Not african, but Contemporary

There is a growing ”Hype“ around so called ”Global Art“, a notion which often mainly refers to art production from non-European and non-US-American contexts. And the perception of contemporary art from African perspectives is part of that phenomenon. While this is without a doubt interesting, it also shows the still inherent hierarchies between “the Center“ and “the Periphery“ and the tendency to talk about "Global Art" but in fact using that term as a new replacement for "the other". With the art magazine Contemporary And (C&) – Platform for International Art from African Perspectives we are creating a dynamic space where issues and information on international art from Africa and the Diaspora are reflected and connected. In their presentation Julia Grosse and Yvette Mutumba will talk about their work with C& discussing methodes, definitions and challenges of the dedication to strengthen the visibility of and discourse around contemporary art from African Perspectives.

Julia Grosse is the co-founder and editor in chief of the art magazine Contemporary And (C&) focusing on international art from African perspectives. She graduated in Art History, German Literature and Media at the Ruhr-Universität in Bochum, followed by working as a junior culture editor at Springer Verlag. Until 2013 Grosse worked as an arts correspondent in London for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, AD Magazine, SZ Magazin, Tageszeitung. In 2010 Grosse published  Don’t get me wrong, a handbook focussing on the many layers of global misunderstanding via hand gestures, which became a media hit and book of the week on CNN. Her most recent publication I am built inside you, edited by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) and C&, was published in April 2017 by Sternberg Press. Since 2013 she lives and works in Berlin.

Yvette Mutumba is co-founder and editor-in-chief of the art magazine Contemporary And (C&). She is part of the curatorial team of the 10^th Berlin Biennale (9 June – 9 September 2018). From 2012 to 2016 she was working as curator at Weltkulturen Museum in Frankfurt am Main, DE, where she co-curated the major exhibitions FOREIGN EXCHANGE (or the stories you wouldn’t tell a stranger) (2014–15), El Hadji Sy: Paintings, Performance, Politics (2015), and A Labour of Love (2015–16, with Gabi Ngcobo). In 2016 she co-curated Focus: African Perspectives at The Armory Show, New York, US.

Mutumba studied Art History at Freie Universität Berlin, DE, and holds a PhD from Birkbeck, University of London, GB. As author and editor she has published numerous texts and books on contemporary art from African perspectives as well as Global Art History. Her most recent publication I am built inside you, edited by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) and C&, was published in April 2017 by Sternberg Press.