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THE BEAT, Friday, November 7, 2014

THE BEAT, Friday, November 7, 2014

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FEATURE
For a month, the Kampala art festival lit up the city,
proving that art is growing in stature and public
awareness. Coming hot on the heels of the Kampala
Art Biannale, it brought up several ideas and questions
about the place of festivals as an effective medium for
artistic expression in an emerging art industry writes
Stephen Ssenkaaba

KLA ART 014:

Taking visual
art to the
people

FOR one month, Ugandas capital played

host to some dramatic images. Do not get
me wrong. Kampala city is drama itself;
but this, I dare say, was a drama with a
difference. It was a show of bodaboda
motorbikes transformed into mobile art
pieces. You probably came across the image
of a guy carrying a brown/orange cow
around the city on his motorbike. Perhaps
you found a man riding his bike under a
helmet made of plastic bottles. October was
the month of the Kampala Contemporary
Art festival, more artistically named KLA
ART 014. The festival which opened on
October 4 and closed last week brought
together some of Ugandas most promising
artists to execute work that would not
only speak to the ordinary folk, but most
importantly give a voice to the voiceless of
our society. This festival was appropriately
given the theme: Unmapped, to highlight
KLA ART 014s commitment to redrawing
the boundaries of visual arts in this country.
As part of the festival, 20 artists were
challenged to turn bodaboda motorbikes
into moving art-pieces that would depict
the various aspects of the lives of ordinary
people in Kampala. The designed
bodabodas then rode around selected public
spaces much to the excitement of the people
on the street. The artists worked with a
selected group of bodaboda cyclists who
rode the bodabodas around town.
The bodaboda convoys elicited
conversations, ululations and serious debate.
From issues of disability, to the role of
women, road safety and security, the artists
sought to lend a platform to the unheard
voices of our city. Ten other artists from
Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, the
Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda
also presented a range of artworks that
were put on display at the Uganda railway
headquarters a symbolic choice of a

Away from the bodaboda

Bodaboda
motorbikes
transformed into
moving art pieces
during the KLA ART
014 exhibition

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THE DEBATE
This festival is part of a growing repertoire of
public art shows that have slowly been growing
on the Kampala visual art scene. From the LaBa
art festival to the recently-concluded Kampala
art Biennale. How far such a festive atmosphere
will go to foster the growth of the visual arts in
Uganda remains an issue of debate. Some critics
have voiced concern over the increasing number
of art festivals as a medium to communicate
arts.
What we see from the increase of festivals
as the golden key for communicating arts, is at
times a polarisation of organisations that should
be collaborating and tendencies for the copycat effect, says Kara Blackmore, a visual arts
enthusiast. For a growing industry, this can have
great implications. We wait to see.

venue for a place that had lost its glory.

The festival was organised by 32 EastUgandan Arts Trust and sponsored by
several corporate organisations.
The artists and their works
One of the artworks was a bodaboda
creatively fastened with cushion, a seat
belt, armrest and an improvised wheel to
make a tricycle wheel chair.
Fred Batale, the artist behind this work
rode around different spots in town,
engaging people on the streets about
several issues concerning disability. His
bike carried a placard that read: Obulemu
Kikemo? (Is disability a curse)? The public
response was overwhelming.
Wherever I stopped people came to
witness what my bodaboda was all about.
We started a conversation about disability
issues and the need for improved access to
crucial facilities, Batale says.
He says the exhibition raised an
important public debate, which would
have not been possible within the
restricted environment of an art gallery.
Simon Katumbas installation named
Etofaali played into the politics of
fundraising for good causes, which has

VIEWS ON
EXHIBITION

been popularised by Buganda governments

popular fundraising campaign for the
reconstruction of the Kasubi royal tombs.
Katumbas work depicts carefully assembled
brick-like sponges, glued together with
layers of cement and fastened to the back of
the bodaboda.
In keeping to the unmapped theme,
Katumba directs the essence of his work
to the role of masons, bricklayers and all
those people that work in the construction
industry. I wanted to show how these often
forgotten professionals play a key role in the
building process, he said.
By tapping into topical political and social
themes and sharing ideas about popular
culture and daily concerns, the artists
brought to the fore many unvoiced views
and ideas. In the process, the participating
artists found new ways of doing their work
and connecting with the public.
For instance, Papa Shabani, whose art
piece entitled Le Studio Bodaboda evoked
memories of the old pin-hole camera studio,
says his project gave him an idea of reviving
this dying style of photography. All I did was
strap pieces of wooden bars, a plastic carpet,
two pieces of cloth and a backpack made
from a jerrycan to a bodaboda and rode

to different places in town. Wherever I

stopped, I unravelled my working tools
and set up a studio and started taking
peoples pictures. Before long, he could
not control the curious crowds that were
coming and asking to have photos taken
of them. As I did this, I realised how many
people who cannot afford going to a
modern studio still relish such a simple
but crucial service, Shaban says. I now
see a potential to take this service beyond
the project brief, he said.
Connecting with the ordinary folk, mapping
the unmapped
This exhibition also involved ordinary

The KLA ART 014

exhibition was wellreceived by the public

people at different levels who would

ordinarily not have been part of the
art making process. For instance,
the bodaboda riders hired to take
the exhibition around town became
roving ambassadors of the art festival,
sometimes explaining to the curious
crowds what the art was all about. For
some, it was an empowering opportunity.
People despise our job. They under
look us. As we rode around in this
festival, I saw people warm up to us and
talk to us, this was a good feeling. It gave
me a sense of pride, Naomi Awero, the
only female bodaboda rider to participate
in this project said.

Other artworks cut across genres from short films, to

paintings and performance. The artists creatively documented
various aspects of urban life, challenges of ordinary dwellers
and charted the place of art as a creative endeavour. This
was the case for Paul Bukenya Katamiira, a skilled barkcloth
maker of many years who had never regarded his talent and
skill as an art form until his barkcloth installation was up for
exhibition at the Uganda Railways exhibition hall.
From my great grandfathers, to my father, we are barkcloth
makers, for us this is a family trade, more than anything else,
he said.
Katamiiras piece showcased various textures of backcloth
in addition to a detailed barkcloth making process complete
with all required tools. He also presented a book made from
barkcloth in an intriguing show that elicited questions and
curious looks from viewers, many of whom associated this
UNESCO world heritage fabric with death.
The festival also brought back hitherto unheard-from senior
artists like Prof. Francis Nagenda, who better known for his
skill as a sculptor this time round presented a mild coloured,
intricately designed painting on the role and strength of
women in our society.
Each of the visiting artists used their own experience to
relate their work to the Ugandan situation with Ethiopias
Helen Zeru and Mulugeta Gebrekidan juxtaposing Ethiopian
suburban life and culture to Ugandas own. Zerus
metaphorical tree planting and replanting work highlighted
the life of Ethiopian refuges in Uganda. Rwandas Tony
Cyizanye captured the voices of the voiceless in a huge
multicoloured painting that showed as much diversity as any
free society should have. Congos Vitshois used a short film
to document the struggles of little known street vendors
while Kenyas Denis Muraguri drew interesting comparisons
between Ugandas and Kenyas transport systems. In the end
all the work presented one colourful tapestry of ideas, artists,
venues and people in a truly festival atmosphere.
This is the second Kampala contemporary art festival,
following a similar one in 2012 under the name 12 Boxes
Moving and in which 12 artists transformed shipping
containers into public works of art at stationed at different
places in town. From 2012, this festival has created more
public interest in art perhaps because of its deliberate efforts
to connect art with the lives of ordinary people. From this
years show, you realised growing interest in visual art from
ordinary people who would otherwise not have cared one bit
about paintings hanging in some drab gallery walls. And this,
to some people is a good idea. This festival has taken art to
ordinary people helping to demystify it and bring a lot more
public awareness and involvement, says Dr. Lilian Nabulime
from Makerere University school of Fine Art.

Do art festivals like KLA ART 014 portend growth for the visual arts in Uganda?
Henry Mzili Mujunga,
visual artist, writer and critic
The greatest challenge of festivals
such as the Kampala Art Biennale
and KLA ART 014 ought to be the
fostering of an overall growth in the
creative industry, as well as fomenting
a national benefit to all Ugandans.
Having four or five art festivals a
year in a growing city like Kampala
only points towards an increased
interest in the arts as a source of
recreation and social engagement.
People in the creative industry should
jubilate rather than feel threatened by
increased public engagement.

Robinah Nansubuga,
co-curator KLA ART 014
The more such festivals
take place the better. It is
good for the artists to have
a variety of platforms to
showcase their work. The
organisers set their priorities
right, articulated their
objectives and stuck to them
throughout the festival. This
can be difficult if you work
with the same partners.
There should be a calendar
for these events so that
events do not clash.

Alex Lyons, media

manager, KLA ART 014
Art festivals such as these
are an indicator of growth.
It shows that the Uganda
art scene is developing
diverse platform for artistic
expression. However, in an
industry where you do not
have that many artistes it
means you will work with
similar artistes. There may
have been a few similarities
with other festivals, but
we will improve as we go
along.