Until 22 April 2018, the Hartware MedienKunstVerein presents the exhibition “Afro-Tech and the Future of Re-Invention”, curated by Inke Arns and Fabian Saavedra-Lara, which puts Afrofuturism in dialogue with alternative technological solutions and imaginations.
The exhibition “Afro-Tech and the Future of Re-Invention” shows 20 international artistic positions and 12 tech projects from the maker scenes in various countries of Africa. The speculative narratives unfolding in the artworks on display are confronted with actual inventions from maker scenes in different African countries.
The starting point for this project was a research trip undertaken by Inke Arns through various African countries in 2014 that drew her attention to the maker scene and the new technological devices, apps, software solutions and digital products that have been coming into being for some years now against the background of increasing digitisation and networking on the continent. Many of these inventions have the goal of helping the community of users in everyday life and compensating for infrastructural problems. They often function according to principles of general accessibility and open source, which allow changes in design, repurposing and continuing development. They thus represent an alternative draft to the technological monocultures of the “global North” that dominate here.
The inventions presented in the exhibition appear as proofs of an already initiated technological development that could lead to a future not limited to the narrative of modernity and progress of the West – a future that is already shown to us now in the exhibition. The artistic media used are videos, video installations, photography, drawings, records, software, sculptures and comics.
Artists in the exhibition : Sherif Adel, John Akomfrah, Jean-Pierre Bekolo, Neïl Beloufa, Frances Bodomo, Drexciya, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Louis Henderson, Jaromil, Wanuri Kahiu, Kapwani Kiwanga, Abu Bakarr Mansaray, Cristina de Middel, Fabrice Monteiro, Wangechi Mutu, The Otolith Group, RAMMELLZEE, Tabita Rezaire, Simon Rittmeier, Soda_Jerk.
More information here
