This campaign launches fund-raising for an initiative to connect US-based Guinean performing artists, Guinean artworks in American collections, and related visual-archival material.   

 

The end goaltentatively titled, The Play: Guinean Arts in Exhibition/ Performanceis a hybrid project combining an exhibition of traditional artworks and a multimedia stage performance.  The aim is to present the modern history and broader aesthetics of Guinean arts by integrating artists, art objects, and cultural history. 

 

The projects first phase is an introductory event to be held in New York City in 2011, featuring Guinean performing artists, film installation, and art display, as well as presentations, discussions, and general banding together.

 

To learn more about this project and campaign, READ BELOW  and see the profile at https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=3973

 

To contribute, click on FUND THIS CAMPAIGN at top right.

 

 

RATIONALE

The ideas guiding this project are as follows: 

 

African traditional arts are performance-based; in their full aesthetics they transcend media boundaries, integrating plastic art, music, dance, costumes, and other elements.

 

Western museum conventions typically disrupt these aesthetics by displaying African objects in isolation and in stasis. 

 

Museum displays often similarly obscure the modern history and social dimensions of African arts.

 

Guinean performing artists are best qualified to present the arts and heritage of their country to the widest possible audiences.

 

Contemporary producers of traditional-style masks need not be labeled tourist artists or forgers while only older objects are deemed authentic. 

 

Digital media and projection design are useful for historicizing and contextualizing the arts of Guinea via archival footage, interviews, etc.

 

 

WHATS IN CONTRIBUTING

Your contributions fund a crucial first step: an intro event in New York City in 2011 featuring performance, film installation, art display, and speakers and discussions on the contemporary situation surrounding Guinean arts and culture.

 

This event will serve as a public platform for introducing the project.  It will also enable us to gather more funding and support, first through ticket sales and direct donations, and then through an extensive process of applying to grants and contacting sponsors.

 

Contributions to the present campaign go towards paying the artistsmusicians, dancers, and griots trained in Guineas post-independence ballet traditionwho will perform at the event.  Contributions also will cover the purchase and editing of archival footage to be screened at the event, and will pay for transport costs and other expenses associated with displaying several fine objects from collections around the city.

 

 

WHY CONTRIBUTE

For those involved in Guinean arts, you know how rarely master artists converge for a single performance, much less an ongoing collaboration.  For most Guinean artists today, making a living means teaching classesand we are all greatly enriched as a result!  At the same time, we feel it is important to build a forum for Guinean artists to work collectively, in cooperation with US museums and other institutions, to present the broader history and aesthetics of their traditions.  In class we often ask, Where does this dance come from?  This project opens the door to an in-depth response

 

For those who dont know Guinean arts but who know us, and know about our involvement with African arts from our high school days through our current doctoral studies, this project may best be framed as an effort to reconcile creative experience and specialized knowledgei.e., to make academic work publicly relevant and accessible.  It also aims to increase the visibility of Guinean arts, not only in terms of greater exposure, but also in the sense of greater aesthetic and historical visibility.

 

If this all sounds fair enough but youve actually never heard about the arts of Guinea, please dont take our word for it!  Well be uploading images, information, and performance clips over the course of the campaign, so you can get an idea of what its all about.

 

 

DONATIONS

If you have any questions, either about the project or the process of donating online, please feel free to contact us.  The intention is to provoke thoughts and questions, so we welcome them!

 

If your questions are more on the financial side (perhaps you are students like we are), we ask you to consider contributing at the smallest level!  Every donation counts!  

 

 

OTHER WAYS TO HELP

Please share this announcement widely via email, Facebook, etc.!  The more people in the loop, the better!

 

And you may also like to contribute in different waysfor example with suggestions, with performance images or footage, or with other things we cant think of but you will!

 

 

OUR THANKS

in advance for your consideration and support!

 

Joshua Cohen  &   Adrienne Cohen

PROJECT ADVISORY BOARD:

Mahen Bonetti 
African Film Festival New York         

Michael Markus
Magbana Drum & Dance NYC              

Susan Vogel
Prince Street Pictures