New arts ministry is highlight of 2012

By Andrew Mulenga

Looking back on the arts in recollection, 2012 has been the most promising and encouraging year, arguably since independence, ushering in exciting times indeed.

Zambia Open University arts lecturer William Miko with arts
minister Sylvia Masebo during the exhibition held in honour
of Cynthia Zukas recognition by queen Elizabeth

It passes with quite a number of highlights; Cynthia Zukas was honoured by the queen of England for her contribution to the development of the visual arts in Zambia, Zambia Breweries launched multi-disciplinary awards for music, the arts have a brand new ministry, which subsequently announced the National Arts and Culture Commission.

For the first time in the country’s history we seem to have a government that is dedicated to developing the arts as a creative industry, and if the arts minister’s recent remarks in her speech at the 15^th Ngoma Awards are anything to go by development of the arts is on the right trajectory.

“The PF government has been working to develop an appropriate vehicle with which to drive the practical development of a wider job creation platform, more equitable national development and better international relations through the arts and cultural sectorOver the past year the PF government has demonstrated a timely and efficient strategic direction by creating a new ministry of tourism and arts,” said Sylvia Masebo in part of her speech.

“The creation of the ministry of tourism and arts is an unprecedented effort to address long neglected challenges in the arts sector… With the creation of the Arts and Culture Commission, the arts and culture sector will now be uniquely positioned to create and preserve jobs and promote the rich and diverse arts and culture assets of Zambia, this important policy will also enable the PF government to distribute critical resources at the national provincial and district levels”.

The minister also promised that in the coming years the PF government will work tirelessly in supporting and promoting the arts.

The arts commission she spoke of came following a presidential pronouncement during the opening of parliament on the 21^st September 2012, as an advisory and implementing body. The idea behind the creation of the Arts and Culture Commission is to make an enabling environment for the growth of the sector and industry.

In fact the National Arts Council of Zambia Act 170 will be repealed by the commission and whatever structure is instituted should be one that will go to the districts and provinces and it is to have a secretariat at the ministry of tourism and arts.

Last month the National Arts Council hosted stakeholders workshop on the creation of the arts and culture commission, which was attended by a sizeable group of representatives from arts and cultural agencies under the supervision of the Department of Arts and Culture, where Zambia Open University arts lecturer William Miko delivered a communique on behalf of the participants.

Although grateful to government in what seemed an enthusiastic address by Miko, he highlighted a number of concerns that may need to be taken seriously if the commission is to be of any true benefit.

“We recognize and reiterate that the magnitude of the establishment of the National Arts and Cultural Commission is of great importance in order better coordinate the activities related to the documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement and transmission of the intangible and tangible arts and cultural heritage to future generations and for national development”, he said.

“A lot of work is still to be done in the establishment of the National Arts and Vulture Commission which will require the support and input of appropriate government ministries and departments and this is extremely important for the successful establishment of the commission.”

Miko urged government to expedite the formation of the commission and requested that an institutionally representative focal point committee should be appointed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Arts, which will liaise and work closely with the consultant appointed to draft the National Arts and Culture Commission Layman’s Bill to meet Ministerial deadlines.

The commission is likely to be headed by a 15-member Board of Commissioners, with members coming from the Ministry of Tourism and Arts as well as other ministries and government agencies. It will also include three representatives from the private sector. These representatives would also comprise the National Arts and Culture Advisory Board, which will be divided into four submissions, the arts, Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts, Cultural Dissemination and Cultural Heritage.

As complex as it might sound, this commission could not have come at a better time, there is need however for fresh ideas in the running of arts affairs and we cannot continue going round in circles, particularly that we have a committed government. Speaking of going round in circles, this year we saw the return of the Ngoma Awards. After a one year hiatus, would one be overzealous to expect all new and improved awards ceremony, especially now that the arts have a ministry they can call their own.

Of course mu effort was put into the preparations of the awards, and yes, it is easy to be an arm chair critic, but this year’s Ngoma Awards, instead of returning with a bang, appeared to be the worst in the 15 year history of the accolades.

It was hard not cover one eye in embarrassment throughout the evenings event. The lighting and sound was pitiful to say the least. Then there was the stage that had dreadful pieces of vinyl advertising from one of the sponsors at the immediate backdrop of the podium.

Certainly there was an attempt to make it glamorous by opening it with the classical Lusaka Youth Orchestra but it did not seem to be the best night for the following act, Bare Feet. On a good night they are the country’s best dance troupe but their attempt at Korean pop artist Psy’s worldwide hit Gangnam style was dreadful, not to mention the outfits, leotards and santa hats.

The fashion segment that featured models in locally designed outfits appeared to fall from nowhere. The skilful gospel rapper Pompi tried to rescue the event with his crystal clear vocals, but then disaster struck when HK, who apparently is supposed to be a comedian gave the driest performance probably in the history of comedy itself, as not a single member of the audience applauded him, at least the presenters could have helped by asking the crowd to clap, but they too appeared inexperienced. After watching HK, a show like this becomes hard to follow. Then there was also the confusing segment of the chairman’s award that went to creative Zambians in the diaspora. As much as they are all hard working and deserve to be honoured, one wonders who was doing the voting and what criterion was used. This year’s event brings to thought the memories of a 1980s variety show.

Bargains galore at Visual Arts Council’s end of year exhibition

By Andrew Mulenga

Festive Expression, the on-going exhibition running at the Visual Council of Zambia’s Henry Tayali gallery in the Lusaka show grounds is an attractive display of paintings and a few wooden sculptures.

We are one, mixed media, (mixed media)
by Chris Simbule

It is not attractive in the sense that it has anything new or overly outstanding in terms of thematic subject matter or technique, and the artistic expressions on display too have nothing to do with Christmas or end of year festivities.

However, the main attraction to the exhibition should be without doubt the unexaggerated pricing on most of the works, including those by the likes of the much collected painter Poto Kabwe whose work also features in Oprah Winfrey’s private collection.

There is a fairly-sized painting by Kabwe, one of Zambia’s most important daily-life painters entitled Fetching Water going for as little as K950, 000, which is an absolute bargain and its value, is bound to increase at least fourfold in the next year. Fetching Water is a typical rural scene by Kabwe. Although its title is drawn from the four women on a footpath balancing water container on their heads, it also provides for a magnificent landscape with a blue sky, hills, yellowing grass suggesting the beginning of the dry season, a rock face and boulders.

Again while the prices are arbitrary the average range is between K200, 000 (two hundred thousand) and K1.5 million, these are definitely not your everyday exhibition prices, so this on-going show may just be labelled an end of year sale, which is not entirely a bad thing.

Footballer, (acrylic on canvas)
by Lombe Nsama, K2.8m

But, there are also exceedingly higher priced paintings hanging in the gallery such as Christopher Simbule’s We are One Family that has a price tag of K7million. The painting depicts a sports bar scene with pub patrons enjoying a game of pool. A very entertaining painting indeed that will hang well in any restaurant, lounge bar or night club. But its price tag is bound to scare off any potential buyer if compared to other works in the gallery even though it was one of most skilfully painted pictures and quite possibly the author’s favourite.

But this seemingly conflicting and unregulated pricing, arouses the question on what really determines the cost of a work of art and brings to mind the thoughts of American art historian and novelist Noah Charney. Charney, expressing his thoughts through the fictional character Genevieve Delacloche, an expert on paintings by Russian painter Kasimir Malevich in the 2008 crime thriller The Art Thief.

“A four-year-old girl could sneeze on a piece of paper, and if someone loved it, and was willing to pay one hundred thousand pounds for it, then its value is one hundred thousand pounds, full stop… The selling price has nothing to do with the work of art being good or not,” writes Charney who is also founding director of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) an international non-profit think tank and consultancy group on art crime prevention and art protection.

“It has to do with what people are willing to pay for it at any given time… There is no such thing as ‘real worth.’ It does not exist. Value is some number miraculously pulled out of the stratosphere. A combination of rarity, execution, perceived rarity and execution, number of buyers interested and their spending money…”

Fetching Water, (oil on canvas)
by Poto Kabwe, K950,000

Nevertheless, Zambia’s art pricing and sales methods may not apply to the global standards of Christies or Sotheby’s auctioning systems or indeed the international gallery practices, but even so, Charney’s reflections on art pricing does give us food for thought in drawing parallels against our own, local setup.



Carving Paddles, (oil on canvas),
by Alexander Chongo, K900,000

Still, most of the prices in the Festive Expression exhibition are ideal for the season of giving. In case you intend to purchase a Christmas or end of year gift for a friend or loved one who appreciates art, it is a ‘must visit’. Works such as Oliver Sakanyi’s enormous portrait of a woman entitled A Young Lady is a run for money at K1.3million, as much as the painting does not say much, it can cover an entire wall in the average front office space of any business house giving it an artistic ambience. And for the corporate houses and individuals who have been congratulating our beloved Chipolopolo skipper Christopher Katongo for being voted the BBC 2012 Africa Footballer of the year Award, there is an abstract painting entitled The Footballer, by Lombe Nsama who won a Ngoma Award last Wednesday. Why not get the skipper this painting for only K2.8million, he can put it in his home and it will last longer than any billboard or advertisement, if they need the usual publicity, they can ride on the press and hand it over to him at a ceremony or briefing. Alternatively, the painting would also sit ideally in the foyer of Football House; surely FAZ has a coin or two to spare on beautifying their premises.

Certainly, the prices may not seem that affordable to the average Zambian particularly with the recent talk about escalating Millie meal prices, but getting a bargain on works by skilled and well accomplished Zambian artists such as Smart Banda, Mwamba Mulangala, Mulenga Chafilwa David Chibwe Raphael Chilufya and others does not usually come ones way.

German artist launches gallery in Magoye

By Andrew Mulenga

Mention Magoye in Southern Province and the first thing that comes to mind is agriculture and cattle ranching, a contemporary art exhibition is the last thing that you would expect to take place there.



Peter Gustavus explaining his work

to some visitors at the art exhibition in Magoye

Last Sunday however, German artist Peter Gustavus held an exhibition entitled Processes, which was in fact organised to celebrate the official opening of the Shazula Cultural Forum an art space intercultural education and creative tourism that he runs with his Zambian wife Namoko Shamaya-Gustavus.

Although this was the first exhibition to be held there, the centre, a large thatched building which is also the couple’s home has been the venue for a number of creative workshops and tourist activities being just seven kilometres off the Lusaka-Livingstone road and about 37 kilometres from Mazabuka.

Gustavus current abstract works, that feature old bones and ash as a medium reflects environmental awareness as well as his concerns with what happened at Fukushima in Japan. He is actively opposing nuclear energy because he believes that this technology is too dangerous for mankind because the question of what to do with toxic waste is not yet answered satisfactorily.

The Four Ancient Elements, the centrepiece of the exhibition, typifies Gustavus complex thought and creative processes. Luckily, Gustavus was at hand to explain the work to a bemused audience who could not seem to understand what the work was about.



Paradoxical order in chaos, by Rosa Therese Harter

“Fire, water, earth and air, the four elements always represented a challenge for mankind and that is still the case. Handling them are milestones of human history. In mysticism and mythology they play an extraordinary role. They are considered as divine. In legends and tales man fights with the elements for its life. Mankind thrived by controlling them. To master them is a precondition of our modern life,” he explained.

“Nevertheless, it is an equal fight because man is not always winning but often enough the four elements remains with the upper hand. Even if we control them it is up to us whether they stay for life or death, for good or evil”.

Alongside Gustavus work was a cluster of paintings in series entitled Paradoxical Order In Chaos by a 61-year-old German art and biology teacher, Rosa Therese Harter from Berlin. Her four works in the exhibition explore the “chaos theory”. The paintings appear more like a chaotic pouring of paint and may be classified as abstract expressionist eliminating manual brushstrokes the artist may have held the process more important than the outcome of the work.

Some of the other works that focuses on environment are by 31-year-old Barbara Lechner-Chileshe an Austrian volunteer married to a Zambian and works near Mazabuka where she founded and runs Malaikha, probably the only boarding school for the blind in Zambia.

Long Time by Barbara Lechner-Chileshe

“I have six paintings in the exhibition but only two are abstract, of course doing the painting it is a process, but even when looking at the work that itself is another process. So the interpretation of an art work too is a process. I used some ash that I had been collecting in my ash tray from smoking, my work talks about the environment and also about the future, how it will be if we do not take care of it,” explained Barbara who was also experimental in organising the exhibition as well as putting together the 32-page exhibition catalogue.

The Choma-based couple Patrick and Esnart Mweemba were also featured in the exhibition, displaying a number of paintings and prints between them. Mweemba confessed that he did not truly grasp the theme of the exhibition but convinced Gustavus to display some of his old works, which fortunately were among the first pieces to be sold at the exhibition.

“Peter informed us about the exhibition and called us here about three months ago, it was about ‘process’, ‘reactions’ and ‘interpretations’ so the works should actually explain these three things so it took time for us to understand what he was talking about so we ended up bringing some of our old work at the last, but then we also convinced him to change the theme or be more flexible with it” said the 66-year-old who remains one of Zambia’s senior most practicing artists specialized in printmaking.

Give and take, (silk screen)
by Esnart Mweemba

Another Choma-based artist in the exhibition, Bert Witkamp featured a series of three geometric drawings whose intention is for the observer to find out how each element of a series is related to the others.

“I believe that art is to function socially and that the artist therefore should strive to make his work accessible – meaning that it can be seen and makes sense. I choose graphic and mural techniques as these generally facilitate public viewing. More recently I have become a strong supporter of internet publication of art and art related information,” said Witkamp in his artist’s statement for the exhibition “The development of the internet for the first time in the History of Art opens up the possibility of global and affordable access to art. It is up to the artist and the observer to sort out whether: ‘art is making sense”. I do believe, however that imagery should speak for itself, especially when the artist and observer are in the same environment.”

Witkamp taught art voluntarily at the Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka during the 1970s and he is also the founding director of the Choma Museum, where he is having an on-going exhibition with other artists.

The author speaking as guest of honour
at the opening of the exhibtion in Magoye

Last, but definitely not least among the artists that exhibited in the process exhibition is Orment, a deaf and visually impaired pupil from Malaikha School. Preparing for this exhibition was the first time he had access to paper and colouring pencils. The 22-year-old showcased a number of drawings on various themes related to his rural environment.

Gustavus effort to come up with such a centre, albeit turning his home into an art space can only be applauded and definitely has to be supported. Fortunately, much of his support came from the community around Mazabuka, Magoye and Choma and the show even managed to realise a number of sales showing that even outside Lusaka it is possible to make things happen in the contemporary art circles.