ECHOES - DiARTgonale Special Edition #2 (Dec. 2013)
JAMAN - DiARTgonale Special Edition #1 (Dec. 2012)
ECHOES, ERforS HQ, 2014
IN_DEPENDANCE, Maarten Vanden Eynde and Alioum Moussa (photo M. Dijkman), 2010
PRESENT PERFECT savvy
2007 - 2017
Present Perfect
Artistic exchange and production
Initiated by: Annette Schemmel and Marjolijn Dijkman
Contributors: Justine Gaga, Beate Engl, Vincent Meessen, Lionel Manga, Patrick Wokmeni, Nicolas & Rose Eyidi, Meschac Gaba, Didier Schaub, Bisi Silva, Koyo Kouoh, Em'kal Eyongakpa, Joachim Oelsner-Adam, Stefaan Dheedene, Amélie Bouvier, Bathilde Maestracci, Jean Pierre Bekolo, Christian Hanussek, Salifou Lindou, Nyemb Popoli, Michaela Oberhofer, Achille K Komguem, Andrew Gilbert, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880 - 1938), Paul Hendrikse, Louis-Marie Pouka-M’Bague (1910 – 1992), Anschaire Aveved, Hervé Yamguen, Dunja Herzog, Garba Tanko, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Matthias de Groof, Nav Haq, LucFosther Diop, Boris Nzébo, Ruth Afane Belinga, Alioum Moussa, Paul-Henri Assako Assako
Partners: ArtBakery (Douala, CM), DiARTgonale (Maroua, CM), Doual'Art, (Douala, CM), SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin, DE), IWALEWA-Haus, (Bayreuth, DE), SMBA (Amsterdam, NL), Wiels (Brussels, BE), Goethe-Institut Yaoundé (Yaoundé, CM), Institut de la Formation Artistique (Mbalmayo, CM), Gueststudio DCR (The Hague, NL)
Support: Arts Collaboratory (NL), Stroom (NL), IFA (DE), Kultureferat der Stadt München (DE)
Present Perfect is a series of research travels, discussions, residencies, field research, talks, launch events and exhibitions, which all further exchange between Cameroonian and European artists.
While taking into account the striking inequalities that separate us, Present Perfect challenges the otherising and the segregation in today’s global art world by following the vision of the multi-media artist Goddy Leye (CM, 1965-2011): “Art is universal. Although the means of presentation and production or even the character of the works changes with the localities, we’re united in the same quest.” Under this motto, Enough Room for Space has invited artists, writers, scientists and passionate amateurs of both continents to engage with each other on a long-term basis.
The project’s main results are gathered in two magazine issues edited in collaboration with the Cameroonian artist journal DiARTgonale.
The first special edition of DiARTgonale was published in November 2012 and titled JAMAN (Bamum for “German”). This issue spotlights the past century of aesthetics entanglements between Cameroon and the Former West. Set alongside poetic and scientific texts as well as political cartoons, the newly produced artworks challenge cherished notions of cultural authenticity.
The second issue with the title ECHOES was released in December 2013. ECHOES features artists’ critical re-visions of a colonial-time bestseller andof the conceptual premises of artistic work in the era of globalisation, to only name two poles of this publication. Further highlights of this issue are the views on post-Independence Cameroon by three generations of photographers and feature a unique archive of Cameroonian pop music.
Since 2014, Present Perfect is focusing on educational matters in art on the basis of a phd thesis on the history of informal knowledge sharing amongst artists in Douala and Yaoundé by Annette Schemmel, one of Present Perfect’s initiators. Debates with artists, art historians and art teachers who are involved with the newly introduced formal arts education in Cameroon’s public schools (since 2009) and with the country’s new art institutes (since 2010) are taking this facet of Present Perfect to a practical level. These debates take the form of two colloquiums at Yaoundé’s Goethe-Institut (2014, 2015) and of a book publication planned for 2016.
Related News
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23 April - 30 June 2017
IN_DEPENDENCE Installations
Kaaitheater, Brussels & Verbeke Foundation, Kemzeke, BE
After the intense 7 days full of vibrant conversations at Place de La Monnaie in Brussels as part of the Performatik Biennial 17, two installations are installed respectively at Kaaitheater and Verbeke Foundation. At the atrium of Kaaitheater you'll find a large wall installation with portraits of all the couples that participated and quotes from the conversations, and the sculptural mobile home found a place at Verbeke Foundation where the posters and t-shirts are still available as well.
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1 April 2017
LUNÄ Talk: IN_DEPENDENCE
PERFORMATIK17 at ERforS HQ, BE
"Without its Eurocentric distortions, decolonization would be at the center of the narrative we tell about the twentieth century - and this retelling would allow us to see that global capitalism today is most fundamentally shaped by the struggle for independence." from 'Empire of Cotton, A Global History' by Sven Beckert.
Take a seat at the LUNÄ table for a discussion about social, political, and ecological (in)dependence. Material aspects are also relevant: especially in relation to cotton, they form a constant theme throughout colonial history and the power structures that dominate today’s world.
Invited contributors: Prof. Sven Beckert (historian, Harvard University, US), Prof. Peter Pels (anthropologist, Leiden University, NL), Christine Chivallon (anthropologist, CNRS, Bordeaux, FR), Helen Elands (art historian, independent researcher, London, UK), Marjolijn Dijkman (artist and initiator of LUNÄ Talks), Maarten Vanden Eynde (artist and co-host) and Alioum Moussa (artist and co-host).
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25 - 31 March 2017
IN_DEPENDENCE
PERFORMATIK17, Place de la Monnaie, Brussels, BE
Last summer 2016, the Belgian Maarten Vanden Eynde and the Cameroonian Alioum Moussa have been building a two-part mobile structure, of which one side is the other’s opposite yet the structures depend upon one another to stay in balance. During Performatik17, they located at La Place de la Monnaie / Muntplein in Brussels every day with their mobile house. You are invited to visit them in pairs for a discussion about what dependence and independence mean to you – at a personal, political and artistic level. The project will be translated into a growing photo exhibition at Kaaitheater.
Follow on instagram and twitter: #IN_DEPENDENCE17 / @IN_DEPENDENCE17 -
14 August - 15 September 2016
Present Perfect: Residency Period
Alioum Moussa / Maarten Vanden Eynde, ERforS / Verbeke Foundation, BE
During this residency period, Maarten Vanden Eynde (BE) and Alioum Moussa (CM) are building a two-part mobile structure, of which one side is the other’s opposite, yet the structures depend upon one another to stay in balance. During Performatik17, they will visit a different location in Brussels every day with their mobile house. You are invited to visit them in pairs for a discussion about what dependence and independence mean to you – at a personal, political and artistic level. The project will be translated into a growing photo exhibition at Kaaitheater. Moussa and Vanden Eynde originally created the project for SUD2010, the triennial art event in Douala (Cameroon), whose starting point was the 50th anniversary of independence being marked by 17 African countries.
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4 April 2016
Visual Arts in Cameroon: A Genealogy of Non-formal Training
Bamenda: Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, CM
Annette Schemmel provides a highly illuminating case study of the major actors, discourses and paradigm that shaped the history of visual arts in Cameroon during the second part of the 20th century. Her book meticulously reconstructs the multiple ways of artistic knowledge acquisition - from the consolidation of the "Système de Grands Frères" in the 1970s to the emergence of more discursively oriented small artists’ initiatives which responded to the growing NGO market of social practice art opportunities in the 2000s. Based on archival research, participant observation and in depth interviews with art practitioners in Douala and Yaoundé, this study is a must read for everyone who wants to better understand the vibrant artistic scenes in countries like Cameroon, which until today lack a proper state-funded infrastructure in the arts.
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21 - 27 February 2016
Present Perfect: Residency Period
Alioum Moussa / Maarten Vanden Eynde, ERforS HQ
Alioum Moussa (based in Yaounde, CM) and Maarten Vanden Eynde (BE) will continue to work on their collaborative project In_Dependance for the upcoming Performatik Biennial in Brussels initiated by Kaaitheater. The project started in 2010 and took the 50th anniversary of the independence of 17 African countries as a starting point, the project’s aim is to inspire dialogues about a variety of notions of independence, be they individual, political or artistic.
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26 - 28 October 2015
Artistic Training and Arts Education in Cameroon
Colloquium II, Yaounde, CM
Pedagogic exchanges amongst profiled visual artists and academic teachers are in the focus of this second colloquium in Yaoundé. The invited experts will critically assess pedagogic attitudes by means of lectures, film screenings and discussions and thus contribute to a skill enhancement of the participating art teachers, artists, art historians and art critics.
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15 - 17 October 2014
Artistic Training and Arts Education in Cameroon
Colloquium, Yaounde, CM
Pedagogic exchanges amongst profiled visual artists and academic teachers are in the focus of the colloquium in Yaoundé. The invited experts will critically assess pedagogic attitudes by means of lectures, film screenings and discussions and thus contribute to a skill enhancement of the participating art teachers, artists, art historians and art critics.
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23 May 2014
Salifou Lindou: New Works
ERforS HQ, BE
At ERforS HQ the Cameroonian artist Salifou Lindou will present new work realized during his 3 week residency at Frans Masereel Centrum. Salifou Lindou's interest for printmaking emerged in 2011 in Den Haag, when working with Christian Hanussek on the joined project "JAMAN" for Diartgonale Special Edition #1, which was published by Enough Room for Space. Lindou plans to open a print-workshop in Cameroon upon his return.
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21 February 2014
Launch ECHOES
Presentations and discussion, SAVVY, Berlin, DE
Enough Room for Space proudly announces its new special edition of DiARTgonale entitled "ECHOES". To celebrate this launch, Mutant Matters at Savvy Contemporary (Berlin) will host a discussion about the accessibility of knowledge resources and public archives for contemporary artists working outside of Europe.
With contributions by: Lorenzo Sandoval, Luis Berrios-Negron, Annette Schemmel and Bathilde Maestracci.
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12 -14 February 2014
Inauguration of our new Enough Room for Space HQ
Exhibition and Launch of ECHOES, Brussels, BE
The new headquarters of Enough Room for Space in Brussels are being inaugurated with an exhibition of artwork by Cameroonian authors. Their films, videos, photo series and installations are reflecting political issues that mark everyday life in Cameroon and artists' experiences upon leaving this country.
Works by: Jean-Pierre Bekolo, LucFosther Diop, Beate Engl & Justine Gaga, Salifou Lindou, Maarten Vanden Eynde & Alioum Moussa, Patrick Wokmeni
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13 February 2014
Launch ECHOES
Launch & Lecture, WIELS, Brussels, BE
WIELS is kindly hosting one of the launches of ECHOES_DiARTgonale Special Edition #2. By discussing a selection of art works made in Douala, Cameroon, art historian and curator Annette Schemmel will sketch out the complex networks of references used by informally taught artists in this context. Her lecture is entitled "Sharing Knowledge. A Perspective on Contemporary Art made in Cameroon.
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12 February 2014
Launch ECHOES
Roundtable discussion, SMBA, Amsterdam, NL
Like the first issue, the new magazine ECHOES_DiARTgonale Special Edition #2 seeks to extend access to relevant archives, books and education in Cameroon. As part of its efforts to inform European audiences of the conditions of artistic production in African contexts, SMBA is hosting a round-table discussion with select experts.
Talks and discussion: moderated by Lucy Cotter with Annette Schemmel, Bassam El Baroni, Pauline Burmann
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5 December 2013
Launch ECHOES
Presentation and launch, SUD, Douala, CM
The Salon Urbain de Douala is a primordial gathering of artists and cultural producers on the African continent which takes place every three years. At this festive occasion, Annette Schemmel will introduce the brand new issue ECHOES, Enough Room for Space’s new special edition of the artist magazine DiARTgonale, besides reflecting on the larger framewort of the ongoing project Present Perfect.
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December 2013
ECHOES – DiARTgonale Special Edition #2
Online reader and print version
The second DiARTgonale Special Edition deals with ECHOES: a famous novel, an idiosyncratic image bank, a sound archive and historical statements reverberate in the contributions. Artists, writers and passionate amateurs of both continents have engaged with each other in the production of intriguing artworks, interviews, surveys and stories.
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July - August 2013
Collective editing period
ERforS HQ, BE
We are editing the upcoming magazine ECHOES DiARTgonale Special Edition #2. Editors Annette Schemmel, Marjolijn Dijkman, Amélie Bouvier and Bathilde Maestracci are meeting with the translators, with the artists Vincent Meessen and Patrick Wokmeni and with the designer Indre Klimaite to finalize the upcoming magazine.
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17 December 2012
Launch JAMAN
lecture and launch, SAVVY, Berlin, DE
The magazine “JAMAN” (Bamum for “German”) spotlights encounters between Cameroon and the “West” during more than a hundred years. The art works, the poetic and scientific texts and the cartoons that have been specially produced for this issue challenge cherished notions of cultural authenticity. „JAMAN“ is the fist of a series of special editions published by the European art organisation Enough Room for Space in collaboration with the Cameroonian artist journal DiARTgonale.
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23 November 2012
Launch JAMAN
Lectures and launch, Iwalewa Haus, Bayreuth, DE
JAMAN is the fist of a series of special editions by Enough Room for Space in collaboration with the Cameroonian artist journal DiARTgonale. In Bayreuth, Christian Hanussek and co-editor Annette Schemmel will introduce JAMAN and the other contributions to the edition, which span the years between 1905 and 2025 and deal with further incidents of exchange, appropriation and hybridisation.
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November 2012
JAMAN – DiARTgonale Special Edition #1
Online reader and print version
JAMAN is the fist of a series of special editions by Enough Room for Space in collaboration with the Cameroonian artist journal DiARTgonale. This issue lends its title from an art project that explores encounters between Cameroon and the “West” during more than a hundred years. The art works, the poetic and scientific texts and the cartoons that have been specially produced for this issue challenge cherished notions of cultural authenticity.
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June 2012
Residency period Present Perfect
Justine Gaga & Beate Engl, Munich, DE
The two conceptual sculptors Justine Gaga (Douala) and Beate Engl (Munich) have started collaborating in the context of „Present Perfect“. Together they are developing a project called „Echo“ that deals with their respective working conditions as artists, with production and reception.
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5 and 8 December 2011
Present Perfect Lectures
University of Yaoundé / Institut du Sahel (INSAH), CM
While travelling throughout Cameroon in 2011 in preparation of various projects related to Present Perfect, the artist Beate Engl and curator Annette Schemmel will talk to art students about their different practices and about Present Perfect.
5 December 2011, 10 h, University of Yaoundé, Yaoundé: Presentations by Beate Engl and Annette Schemmel, hosted by lecturer Paul-Henri Assako Assako
8 December 2011, 10 h, Institut du Sahel (INSAH), Maroua: Presentations by Beate Engl and Annette Schemmel, hosted by lecturer Achille K Komguen
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December 2011
Residency Period Present Perfect
Collective working period, throughout Cameroon
Marjolijn Dijkman, Beate Engl, Christian Hannusek and Annette Schemmel are travelling to Douala, to Maroua, to Yaoundé and to Foumban in order to advance their projects with Ruth Afane Belinga, Nicolas & Rose Eyidi, Justine Gaga, Achille K Komguem, Salifou Lindou, and Lionel Manga, amongst others.
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10 September - 31 October 2011
Residency Period Present Perfect
Ruth Afane Belinga & Salifou Lindou, The Hague, NL
Artist and art historian Ruth Afane Belinga and artist Salifou Lindou from Cameroon are staying in residence in The Hague. During their stay, they will re-think the Cameroonian artist journal DiARTgonale in collaboration with the artists Marjolijn Dijkman, Christian Hanussek and Maarten Vanden Eynde, the graphic designer Indre Klimaite and the curator Annette Schemmel.
20 September 2011: artist talks by Ruth Afane-Belinga and Salifou Lindou moderated by Annette Schemmel. 8 p.m. hosted by NEST, the Hague
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March 2011
Interview with Goddy Leye (1965-2011) by Annette Schemmel
Published in Mosaïques, CM and African Arts, US
This interview with Goddy Leye (1965-2011) is one of his last statements about his visions regarding the Cameroonian art scene. It was published in March 2011 in French in the fourth issue of the Cameroonian culture journal "Mosaïques". In Autumn 2011 it was featured in English in African Arts, a journal published by MIT press.
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December 2010
IN_DEPENDENCE
Project by Alioum Moussa & Maarten Vanden Eynde, SUD, Douala, CM
Taking the 50th anniversary of the independence of 17 African countries as a starting point, this project’s aim is to inspire dialogues about a variety of notions of independence, be they individual, political or artistic. The artists will distribute fifty pairs of black and white T-shirts to fifty pairs of participants to the triennale Salon Urbain de Douala, taking place in December 2010.
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December 2010
Independence or Interdependence?
Article by Annette Schemmel
Annette Schemmel’s contribution to a dossier of Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Berlin on the anniversary of the independence of many African countries in 2010 is a curatorial reflection on the project Present Perfect. For this project, Cameroonian and European artists are jointly exploring notions of history and memory. The article is published in German.
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12 June - 13 July 2010
Stardust in a Nutshell
Exhibition, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin, DE
Stardust in a Nutshell presents a selection of art works made in Cameroon in the past years, by both Cameroonian and European artists. As contemporary artists they all address politically relevant topics and share a conceptual approach to their practice.
Involved artists: Stefaan Dheedene, Christian H anussek / Salifou Lindou, Dunja Herzog, Boris Nzébo, Maarten Vanden Eynde / Alioum Moussa, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Patrick Wokmeni, Hervé Yamguen
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March - April 2010
Residency period Present Perfect
Collective working period, Douala, CM
The artists Marjolijn Dijkman and Maarten Vanden Eynde and curator Annette Schemmel are exploring possibilities for future collaborations with Cameroonian artists and writers on site in Douala. After a long prelude of conversations in Europe, we are doing studio visits and are hosted by Douala’s art initiatives to screen and present artworks brought from Europe, which address the notions of memory, history and the future.
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March 2010
Writing About
Published by Fucking Good Art (#25)
A publication edited and compiled by Lucia Babina and Zoe Gray as a result of Talking About! With amongst others: Never Swallow the Past, a contribution written by Annette Schemmel (ERforS) which meditates upon retellings of history in the light of the 50th anniversary of Cameroonian independence.
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12 September 2009
Talking About
Gathering in Rotterdam, NL
As part of the program Talking About!, Enough Room for Space initiates a discussion with a group artists and cultural producers working in the context of Central Africa and in specific in Cameroon.
Talking About! brought six artists and cultural producers from Cameroon to the Netherlands; Ruth Belinga (artist, curator, Yaoundé), Goddy Leye (artist, founder of artist initiative ArtBakery, Douala), Hervé Youmbi (artist, member of the collective Cercle Kapsiki, Douala), Achille K Komguen (artist, editor of the newspaper DiARTgonale, Yaoundé), Lionel Manga (writer, Douala), Achille Atina (cultural mediator, Douala).
Additionally, Enough Room for Space has invited Hervé Yamguen (artist, member of the collective Cercle Kapsiki, Douala), Emiliano Gandolfi (curator), Alexander Vollebregt (artist), Kaleb de Groot (artist), Meruro Washida (curator), David Maroto (artist) and Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson (artists) as discussion partners to Enough Room for Space.
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2006 - 2007
Pah’Bèt
Publication by Dunja Herzog
Dunja Herzog’s project „Pah’Bèt“ builds on her personal contact with bronze casters in Foumban, Cameroon, the capital of the Bamum culture. Besides intergrating Pah’Bèt at the shops of local arts and crafts merchands, Dunja researched the history of bronze casting in the Bamum culture and the ways in which global trade affects this practice.
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27 - 28 January 2007
Thinking About
Artistic exchange gathering
Thinking About! is a two-days meeting. doual'art will present its work and discuss with the artists, architects and cultural operators, who will be involved in the cultural projects in Douala in the coming years. Artists, such as James Beckett and Blaisse Bang, will take part in the round-table and will share their experiences.
Participants: Lucia Babina, Blaise Bang, Ulrike Bartels, James Beckett, Edgar Cleijne, Stefaan Dheedene, Marjolijn Dijkman, doual’art, Emiliano Gandolfi, Christian Hanussek, Dunja Herzog, Iolanda Pensa, Daniela Roth, Didier Schaub, Fiona Siegenthaler, Claudia Wegener, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Kamiel Verschuren, Alexander Vollebregt