Start Journal used this informal education space to invite writers to engage with on-the-spot writing opportunities. We set a brief and surprisingly, all seven writers picked different displays and different approaches to documenting the work.
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Year: 2013
Arts education comes in many forms and serves a multitude of functions. Start Journal wonders what it means to have arts education institutionalized and how states govern this process.
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Nairobi Half Life’s (2012) premise encapsulates the city’s nickname ‘Nairoberry’. By attempting to portray Nairobi as a city full of cliché characters: thieves, corrupt policemen, prostitutes and homosexuals, the film fails to inform us of the realities of Nairobi’s inhabitants.
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Over the last two decades specific diaspora curators (and theorists) of contemporary African art have become preoccupied with nationalism. Academic minds have tried to explain the internal-external dislocation experienced by the artist. However, the theoretical and thick the arguments do not address this fundamental ‘street’ or self problem.
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Mango Roses is a recounting of Uganda’s troubled past weaved through the chaotic journey of two lead female character.
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The small community that patronises our art, usually constituting diplomats, expatriates and tourists, is not sustainable. They have set for us a standard formula to use in order to satisfy their appetites.
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The art world is full of problems and solutions. Sometimes the problems seem so insurmountable that one wonders how an inspired mind could surpass them. Other times the possibilities are so apparent that only fools would ignore them. Through selective
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It is not enough to recognise an arrival of craft — there must be a push to improve or a platform for debate. The result: practiced notions of process and evolution emerged within a thoughtfully curated exhibition space.
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Competitions can be classrooms. The Spoken Word Project in Uganda could be exactly that — a space to teach and learn.
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The Venice Biennale undoubtedly remains one of the most important platforms for international contemporary art and its market. A national participation allows for visibility, for a national statement and leaves a footprint in certain version of the international history of art.
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When the 2013 Golden Baobab Prizes longlist was announced over two weeks ago, we were curious to see how many of the writers would be from Uganda. The answer is one. Derek Lubangakene is on the longlist for the Golden Baobab Prize for Early Chapter Books for his story Of Ghosts and Grave-Robbers. By Nanama B. Acheampong.
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A platform like the Rift Valley Festival can be used to strategically develop ones career, but it is dependent on the vision of the musician. There is no point in going there to just collect contacts. One must follow up with emails or phone calls in order to develop relationships or explore future collaborations.
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An Editorial Note What is the first thought that comes to mind when you hear about an art festival: Can I go? Who will be there? And if an artist has won a prize or an award, do you immediately
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Indeed it seems that the music scene in Uganda is strangled by poor imitations of Dancehall and Reggae. But if we understand the history, the challenges and most importantly the gospel, there emerges soul-filled clarity.
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If Tyson is speaking the parroted sound bite based language of East and Central Africa’s conflicts then who addresses relevant political tensions in meaningful ways?
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And yet, like so many other dictators, not only was Amin a frightening, deeply disturbed man, but he was also effortlessly capable of ineffable charisma and charm. The president clearly enjoyed putting on a show.
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Even though the artists are trying to break the typical gender moulds, they are expressing themselves by using stereotypical characters. This counter acts their intentions, and instead of inventing new traditions, they are complying with old reactionary traditional values.
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By choosing to include everyone, Luganda has laid itself bare to abuse and insult.
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“What is art? What is culture? If you are able to define it, then you know you are in trouble. How does Arts writing come into the picture? There is a myth that it is about judging something from very good to very bad, but the criteria for evaluating artworks are multi-dimensional.” Editor Thomas Bjørnskau writes his farewell note, and hands over Start to a new team.
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“If there is a truth to be admitted to, I will concede this one; it feels like truth, scabrous, incomplete and grudgingly accepted: being a writer is like going on being married. You arrive at a point in it where you no longer have the energy to learn to live with a new person and hold down your peregrinations.” An essay on writing by Ugandan writer AK Kaiza.
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