Corpus – Details, episodes & analysis

In which we gas up the homies and ourselves; share recent developments on the scene; invite new friends to see art with us; and ask ourselves, "what are retrospectives, if not bags persevering?"

Show notes

Robel Temesgen (website)

Lingen Art Prize

Overalls

Jonathan Fraser: There Is a Time and Place (video)

Jonathan Sölanke Gathaara Fraser (website)

Agnes Waruguru: Small Things to Consider (video)

Q-Zine: Issue 14

Dakika by Iminza

Asiko Art School

Review of The Death of Vivek Orji by Wanini Kimemiah

Jackie Karuti: Henrikhe Grohs Art Award

Jackie Karuti: Follow Fluxus – Fluxus and the Consequences Grant

Untethered Magic brings art and nature in Dialogue (C&)

C& opens new office and reading room in Nairobi

Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute

I Know You Think This Newsletter is about Books

Nafasi Academy

Michael Armitage The Paradise Edict

Theresa Musoke, Tabitha Wa Thuku and Sane Wadu at Circle Art Gallery

Sane Wadu: Hope So (NCAI)

Lemek Tompoika: Abstract Patterns (Red Hill Art Gallery)

When Rain Clouds Gather: Black South African Women Artists, 1940 - 2000 (curated by Portia Malatjie and Nontobeko Ntombela) - Norval Foundation

Libby

Full episode transcript

Corpus returns on 1 April 2022

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In this final instalment of our series on art writing, we highlight some insights that gleaned during the making of this series. We also raise some questions and concerns of our own, which we'll carry with us into our future engagements with art writing, both as readers and as writers.

You can find the transcript and links here.

This is the final instalment in a three-part Corpus series following the 2019 Art Writing Workshop held in Nairobi and Kampala. These episodes are included alongside other text and video content in a Writing Toolkit developed out of the workshop.  This workshop was a in partnership by 32º East, Nairobi Contemporary, Art Monthly, the British Institute in Eastern Africa, the British Council and Newcastle University.

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Corpus speaks to Nairobi-based artists Syowia Kyambi and Wanini Kimemiah about the place of art writing in their individual artistic practices, and as part of a larger ecosystem of contemporary art. We discuss the factors that have influenced the ways we read and write about the visual art in Nairobi; the different forms it has taken and roles it has played; and the questions at stake in our engagement with visual art through language. What use is writing that does not ground the art it speaks of in its social-political context?

You can find the transcript and links here.

This episode is the second in a three-part Corpus series following the 2019 Art Writing Workshop held in Nairobi and Kampala, and is included alongside other text and video content in a Writing Toolkit developed out of the workshop.  This workshop was a partnership by 32º East, Nairobi Contemporary, Art Monthly, the British Institute in Eastern Africa, the British Council and Newcastle University.

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In the first of a three-part series on art writing, we are joined by Roseline Olang' and Jonathan Solanke Gathaara Fraser, two artists, writers, and friends of the podcast for a conversation about our relationship to different forms of writing about contemporary art. We discuss what we think works with art writing, the places where we encounter art writing, and various pieces of writing that we have made an impression on us. We also talk about our experience of art writing, and our intentions with the writing that we do.

This episode is the first in a three-part Corpus series following a 2019 art writing workshop held in Nairobi and Kampala, and is included alongside other text and video materials in a Writing Toolkit developed out of the workshop.  This workshop was a partnership by 32º East, Nairobi Contemporary, Art Monthly, the British Institute in Eastern Africa, the British Council and Newcastle University.

You can find a transcript of the episode with links to articles and resources here.

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On the occasion of their first ever exhibition in Nairobi, Ethiopian artists Tegene Kunbi and Robel Temesgen, and the curator of the show Wanja Kimani, sit with us to talk to us about coffee spots in Addis Ababa, reading emotion in colour, and being pigeon-holed as African artists.  

Find a transcript for this episode and additional resources here.

(Image courtesy of Circle Art Gallery)

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We take a trip down memory lane, from recent studio escapades, to Nyambura's high school art room. Joining us on this quest to figure out what goes into studio visits is artist, writer, botherer, and friend of the podcast, Jonathan Gathaara Sölanke Fraser.

Find a transcript for this episode and additional resources here.

(Image courtesy of Jonathan Gathaara Sölanke Fraser)

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As a follow up to in Episode 01, we sit down with installation artist Wambui Kamiru to discuss the ideas that underpin her recent work, Wakariru (2019). We also talk about how she measures the success of her work, and what installation means to her.

Find a transcript for this episode and additional resources here.

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In which we think about beans, bananas, memory, and the place of women in the writing of Kenya's history. Wakariru, by Wambui Kamiru, is an art installation that deals with memory, the destruction of language, and the forgotten role of women in the Mau Mau War.

Find a transcript for this episode and additional resources here.

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