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SOUTH MEETS WEST, 1999

An exhibition of contemporary African art in Accra (Ghana) and Bern (Switzerland).

Externet from Pascale Marthine Tayou,
Kamerun

The evaluation of the project revealed that many of the most interesting artists resided in South and West Africa. Due to the cultural boycott during apartheid there was only little if any contact between artists from the South and artists from the West of Africa. South-Meets-West intended to suspend the ongoing cultural isolation of Southafrica in order to encourage communication between artists from the South and from the West.

The artists' topics were manifold ranging from apartheid, war and racism to Aids, globalisation and neo-colonialism. The one thing that artist from the West and artists from the South had in common though was their search for African individuality and identity.

Their works were presented from November 10 to December 5 1999 at the National Museum Accra and afterwards from April 6 to June 25 2000 at the Kunsthalle and in the Historical Museum in Bern.

The exhibition in Bern was complemented with an Urban Art Bazar, a sort of arts and crafts market with genuine African works such as woodcuts of the !Xu und Khwe aus Botswana, behindglasspaintings from Senegal, Tingatinga a.o. Both exhibitions were framed with artists' workshops in local schools of art as well as with a curators' workshop in Accra. The exhibition was well visited both in Accra and in Bern and the catalogue sold very well.

Artists: Jane Alexander, South-Africa, Fernando Alvim, Angola, Meschac Gaba, Benin, Kendell Geers, South-Africa, Tapfuma Gutsa, Zimbabwe, Atta Kwami, Ghana, Goody Leye, Kamerun, Zwelethu Mthethwa, South-Africa, Tracey Rose, South-Africa, Yinka Shonibare, Nigeria, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Kamerun, Yacouba Touré, Elfenbeinküste, Minnette Vari, Südafrika, Dominique Zinkpe, Benin
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