From Theatre Royal to Pop-up Galleries Venues in Olivier Marcel

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From Theatre Royal to Pop-up Galleries Timeline of Art Venues in Nairobi Olivier Marcel

Volume XI n° 3 - 2013

Maybe one day Nairobi will be laid out with tarred roads, with avenues of flowering trees, flanked by noble spaces and stately squares; a cathedral worthy of faith and country, museums and galleries of art, theatres and public offices. Dutton Eric in Mountain, 1929

While Nairobi is praised as East Africa’s a National Theatre that would become critical new cultural capital1, a closer look into the city’s venues for Kenyan and East African art worlds. In shows that such a function is nothing fact, the city has nested a century long struggle for new. At a glimpse, the 1980’s saw substantial the establishment, access and control of urban art investments coming from international music venues ever since the foundation of its first theatre industries such as Polygram, CBS or EMI that hall in 1912: the Theatre Royal, now a casino on attracted major from around the world: Kenyatta Avenue. This short paper aims to provide from the Ivory Coast, Burning Spear a reference timeline of art venues in Nairobi for the from Jamaica or Ladysmith from all purpose of artists, organizers and researchers. 2 came to Nairobi to record music . Around the The intention is primarily to acknowledge 1960’s, a whole host of galleries opened: the existence of a diverse range of art venues Sorsbie’s Gallery New Stanley Gallery Gallery , or throughout Nairobi’s history. Far away from central Watatu3 and ambitious panafrican art centers such contemporary art markets, promoters of art in as the Chemchemi Creative Centre were started Nairobi are used to claiming novelty as a tactic to with the goal to “radiate to the benefit of the rest of 4 attract attention and funding. In 2013, such claims Kenya and of East Africa” . From the 1940’s, cultural as “first ever ” or “first ever ” and artistic infrastructure were built including a still echo in the local . Besides, even Conservatoire of Music Literature Bureau , a and the wealthiest and most established institutions 1 Warah Rasna, 2009, “Yes, Nairobi is East-Africa’s cultural capital.” have extremely limited archival inclinations. An Daily Nation, 09/08. astonishing example is the fifty year old Goethe- 2 Malm K. and Wallis R., 1992, “Case Study: Kenya”, Media policy and music activity, Psychology Press, pp. 84-107. Institut, which has virtually nothing but testimonies 3 Miller Judith, 1975, Art in East Africa, London: Frederick Muller, to account for the activity that preceded the arrival 114 p. of the current director in 2007. Additionally, when a 4 Mphahlele Ezekiel, 1965, “Chemchemi Creative Centre”, Nairobi, The Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 3, n°1, pp. 115-117.

Adresse: Laikipia Road, P.O. Box 58480 - 00200 Nairobi, Kenya Tel : 254 20 43 43 446 - Fax : 254 20 43 43 052 E-mail: [email protected] - Web site: www.ifra-nairobi.net Mambo! 2013 n°3 - From Theatre Royal to Pop-up Galleries, a Timeline of Art Venues in Nairobi -Olivier Marcel venue shuts down, as did Wahome centers are “sites of ambivalence, and the upper class neighborhood Mutahi’s popular Citrus Whispers complexities and contradiction”6. of . is arguably a similar Theatre in Ngara, its memory Nevertheless, this fundamental case: the Kamirithu , is only shared orally in small grayness that characterizes many although initiated against what the circles of theatre enthusiasts and art venues should not obliterate city culturally represented, derived progressively fades into oblivion. the imbalanced “competition for from connections made between the Beyond these symptomatic local the right to use a venue”7. While and Makerere shortcomings, the lack of historical they do not always determine University in Kampala and therefore consciousness should be analyzed content, the gatekeepers have an falls into the scope of Nairobi taken at a global scale in which art obvious edge in this competition. as a metropolis. Secondly, the and culture are seldom included Therefore, the proposed timeline approach is openly multidisciplinary, in Africa’s urban history. While includes information to visualize tackling equally literature, visual Western donors and art organizers this imbalance by distinguishing arts, performance arts and music. are obsessed with the idea of State-led, commercial-led, donor- The reasoning behind this choice “putting Nairobi on the map”, it led and community-led venues. is that most of the studies of art in is of public interest to establish a It has to be noted that these Africa are limited to one specific comprehensive timeline of the art categories are rarely perfect field: theatre, dance, , etc. venues that Nairobi has actually fits. For example, the National Do these western subdivisions hosted over time. Museum of Kenya was refurbished apply to Nairobi? Since the British European A second objective is to situate with money from the established Nairobi’s first artistic Union art’s main driving forces and and their gallery is infrastructures, most of the venues Kenya their chronology. If Nairobi has partly commercial. The are discipline-specific. Nevertheless, Conservatoire of Music been a cultural capital for years, hosted immediatly after Independence, British Council the question here is rather: for the ’s offices up to the first indigenous African efforts The Nest whom has it been a capital? In 2006. For , an art hub in to establish art venues discarded Chemchemi 1981, Ngugi wa Thiong’o stated Kilimani area, support from the such separations. Both Paa ya Paa that the central divide in Kenya Dutch development organization and were open to Hivos was “the fierce struggle between was decisive in launching writers, painters and performers. GoDown Arts Centre the cultural forces representing the project, but it was initiated The , that beforehand by a group of young built its legitimacy on claims of foreign interests and those 8 representing patriotic national Nairobians. being local , also shares the same interests”5. Nairobi, as a periphery The scope of this timeline is multidisciplinary logic. Additionally, of the British Empire and then framed by three guiding principles. many artists’ trajectories embrace Maasai Mbili a periphery of the “developed First is to consider Nairobi as a versatility: artists are world”, has indeed been very metropolis. This puts the focus such chameleons, shifting from sign- dependent on foreign donors, on urban influence rather than painting to fashion or installation. foreign market and exterior urban setting. In that perspective, Beyond the dubious application assistance in attempts to organize venues such as Banana Hill Art of disciplinary categories, an open places for art. But such aid has not Gallery are included despite being approach allows the establishment come uniformly in time and space; in a rural environment and outside of parallels between political and neither has it impacted uniformly of Nairobi’s provincial boundaries. artistic contexts: What type of venue on Kenyan society. Furthermore, Indeed, their activity and market opened during the Emergency? national interests in the field of derive from the spatial proximity What impact did the Coup attempt arts and culture are anything but a to places like , or the introduction of multipartism homogeneous bloc. George Odera the Headquarters, have on the art landscape? When did the State invest the most in arts Outa has tried to nuance Ngugi’s 6 Odera Outa George, 2009, Performing Power: antagonistic landscape making the Ethnic Citizenship, Popular Theater and Context 8 Mboya Joy, 2007, “The Story of the Godown point that even foreign cultural of Nationhood in Modern Kenya, Book Surge, Arts Center: A Journey to Freedom through Charleston, p. 6. ” in Njogu K. and Oluoch-Olunya 7 Ndigirigi Gichingiri, 1999, “Kenyan G. (ed.), Cultural Production and Social Change in 5 Ngugi wa Thiong’o, 1981, Writers in Politics, Theatre after Kamiriithu”, The Drama Kenya: Building Bridges, Arts, Culture & Society Nairobi: Heinemann, p.42. Review, n°43/2, pp. 72-93. vol. 1, Nairobi: Twaweza, pp. 169-186. 2 Mambo! 2013 n°3 - From Theatre Royal to Pop-up Galleries, a Timeline of Art Venues in Nairobi -Olivier Marcel and culture? What link is there between the arrival of new donors in the 1990’s and community led initiatives? Such questions can only be addressed in a multidisciplinary approach. A last methodological choice is to look at places rather than groups or institutions that occupy them. This restricts the timeline to physical places that are organized for the sole purpose of art education, production, exhibition or distribution: theaters, galleries, cultural centers, cinemas, museums, concert halls, art schools, publishers, recording studios, etc. These guiding principles have their limitations. For example, organizations with no venue such as the feminist group

3 Mambo! 2013 n°3 - From Theatre Royal to Pop-up Galleries, a Timeline of Art Venues in Nairobi -Olivier Marcel

Hawa Women or the online Little are not featured. Neither are extra- collectives such as the graffiti art groupSpray Uzi. Another difficulty is to render venues activity and decline. A place likeMamba Village was quite busy afterKuona Trust Museum Studio shut down in 2004 leaving dozens of artists studio-less. Today, very few artists occupy the centre that is more of a tourist attraction.Paa ya Paa, once a thriving art centre now opens up merely two or three times a year and appears isolated from the Nairobian art scene. On the other hand, the myriad of bars and clubs that sometimes play a decisive role in the arts (The Starlight Club that opened in

4 Mambo! 2013 n°3 - From Theatre Royal to Pop-up Galleries, a Timeline of Art Venues in Nairobi -Olivier Marcel the 1965, Simba Saloon at Carnivor the most repressive years of the the colonial rule. By then, most Restaurant, Wasanii bar that Moi regime. In that regard, Ngugi’s of the new venues were foreign topped the National Theatrein the argument on the role of foreign commercial ventures that tried to 2000’s, all the live benga, ohangla, cultural imperialism during the tap into local creativity. Heinemann mugithi or lingala clubs and the Emergency should be nuanced. Kenya, a spinoff of the British myriad of open-mic bars) are too Indeed, many British-led artistic publishing house, Gallery Watatu numerous to be listed here and and cultural venues were pushed or Polygram all shared this logic had to be left out. The problem is forward at a time when the empire in different fields. It is only since similar with more informal venues. was contested. Nevertheless, they the 1990’s and the negotiation The music industry in River Road seem to also reflect a genuine for multipartism that foreign that really took off in the late cultural movement of settlers donors stepped in Nairobi as the 1980’s only appears in negative as wanting to express themselves, major driving force for art venues they suffocated the formal market rather than only a strategy to and turned their development leading to the departure of the fight the peasant rebellion, as and soft power agendas to arts. international industries. As for the expressed in Annabelle Maule’s Interestingly, the arrival of Ford Riverhood cinema hydra, the most testimony of the Donovan Maule Foundation or Hivos on the art visible unions like Third Force at Theatre9. That would explain why scene is also the time when Simba Centre badly represent their similar places flourished even after became attractive for art projects: reach. Today, ephemeral venues 1963. Whatever opinion we might Mau Mau Camp in , brought up by organizations like have of such venues (a “ludicrous Wajukuu Art Gallery in Mukuru, the Circle Art Agency add to the colonial affair” in Ngugi’s words)10, -TV in and of course difficulty of the exercise. they cannot simply be discarded Maasai Mbili in . as foreign since they existed in Despite these limitations, The timeline in this article merely Nairobi’s artistic landscape and the timeline confirms some lays down the foundations of impacted more or less on Kenyan assumptions and reveals some Nairobi’s art history and certainly artists careers. The question asked of the complexities of Nairobian raises more questions than it in 1956 by the patrons of the art history. Art and culture in answers. Although it is imperfect Kenya Arts and Craft Society to Nairobi are almost as old as the due to the lack of substantial eventually “open membership to city’s first buildings. However, the archives, inevitable methodological all races”11 is quite revealing of an timeline shows that the process choices and predictable ambiguous yet effective merging. of becoming a cultural metropolis omissions, this timeline helps to Furthermore, after Independence, is both gradual and cumulative. put in perspective an important the State heavily relied on those Never have so many art venues chronology that is the making of a older venues established under been active at the same time cultural metropolis in East Africa. 9 Maule Annabel, 2004, Theatre Near the and Kenya’s capital city is indeed Equator: the Donovan Maule Story, Nairobi: witnessing an acceleration that East African Publishers, 294 p. 10 Ngugi wa Thiong’o, op. cit., p. 44. matches its population growth 11 Frost Richard, 1997 [1978], Race Against and that only slowed down during Time, Nairobi: Transafrica Press, p. 197.

Olivier Marcel is a PhD student in geography who is currently completing his thesis titled “Tracing Art from Nairobi, Geog- raphy of Art Mobilities in an East African Metropolis” (Bordeaux 3 University - LAM, UMR 5115).

MAMBO! provides update on recent works of researchers, PhD and master studentsde associated to IFRA. IFRA's Director Christian Thibon. Mambo! is edited by Marie-Aude Fouéré and Colas Lemaire

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of IFRA.

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