A MASSIVE EXHIBITION OF AFRICA IN FINLAND

For over twenty years of my active life here in Helsinki Finland, issues concerning Africa is often relegated to the alternative culture. As a multicultural activist of many years, I have often wondered why. Other continents feature in the mainstream cultural events, but not Africa. It belonged to the development aid related activities where mostly the music and food from the continent are consummated amidst the staring pictures of starving children, suffering mothers and burn out men. There is still a lot of negativity towards things African among many Finns, and the prototypical approaches of the mainstream media have not helped much either. This is why it becomes necessary to feel the other side of the story to avoid what the renowned young Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie during a talk given at the TED, referred to as The Danger of the Single Story.

Well, suffice it to say that after many years of waiting, at last Africa is being given a big break in the mainstream high culture. An Exposition in no other place than the renowned Helsinki Museum of Contemporary Arts, KIASMA.

I was privileged to witness the opening of this mass

ive exhibition which covered the entire sections of the museum with works in assorted mediums, and a cross section of African artistes of different generations both from Africa and from the diaspora, and also that of non African artistes whose work center on the continent and its people. The exhibition is titled ARS 11

On the exhibition, this is what the museum had to say -- “The ARS 11 exhibition investigates Africa in contemporary art. In addition to artists living in Africa, the show also features others who live outside the continent, artists of African descent as well as Western artists who address African issues in their work. The exhibition features some 300 works by a total of 30 artists. The Kiasma Theatre also has a programme of ARS events and performances.

The themes of the exhibition, such as migration, environmental problems and urban life are global, issues that affect us all. At best ARS 11 can produce new understanding and also provide background information on the situation in today’s Africa. The exhibition will extend the idea of what Africa, contemporary art and African contemporary art are today”.

Walking through the entire exhibition brings Africa alive through audio arts, video arts, photography, and installations. On stepping towards the doorway, you will be greeted with the sound of the busy Oshodi district of Lagos through the audio art on African urban life put together by a youthful artist, Emeka Ogboh. Blasting sound bites from the busy Oshodi bus stop made one feel the pulse of Lagos, one of the most conjested cities in the world.

I was also impressed by the photographic works of the octogenarian Nigerian photographer, Pa, JD Okhai Ojeikere.

Part of his exhibition included a chronicle of events in Nigeria, side by side with his own life history.

There was also the works of Romuald Hazou, an artist from Benin Republic who uses scrap metal and plastic to create figures, masks and installations to mention but a few. There are thirty artists involved in the exhibition.

The opening of this exhibition on Thursday the 14^th attracted a huge crowd. The museum was so filled up that it took a long waiting to leave jackets at the entrance. The timing of this exhibition also could not be better, as according to a Finnish lady I spoke to “This is good, and the timing is perfect” she said, and when I asked her why she thought so, she referred me to the present trend of the Finnish politics. I could not but agree with her.

The exhibition lasts until 27.11.2011, and please if you live in Finland or travel to Finland withinthis time, this is the exhibition to visit. and for more details on this visit -

http://www.kiasma.fi/calendar/exhibitions/ars11/artists