not easy to live in Mo- So, if it is really the case for shape, they look for a good of repatriation. And then, been away 9 months. I came police picked me up. Because me. I had just about those which also takes all day. month ago, he went through If you don’t have cash on you, So, I stopped in Oran. rocco. It’s hard for a Cam- I don’t like water. Otherwise I those who are at war, like at reason to send you home. normally, according to the back just how I had left, so, there was a curfew they said 150 to take the moped to get I have to sleep another night to that country.” maybe you have it in Cam- eroonian to find work there. would have crossed by water. the time, the Sudanese, the regulations the person being with nothing. I came back; it that there was unrest in home, and that’s what hap- in Banki, at the Cameroon eroon, they’ll constantly send I left with a friend. I met a For Africans it’s not easy over I don’t like water, and it costs Sudanese, you know? It’s Su- Right. I made it till the fence. sent back should be given was even worse than when I Nigeria; there were presiden- pened. – Nigerian border, in order to So, there I made a break, I it to you by Western Union. Cameroonian in Banki; we there. 1000 euros to cross by water, dan, Rwanda, Sudan, and Chad 200.000 F CFA. left! tial elections coming up, the Right. That is… I think, in cross into Nigera very early in spent almost a week there. But then, that’s only when did the trip together. He’s a and it’s not even sure you’ll even, those were the countries We also lost another Cam- Now, we had no papers, so Right. Still, a man shall not general elections coming up short, that’s what happened. the morning. I found myself with a lot of you have the papers and when Bamenda, he came from the So, I managed. I was lucky make it. at war. eroonian over there. But they sent us back again to the give up hope, because I know and everything. other Cameroonians, even you have your passport with North West. because as I am a nice guy, I You are in a little pirogue that for him, it wasn’t because desert, without any money, that spirit that I have. And So, there was a curfew because Right. some who had left the US you. If you don’t have your So, we met over there. And was lucky to stumble upon a can hold 200 people. You’re Right. When the refugees were he wanted to cross, its not without papers. the spirit of New-Bell. I am there was disorder. So, how does it work when you to come and learn the work. passport, you can’t get money we stayed together as we were nice girl. So, she helped me there with almost 5000. In from Chad, the people from because he wanted to jump There they could give us a New-Bellois. We have our Right. I made a break in don’t have papers? Because that’s the crossroads from ‘West’, so you have to two Camer’. We went on to- out, she helped me out. And if the middle of the sea. A little Darfur between Sudan and over the barrier, but because 250.000 F to go back to spirit. I didn’t give up hope. Kano. The night of the curfew There are those who are called where you come to learn the keep the money on you. gether until we got to Algeria. it were only with food, every pirogue with a motor. And Chad, when you come across he wanted to cross the road. where we came from, because I went on. Right. With my they stripped me. They took the traffickers. work; it’s not the work you That means you have to Wow, he had his way of life. time she gave me food and then the trafficker, when he them there, everyone knows It’s a guy from New-Bell. His they didn’t know where we same girlfriend, my same my passport and the money When you get there, you find think of as ‘work’. The work. thread it into your belt loops. You see, I lived, I lived…I then a place to sleep. So, I was crosses with you, he leaves you that they were real refugees, name was Joe, a little guy, but had come from. According friends. And everything and that I had on me. Because I the traffickers. They ask you The work, that’s … how to You fold the money and put it knew what I was looking for, with her, she was a friend for on the open sea. He leaves you that there’s a war and all. They he was pretty old. A little guy to them, we hadn’t told them everything and everything. had kept the money in dif- these questions: “What are screw the whites? How to behind your belt loops, that’s what I had set out to do there. me, she was everything for like, umm, I’m here and then, are taken aside, they treat but pretty old. Now he is a where we had come from And I thank them today ferent places, as I already told you here for? Where are you steal their money without at- where you hide the money. He, well, he had some cash, me, a mother. Right. So, that’s umm Spain is…, like, till the them differently. This means special case: it’s for a girl that because we didn’t have any because without them, I you, in my belt loops, or in the going?”. You explain. They tell tacking them? You know what Yes, you hide the money in he was always having money just how we lived. All just ‘Flower Market’ crossroads. they were given special treat- he sets out on his adventure. papers to identify ourselves. would have been lost. They toothpaste, or in my shoe. So, you, “Right, ok, you are going I mean, that’s where you learn the belt loops. So apart from sent to him, because the waiting for the day... the big He leaves you like at that ment, more food to eat, more Because he was in love with I told them that I had come supported me. They said, “it they bobeled the money that I to go like this, like this, like how to be a ‘feyman’– It is the belt loops, you can put the Bamenda, they really are too day of crossing, because every- distance. He takes a lifeboat. things than the others who had a girl, she was so beautiful, he from the Ivory Coast. Because was nothing, you didn’t make had in my pockets. They took that. You are going to produce there that you learn how to be money in your shoes. You take supportive – the family and one crosses on their particular He goes back. He leaves you crossed over illegally just to get doesn’t want to lose her and I know that at that time, it, but it is not worth dying the money that I had in my this sum that sum… because Achillekà Komguem and Lionel the model that you will follow. I Manga take a tour of Rotterdam’s think there are other structures and harbour with Fucking Good Art older ideas about what the value and editors, Nienke Terpsma and Rob If you want a ‘nouveau plan’, meaning of art is. Hamelijnck LM: And this is why I am still re- you are the one to establish the territory luctant to continue connecting to The visitors of Talking About! were what is there, meaning to the his- in town during FGA’s residency in and design the map tory of western art. It is this kind of the port of Rotterdam for the Ports- antiquity that is there and you have capes project. To give them a sense of a kind of legacy that is not there. the city’s evolution, we took them on You know. But on the same time, a tour that started in the city centre, LM: Yes, and Achilleka was saying RH: Maybe art can ask questions. but for most people, there is still who are dedicated to producing ob- here are we on this same planet where the oldest harbours have been what is means to be rich in such LM: I mean in this landscape the the idea of walls between the disci- jects destined to the white cube and speaking. So how do we resolve this redeveloped into residential areas context that is so over designed. You only role of art is to put questions. plines. People are still occupied with to be sold. There are some others, strange gap? Or apparently true or and pleasure ports. We then left know. What about enriching people RH: Really? bridging gaps. And the whole thing people who are in the margin doing false paradox. town and drove through the new and enriching of one self? Not to be LM: Yes. I mean, would you put is encapsulated in two words: next research, producing more concep- RH: But that is again bridge-build- harbours with their huge container always framed. some kind of sculpture next to such level. tual work. But still you have to feed ing. terminals and heavy industry. We NT: I think that a lot of Dutch peo- a windmill? RH: But I think that the whole yourself; you need a place to sleep, LM: Yes that is again bridge-build- headed for the area where the port is ple feel the lack of nature, the lack of (laughter) They are so massive; no FGA project is born from the desire you have needs. And for sure at one ing. But since we are the next level, being extended into the sea, as part space, of openness. sculpture would match the wind- to go to another level. So as an artist point you will go to the side because this is the next level already. Know- of the Maasvlaakte 2 project, where RH: This is not nature. It is trees mill. They are by themselves a sculp- do you need to be in the white cube, there is no subsidies, no funding, ing what we just were speaking we visited our temporary studio on and grass, but it is cultivated. ture. Or would you go with the graf- or do you go to something else, to nobody providing any help. There is about, it is clear that we are long- LM: It is design. fiti guys and put some graffiti on the another level. nothing. It is a vacuum seen from the shore: Station Maasvlaakte. ing for the next step. And not only AK: Est-ce qu’ici on a des reserves, des windmills? That would be a project, LM: I mean—you are the next level! the point of view money I mean. longing, we are working for the next 16 September 2009, In the car forets et de la nature où on ne touche you know. Some of us are obviously already on But I want to add something in this step. We are the next step, establish- rien? Où est-ce qu’on laisse tout se de- NT: Mais pourquoi? next level. statement: I will give you a broad Lionel Manga: This we call a Port ing the territory and the map. We velopper comme ça? LM: Graffiti is by itself, in this NT: We are used to talk in contra- background on Cameroon. We de pleasance. have reached a kind of boundary NT: Yes, more or less. Maybe not very western culture, a question. Of dictions, in polarities. came shortly through our colonial Achilleka Komguen: Ça veut dire and we standing there like: is it the completely, course it is already domesticated, LM: The binary. history; after a German period and quoi? precipices down there? Or is it just a LM: Mais ceci n’est pas naturel, tout but it might be that some of them NT: I hope the next level will elimi- a French period we came to inde- LM: C’est un petit port pour les gens buffer zone I am about to enter and est planté. really can ask questions. nate or outgrow this binary think- pendence in 1960, the 1st of January. qui sont propriétaires des bateaux. opening a door or a window. It is NT: As compensation for the port RH: What do you think, Achilleka? ing. Lets take the story from that point. Rotterdam is known as the har- not that clear, it is a little darkness, that we are going to see, there is also What would you do? LM: Next level is taking complex- Then we had the first season, start- bour. a buffer zone.Une zone de transition. nature being created elsewhere. AK: Non non, il faut beaucoup de ity for what it is, instead of always ing in 1958, of a dictatorship that Nienke Terpsma: I think Rotterdam I have my torch lamp and explore, LM: Compensation nature. temps pour concevoir un projet. Je ne trying to reduce complexity into went on until 1982, with the first is building the new harbour exten- bringing the unknown to the known NT: Yes, as a compensation for cul- peux pas être dans une voiture, voir simplicity. You know. We have to president that was – lets say – placed sion because it wants to be the big- sometime and providing a map, like tivating nature they will make na- un espace, sans comprendre le con- advocate complexity, acknowledge there by the French rulers. He was gest in the world again, like they a path. I think all of us are standing ture somewhere else. texte, sans rien comprendre et faire une complexity; we have to take advan- called Ahmadou Ahidjo. When I used to be. on this front line of a battle, know- RH: It is a counter balance for mak- proposition. C’est impossible pour moi tage of complexity. I mean, doing say dictatorship, it is not like a play. LM: Shanghai is the biggest now, ing what is behind us, that is certain, ing money. That’s nice. pour l’instant. Je ne sais pas.Il faut que this is an acknowledgement of the People disappeared, meaning there isn’t it? but not what is in front of us. LM: C’est certainemant beau. But je vive dans cette espace, il faut que je dualism, of the binary paradigm camps across the country. People NT: There are already two bigger wait and see. comprendre d’abord. that has been there for long. Open- who were against the regime were ones in China. (recording available online: http:// RH: Of course it is also a bit hypo- NT: That’s interesting because that ing the realm. This is next level. just dumped there. It was a violent LM: So Rotterdam doesn’t even hold www.portscapes.nl/7) critical. is exactly what we did. We said to NT: It is like saying: Je veux un nou- period, one of fear. Fear was even the second rank anymore, and they LM: Yes. Definitely. begin with that we wanted to live veau plan. taught in families. You were taught are fighting for first place! Douala (laughter) here first, for at least a month. LM: Oui, it is that. And if you want to be afraid, you were taught to shut is an old port, invented by the Ger- Lionel Manga at Maasvlakte. Image: Achillekà Komguem RH: But otherwise nothing will be LM: High voltage wires are passing a nouveau plan, you are the one to your mouth. So two generations had mans 100 years ago, but such a size there! by. High voltage, high voltage, high design the map. grown up without any criticism. as this does not exist there. The main NT: You can also say these kind of voltage... RH: I would like to change the sub- RH: Without thinking. reason why they now want to make areas become the new wilderness. RH: And the black mountains of ject. What are the artists in Douala LM: Zero thinking and zero criti- ered. As the evening drew bitterness on the western- fact, behind all and over all, on ego, the “strong hole” of the WE-mode may dissolve a deep-sea port in Kribi is to enlarge LM: It should be the wilderness coal. doing? What is their focus? cism. Everybody was on the same Wine and smoke in, the dialogue was infused dominated contemporary what drives capitalism at the his social identity and his their sense of individuality, as Cameroon in the business of trans- since there is nothing else to provide LM: Charbon là-bas, port de charbon. LM: Où veulent aller les artistes à track – it is much more than politi- by reflections of the past art scene. In all the countries end is our behaviour as the indivi(s)duality, it looks like if sharing amounts to com- portation and logistics. I wanted to on the water the sensation of unconstructedness I mean, it is an entire world! And it Douala? Qu’est-ce qu’ils veulent? cally correct! In November of 1982, days’ discourse. What may on earth today, more than “Me”, the ego addressed day we enter a dead-end street, a munism and the absence of see the port of Rotterdam. Knowing and growing by itself. Of course wil- has nothing to do with philosophy Quelle est leur objectif, leur dessein? this president suddenly decided to Lionel Manga & Alexander such a convivial setting offer, ever, multitudes are heading to day by advertising and heavy paradox. In fact, we do the “I”. Yet nothing could be and seeing what Rotterdam is doing derness is nature. or poetry. NT: That is rather a big question! quit. Then the new one came. He Vollebregt where friends with different enthusiastically towards the praised until harassment to mistake our Soul driven “I” further from the truth, as our as a port provides for me a kind of NT: But perhaps it already is. The RH: But it is inhabited by human (laughter) is called Paul Biya. He is still there. histories converge to share same aspiration: purchas- consume, not to say to fulfil with the Ego-driven “Me”. higher self is aware of our in- vision, you know, of what the deep- plek en tijd? Dutch nature of the coastline is beings. AK: Ce n’est pas une question à laquelle And in 2011 he still wants to be and create presence? As the ing and consuming with the the permanently-suggested Ego leads to selfishness, terdependency. It knows that sea port in Kribi could be like. always new land with pioneer veg- LM: And the question is: Do we je peux répondre tout seule, c’est vrai, there. To me, it is like the political dialogue intensified, a kind of power of money, staring at and so called needs. Yet, one rivalry and strife, and much our individual investment to Rob Hamelijnck: This is the future? etation. The dunes in natural shape want to reach this state? mais en tant qu’observateur aussi qu’en understanding, the political position Caught between summer collective came to be formed, the highlighted bling-bling thing is to need, another is to more bullshit following the the overall improvement of LM: This might be the future. The are not fixed. They are constantly RH: That is a very good question. tant qu’artiste, il faut dire que le prob- of artists is still lacking. and winter, the fall is beyond not merely of individuals, but caravan of idlers. But so far, want: where do we stand as Darwinian model, yet the “I” our human environment is beginning was a pipeline starting changing. So there is always new LM: Do we want to reach this state? lème le plus exigeant pour les artistes NT: But the political position can doubt a sheer transition of ideas and imaginations, as Bruno Latour roughly put individual agencies? The cap- that is driven by our higher an indirect investment to our from Chad, crossing all of Cam- land. What we see here maybe looks Talking about economic develop- aujourd’hui c’est survivre. be that you make and maintain a season, and thus fitting for dreams and desires. Gradual- it in Local Contemporain N°4, italistic norm at a micro level self, the source of our intui- selves! Our differences are eroon, and Kribi being the end of like original Dutch nature. ment… aha! LM: Survival is the focus. space for dreams. conversations with smart ly a new form of intelligence we still lack, from the artistic is to need, even if you don’t tive knowing, shows a place our strengths, and through the pipeline, on the Cameroonian RH: Do you need all these contain- AK: C’est un problème generale parce LM: The fact there is an art scene friends, on the brink of emerged and this platform point of view, a proper rep- want. Consuming is thus and a responsibility to share this potential of differences shore. The harbour of Kribi is main- ers and the stuff that is in them? que toutes les stratégies tournent aut- in Cameroon is already a victory another loop around the sun, for exchange unfolded to resentation of this enlarging filling a vacuum felt by this in joining our wills and try to the new emerges, for two of ly directed to these activities with LM: Comme Rob dit... Everything our de ça. anyway. This is creating a free space. especially when it comes to higher states of awareness, as scale of alienation, so we can instance ego in each of us, as improve our human condi- the “same” can never produce petrol and open mines for iron and is design, organised and planned. At our cabin Station Maasvlakte] LM: All the subjects are spiralling Because with Mr. Biya something a cultural program named concepts were swallowed by reset thinking and action at much as the junkie feels en tion on earth, to relieve the an “other”… gas. Many of the activities will deal But what about the quality of life? around this question of survival. continued; police brutality, being Talking About! Two weeks the night. Having briefly pic- the right level, if ever we, état de manque. The problem plight and scandal of poverty. And so, while paying atten- with energy and raw materials. It is Tu vois? A l’interieur de tout ça? The LM: If I was given the opportunity AK: En réalité, la plupart des artistes, watched by the secret police. Then with a hectic agenda were tured as well as framed the as men and women fond of appeared to be encapsulated It is an “I” that acknowledges tion to the legacy of memory a matter of heavy pollution. So it is smell of the oil is there since we are by the Rotterdam Port Authority to où bien entre-guillemets, parce qu’il y with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the just enough to start, from scene, the question rose like autonomy, are to challenge in ego-driven Man who our collective sense of being and working to widen future nice to see what is the future, and driving alongside the tankers. be part of an adventure as an artist, en a de plusieurs niveaux, tout ce qu’ils wind came from the east and the one day to another, set- smoke on the water: what is this global order. had set the world on fire and relating, wherever I may histories, one understand learn from it and avoid making the RH: What is also interesting subject of course I would have some things font comme travail, c’est parce qu’ils landscape became more pluralistic ting up an unprecedented here/there at stake? through the past decades, be. Many “I” shape a “We”, easily how we – an agency of same mistakes. This is why I want to to talk about is... We are invited by and thoughts about the extension of Beyond Ego veulent vivre de leur travail. Donc and democratic. In 2010, we will platform as a meeting point since consuming is burning. actually a collective intel- collective intelligence – can know about the history of the Rot- the Port Authorities of Rotterdam the harbour and all that is behind Bling-bling and bitterness ils developpent des œuvres ou bien celebrate 50 years of independence. for artists coming from vari- The queries and challenges And so the proposition stems ligence, a global body beyond set in motion the enfold- terdam harbour and have a close to contribute to this art project. But this, I could feel dependent. des créations en rapport avec ce que le The question is: what have we done ous horizons, each of them As artists and theoreticians that dominate the discourse out. Maybe the first step to walls, borders or physical/ ments towards the new, understanding how it has developed what role can art have in a big in- NT: You could also say you are con- marché veut. Mais à coté de ça, il y a so far? I mean, this is a country, from having a lot to say and share gathered under the umbrella seem overwhelming. What take is walking out of the ego political barriers. And the to the Next Level of our over the years. dustrial landscape like this? Maybe nected. you can translate to Achilleka. I’m LM: That’s what I was saying. You d’autres personnes qui veulent faire de the north to the south and from the with the others. Among of Talking About! in Rot- do we do, how do we act, trip, going in effect beyond following proposition is put evolutionary path, setting the curious what he thinks. la recherche, qui sont assez marginales, east to the west, where only 1 million many, we had this radiant terdam, a kind of agreement which forces are engineer- ego. What does that mean? It forward: can we shift from stage for a common ground LM: Voici une autre port de pleasance. are an invited guest. And as an in- LM: Alors, ils sont invités par le Port parce que leur stratégie les pousse dans people have water from the tap. And afternoon on the Avontuur, a was already there, provid- ing this seeming state of sounds strange, of course, like “ME” with “WE”? From a from which our truer self This is what we call it in French. vited guest you are connected and de Rotterdam à construire un projet un autre niveau, c’est une quète, une within this kind of understanding of ship docked along the river ing thus a useful common collapse? The state of fear a Buddhist saying or a saying syntactical and even aesthetic may flower. A next level of AK: A un moment donné, c’est aussi un dealing with the Port Authority. artistique à l’intérieur. La question recherche d’une autre réalité, d’une au- the country, the art scene as an ob- Maas, oscillating gently with ground: capitalism is actually that governs the planet, from the Mwaba-Gurma, point of view, it seems rather awareness and relating, going problème pour l’épanouissement, pour Yesterday on the boat with Alexan- c’est: quelle est la fonction de l’art dans tre façon de faire, qui – à un certain ject has many rooms inside that you the tides coming and going. going mad under the light of infused through the media, a tribe in northern Togo. simple, all that is required beyond borders, bridges and la spontaneité. J’aime bien le désordre der Vollebregt and Emiliano Gan- un tel paysage, si industrialisé? Ça moment – se bloque toute suite parce can go. You can stand somewhere A space-time fuelled with globalization. Yet, the tough what does it all amount to? On one hand, as a matter of to is turn one simple letter disciplines, where art, science aussi. Peut-être c’est mon environne- dolfi, we came up with the idea of correspond à quoi, cette commande? As qu’il n’y a pas toujours d’opportunité, il where you have a kind of holistic wine, food and more, thanks consequences of the sub- Paralysis. And still we opt fact, ego is both the subject around. And yet it seems so and the spirit of our times ment qui me conditionne à cette façon building beyond bridges. In this a commission, what does it say? Is it n’y as pas des programmes de soutien, il perspective of everything. Donc tout to that sunny day, talking and prime payment default crisis to fight back, to reclaim our and the engine of consum- difficult, as the holes in our converge to new awakenings. de voir les choses, mais c’est quand time of complexity and uncertainty only a sort of alibi for the industrial n’y a pas de subventions. cela pour dire qu’il manque encore dans talking again, while outside were speaking by themselves right to the city. Yet behind ing as a heavily publicized being have engendered an Perhaps the future meeting même un peu trop. ... of what is lying ahead of us, you see zone? Tu commences où? Where do LM: I cannot speak for everybody. le paysage de la scène artistique une the financial sphere of the in the wealthy countries, the façade of society’s mis- trip to a believed bliss, and insatiable appetite for mate- somewhere on the planet LM: Achilleka said it just could be too that some borders between disci- you start from, to do what, in order I said survival is the basis or the connaissance historique, précise. market economy tried to and elsewhere on the planet, guided action, a deeper query therefore the counter gesture rial expansion. “More, more may be Dreaming About! much design. Nothing left for fantasy. plines and fields are disappearing. to what? What is the aim of such a focus, and strategies are spiralling NT: If there wasn’t an art market recover, and the geopoliti- although on different scales. arises: who is doing just to is obvious. But since on and yet more,” is the call of RH: I like that: le dictature de de- We are getting an interdisciplinary commission? understanding of the real as such, around that. And you have those yet, it would be a pity if that were cal consequences of climate Yet, disenchantment is do, as an alibi? We came to the other hand, the art- the ego. And yet there are sign. change had yet to be consid- fuelling the aesthetics of realize that, as a matter of ist status genuinely dwells those who feel that entering Cultural context of Douala Contributors Colophon Sponsors Emiliano Gandolfi Lucia Babina is a cultural pro- Editors: Rob Hamelijnck & Mondriaan Stichting Zoë Gray By the editors, in consultation in a very bad state, especially Nienke Terpsma ducer and founder of iStrike. Dienst Kunst en Cultuur Rot- Rob Hamelijnck & Nienke with Lionel Manga during the rainy season. For Guest editors: Lucia Babina & terdam Terpsma Cameroon, a former German, many Cameroonians, going to ultd. She lives and works in Zoë Gray Centrum voor Beeldende Kunst Achillekà Komguem French and British colony, be- neighbouring countries is still Rotterdam. Graphic design: Nienke Terpsma Rotterdam Goddy Leye Translation: Amira Gad, Mari- came independent in 1960. De- complicated despite politi- Ruth Afane Belinga is an art Lionel Manga historian and artist working anne Kirch and Peter Kann Partners Annette Schemmel spite movement toward demo- cal discourses about regional Photographs: Kirsten de Graaf, between Douala and Yaoundé. Duende Alexander Vollebregt cratic reform, political power integration, and international Achilleka Komguen, Hervé Enough Room for Space Hervé Youmbi remains firmly in the hands of a travel is usually limited to the She graduated in arts and art Youmbi Fucking Good Art multi-ethnic oligarchy deriving wealthy few. history at the University of Het Wilde Weten Events coordinators of Talking Transcription Patrick’s Story: from the former regime, which Yaoundé I. She is assistant Van Abbemuseum About! curator at ArtBakery, on the Marilyn Douala Bell (transcrip- Witte de With Zoë Gray was a dictatorship. In cultural terms, there is tion in French of Patrick’s Story) editorial board of DIARTgo- Kim Bouvy just one so called national Editing in French: Anne-Claire Friends John Colenbrander Douala is one of the biggest museum, located in the capital nale and writes for the Italian Schmitz Attent Marjolijn Dijkman towns in Africa and is the Yaoundé. There are a couple of art magazine Africa e Mediter- Translation in French: Aude BAK Haco de Ridder Tincelin economic hub of Cameroon. commercial galleries predomi- raneo. Casco Edith Rijnja Libia Castro & Olafur Olafs- Das Arts Annetthe Schemmel Situated on the estuary of the nantly selling craft products Curators of Talking About!: son are artists based in Rot- De Appel Elian Somers river Woury, it currently counts to the rare tourists passing by. Lucia Babina/iStrike.ultd & Zoë De Paviljoens Peter Taylor more than 3 million inhabit- There are very limited artist terdam and Berlin. They will Gray If I Can’t Dance I Don’t Want To ants. It is a multicultural city residencies and – beyond the represent Iceland at the 54th Special thanks to: Emiliano Gan-Be Part Of Your Revolution Facilitators dolfi, Bob Geldermans made up by the overlapping of cultural centres ruled from International Art Exhibition - NAi Franz von Dincklage La Biennale di Venezia 2011. ——— Nederlands Fotomuseum Frits Gierstberg many different ethnic groups: Europe, such as the Brit- Guests Marjolijn Dijkman is an artist Platform 21 Maaike Lauwaert immigrants come from all over ish Council or the Centre Ruth Afane Belinga Premsela Foundation Quirine van de Linde the country, in search of work Culturel Français – only one based in Rotterdam. As co- Achille Edouard Atina Tah, Prins Claus Fonds Thomas Meijer zu Schlochtern and a better life. Many choose centre for contemporary art founder of Enough Room for Achillekà Komguem Rijksakademie van Beeldende Haco de Ridder Goddy Leye to remain within the already in Douala, called doual’art. Space, she is involved in an Kunsten Arno van Roosmalen exhibition project with artists Lionel Manga SMART Project Space Nicolaus Schafhausen settled ethnic communities to Prior to the activities of Hervé Youmbi from Cameroon and Europe. Stroom Den Haag SICA which they belong. However, doual’art, over the past 15 Urban Body/TU Delft Saskia van Stein those ethnic communities are years, there was no tradition Emiliano Gandolfi is a Hosts Worm usually very closed systems that of art in public space since Rotterdam-based architect Lucia Babina, Emiliano Gandolfi Special participants & Alexander Vollebregt mistrust “the others”, consider- the country’s independence. and independent curator, Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson co-founder of Cohabitation Kim Bouvy, David Maroto & Contributors of Fucking Good Lucfosther Diop ing them a potential enemy and This means that – until very Elian Somers Strategies, a cooperative for Art and DIARTgonale Dominique Malaquais under certain circumstances, recently – the only sculptures Zoë Gray Lucia Babina Ravi Rajcoomar even a real danger. Those strong visible in public space were socio-spatial development. Rob Hamelijnck & Nienke Ruth Afane Belinga Roddney Tjon Poen Gie vernacular relationships form erected by the colonial pow- Zoë Gray is curator at Witte Terpsma Achille Edouard Atina Tah Guy Wouete Annie Fletcher & Charles Esche the complex urban web that ers. New artist-run initiatives de With, Center for Contem- Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson dominates Douala, its econom- are emerging, such as ArtBak- porary Art, Rotterdam, where Marjolijn Dijkman ic and social life ery in Bonendale (located on she has worked since 2006. the outskirts of Douala) and Rob Hamelijnck & Nienke Whilst Cameroon has one with artist collectives such as Terpsma are editors of Fuck- of the highest literacy rates Cercle Kapsiki. Some interna- ing Good Art, based in Rot- in Africa, access to educa- tional attention has also been terdam. tion has diminished in recent attracted to Cameroonian Achillekà Komguem in years. There is no free universal contemporary art, through an artist working between education and a very limited figures such as the Belgium- Douala and Yaoundé. He is number of universities, them- based artist Pascale Marthine the director and founding edi- selves suffering from a short- Tayou and the Swiss-born tor of the English/French art age of teachers and materials. art critic and novelist Simon magazine DIARTgonale. He There are no public libraries, Njami. graduated in visual arts at the no bookshops, limited access University of Yaoundé I. to the Internet and only a few For more information about Goddy Leye is an artist and publishing houses. Not long Douala, its urban develop- the founder of artist-run-ini- ago, governmental censorship ment and cultural scene, see tiative ArtBakery in Douala. of the media was lifted, but the Douala in Translation, ed. Lu- He studied at Pascal Kenfack free media is still very much a cia Babina & Marilyn Douala studio and at the Rijksakad- case to make. Travelling around Bell, Episode Publishers, emie van Beeldende Kunsten, Cameroon is difficult due to a Rotterdam, 2007: http://www. Amsterdam. lack of public transport – there episode-publishers.nl/art/ Lionel Manga is a writer is virtually no railway and the douala.htm and cultural critic based in roads in the countryside are Douala. He recently published the book L’ivresse du papillon (2008) and works as a col- umnist for the newspaper Le 500 x 1000 Advertisement 50% Messager in Cameroon. Annette Schemmel is a free- lance curator based in Berlin. Cittadellarte launches As co-pilot of Enough Room “ARTIST SPONSOR OF IDEAS – 500per1000” grant. for Space, she is involved in The 50% (meaning 500 per 1000) of the revenue from sales an exhibition project with of art projects - realised by Beatrice Catanzaro, Charlie Jef- artists from Cameroon and fery, Will Kwan, Gayle Chong Kwan, Juan Esteban Sandoval Europe. - during the Artissima 16 International Fair of Contemporary Achille Edouard Atina Tah is Art in Turin 2009 will be used to finance a grant to allow the a cultural mediator and jour- selected artist nalist based in Douala. He has Allioum Moussa (Cameroon) an MA in Philosophy from to take part in the University of Douala. UNIDEE, University of ideas 2010. Alexander Vollebregt is an ar- This way, Artissima in collaboration with Cittadellarte be- chitect, urbanist and assistant comes a vehicle for artistic mobility and exchange of knowl- professor at Delft University edge for projects dealing with processes of social transfor- of Technology. mation and gives life to a network of actions that feeds a Hervé Youmbi is an art- self-sufficient form of economy. ist based in Douala. He is a Writing about! member of the artist collective Curator of the project: Judith Wielander Cercle Kapsiki. He trained at in a foreign language Advisors for the grant: Lucia Babina (iStrike.ultd, Rotterdam) the Ecole Superiore des Arts and Goddy Leye (ArtBakery, Douala, Cameroon). Decoratifs in Strasbourg. For more information: UNIDEE - University of ideas, Cit- Dear contributors, dear readers. We have done our best to make tadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto, Via Serralunga 27, 13900 accurate translations of the texts originally written in French. If Biella, Italy, www.cittadellarte.it/unidee/ we have misinterpreted certain elements, we apologise profusely and beg your forgiveness. Your humble editors, ZG & LB.