KLA ART unleashes a new era in public art in Kampala

ART | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | As the fifth edition of KLA ART takes place next month under the theme `Care Instructions’, Dominic Muwanguzi looks back on the past editions of the festival and how they have been able to unleash a new era in public art in Kampala

The theme for the third edition of the Kampala Contemporary Art Festival (KLA ART 018) organised by 32⁰ East Kampala, was inspired by the question: ‘what is on record and who gets to control that?’ motivated by the poor culture of record keeping in Uganda. Titled Off the Record the choice of venues for the festival included six sites namely: Katanga, Nakasero Market, Kampala Road, Uganda Museum, Kiyembe and Ham Mukasa House. These reflected the theme, as did the work of Ugandan artist Hellen Nabukenya who fabricated a large tapestry of multi-coloured textiles sewed together from off-cuts collected from tailors around the city.

The installation, which was hoisted onto one of the tallest buildings in Kiyembe lane – a busy business hub in Kampala that is synonymous with tailors and textile traders ¬– was easy to view by passing traffic of traders and clients. This was an interactive gesture between artwork and audience. Tilted, Munno Mu Kabi ¬– from the Luganda proverb that translates ‘a friend in need’ – the installation reached out to the city urbanites who predominantly use the Luganda language in their business engagements. Kiyembe the site for the Munno Mu Kabi installation was purposely selected because of the space’s long history of involvement in the tailoring business dating back as far as the early 1980s.

Kampala Contemporary Art Festival also known as KLA ART, is fast cultivating a culture of collaborative and interactive art in the public space around Kampala. This transition sprang from the urgency to overturn the ordinary perception that art resides in traditional art spaces like museums and galleries, and is a preserve of the white expatriate community and a handful of rich Ugandan elites. Moreover, the tradition of public art in Uganda, as is the case in certain parts of the world, is to represent political or social history and the identity of the State. For example, Gregory Maloba’s Independence Monument, 1962, on Speke Road was built to celebrate a specific moment in Uganda’s political history: the breakaway from colonial rule. The concrete sculpture represents the birth of a new nation symbolised by a female figure raising a child into the sky.

Through embracing a collaborative and interactive approach to public art in the city, the festival minimises the disconnect between art production and consumption. For instance, under the theme of waste management and pollution in Kampala, Ugandan artist Samson “Xenson” Ssenkaaba’s installation dubbed: Nakivubo Channel for KLAART 012, questioned the notion of dumping waste, specifically plastics, in Kampala which end up in the Nakivubo Channel waterway, eventually polluting Lake Victoria. The scale of the installation implored urbanites to take on collective responsibility for their environment inspired by the traditional Buganda Kingdom practice of Bulungi Bwasi. The Bulungi Bwansi model invited the local community to work collectively in keeping their environment clean; starting from the family moving up to the clan level.

The concept of KLA ART 012, “12 Boxes Moving” was apt in the words of Dr. Rose Kirumira, Chairperson, of the Working Committee of KLA ART 012, in “realising artistic connections with the social vision of our people by initiating curiosity, participation and tickling the creative spirit of the citizens of Kampala”. The shipping containers that were selected for the festival, to serve as working or exhibition space, are a common sight in Kampala, where they act as a form of shelter, storage and transportation. In order to fulfil the objective of interacting with the public, the containers were purposely positioned around street corners where they would prompt an immediate interface with the citizenry. For Xenson’s installation, the container was located in the gardens next to the Railway Station where there is busy traffic of both motorists and pedestrians who could not miss it.

For the second edition, titled Unmapped, twenty Ugandan artists were commissioned to interpret the theme by transforming the Boda- boda taxis into a mobile art project to encourage public interaction. Boda-bodas are a regular mode of transport for many urbanites offering cheap and swift transport alternatives across the city. On the other hand, the motor-cycle taxi business is credited with employing thousands of urban youths thereby solving the problem of unemployment in the capital. Nonetheless, its low contribution to the country’s economic growth is worrying. This is because there is no government policy to streamline and regulate its activities across the country.

However, the idea of artists working with the boda-bodas reinforced the notion of collaborative and interactive processes in art making and display. During the festival, the cyclists each had an artwork sitting on the back of their motorcycles as they traversed the different selected destinations where people from diverse social backgrounds live and work. In this way, a relationship between artist, art and public within the city was realised.

The festival offers exciting and unique ways, to engage with Contemporary art in the city. This is achieved through emphasizing that artists should create art that tackles the everyday experience of the urbanites and also reflects the city’s varied social and cultural landscape. This encourages enduring and meaningful conversations on art among the public because it mirrors their social and cultural identity while addressing those pertinent issues that sometimes are overlooked by the State.

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Images are courtesy of 32⁰ East social platforms and Startjournal.org