ART, IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING
Contemporary African Art from the Ilija Gubić Collection
23 June – 8 October 2023
Exhibition Curator:
Aleksandra Gačić
About the exhibition:
The exhibition opened on Friday, June 23, at 6 p.m. at the Museum of African Art and marked the beginning of the traditional Afro Festival event, which this year under the name "Kenya - pride of Africa!" took place on June 24 and 25 in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth, Arts and Sports of Kenya, as well as Cultural center of Kenya.
At the opening of the exhibition, Marija Aleksić, director of the Museum of African Art, and Ivana Bašičević Antić, director of the Museum of Naive and Marginal Art, addressed the attendees.
The exhibition was opened with the concert “Music and Dance in Motion”, performed by music and dance groups from Burundi, in cooperation with the SANU Institute of Musicology, in front of which Marija Dumnić Vilotijević, PhD and Marija Maglov, PhD spoke.
Drawing from tradition, but persistently reacting to modernity, the artistic production of the African continent is constantly exposed to different socio-historical circumstances and changes. The very title - Art, In Spite of Everything - is also the core idea of the exhibition because it asserts that African art and artists adapt to the many obstacles and limitations of the modern world, using the language of the global art scene in original ways.
At this exhibition – which is based on the private collection of the architect and honorary consul of Serbia in Rwanda Ilija Gubić – the following artists are presented to the public for the first time: Lawrence ‘Shabu’ Mwangi from Kenya, Hussein Salim from Sudan, Malangatana Valente Ngwenya from Mozambique, Collin Sekajugo, Dr. Lilian Mary Nabulime and Bruno Sserunkuma from Uganda, Guy Karangwa Omega, Florida Mukabageni, Medard Bizimana, Strong Karakire, Benjamin Rusagara, Christian King Dusabe, Isaac Iirumva and Brave ‘Tangz’ Rumariza from Rwanda.
All of them can be characterised as Afropolitans - artists from the African continent or related to that cultural-historical space, who use their aesthetic expression to revitalise their own cultural heritage, but in a way and through media which make them open to the flows of the global world. Their experiences of ‘African’ everyday life are redefining the concept of African origin, because these artists are at the same time ‘citizens of the world’ who are troubled by the same problems that modern humanity is faced with, such as climate change, unequal living standards, the effects of the patriarchal model of life and the invisibility of women, as well as ‘usual’ existential concerns etc.
Inspired by the life stories and social contexts in which African artists work, with this exhibition we wanted to send a message that the seemingly insurmountable obstacles of the modern world such as war conflicts, ethnic tensions, low living standards, climate problems etc. fail to quash the artists’ urge for creative expression. The ideas that their art works convey, defy geopolitical frameworks and resonate around the world, their messages leaving a cultural imprint on the global artistic scene.
Art knows no boundaries: it moves, changes and creates the world.
The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual, Serbian-English catalogue with texts written by Ilija Gubić and the author of the exhibition, Aleksandra Gačić, as well as an interview with Vivaldi Ngenzi, a museum management specialist of the Rwanda Art Museum.
In addition to the exhibited works (15 paintings, 5 sculptures and 1 vase) from Gubić collection, the exhibition is accompanied by short videos created on the basis of material that Gubić recorded during his many-year stay in Rwanda: "Life of a Painting: Man with Mask" (2021) - thanks to the cooperation with the Faculty of Technology in Novi Sad, this short film reveals to us from what material was made the only contemporary work of art that survived the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, otherwise extracted from the ruins of the artist's house; then the videos "Benjamin Rusagara", "Christian King Dusabe" and "Isaac Iirumva" created in 2022 in collaboration with film producer Bojan Jošić, introduce us to the artistic missions of young Rwandan artists; as well as two videos "Visit to the Rwanda Art Museum" (2019) and "Nyamirambo Women Center" (2018), which in a reportage style testify about the contemporary art scene and women's everyday life in Rwanda.
Photos from the exhibition opening:
The first public guided tour through the exhibition was held by curator Aleksandra Gačić on Sunday, June 25 at 4 p.m. as part of the Afro Festival event.
The realization of the exhibition was helped by: the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the Faculty of Technology in Novi Sad, the Rwanda Art Museum and the Academy of Cultural Heritage of Rwanda Inteco Y'umuco. We are also thankful to the producer Bojan Jošić; artists Dr. Lilian Mary Nabulime and Isaac Iirumva; Björn Stern, manager of artist Collin Sekajugo; The Virtual Museum of Lusophony, the Satellites of Art and Urban Africans platforms; as well as The Melrose Gallery.
Graphic design and visual identity: Nikola Radojčić, Isidora Tomić – Braća Burazeri
Photography: Vlada Popović
Technical implementation: Živan Radovanović and Quadrium
Print: Manuarta
