Virtual Showcasing for Artists
by Carine Zaayman
ArtAfrica
www.artafrica.gulbenkian.pt
The Portugal-based Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation recently launched their ArtAfrica website. This site is a rich resource of information on Portuguese speaking artists from across the African continent. The site's outspoken goals include raising awareness of art from Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa, as well as stimulating debate around the works by these artists.
ArtAfrica is available in Portuguese and English, which is a great attribute, as it allows access by a broad base of artists, curators and critics who do not share the same mother tongues, and does not simply favour English-speaking visitors. Moreover, the website allows for searching by country, both primarily Portuguese-speaking countries as well as others where Portuguese is one of many 'immigrant' languages, or by artist. In this virtual 'exhibit' (as the site calls its visual collection of work), one can find the works of a myriad of artists working in a variety of media with distinct approaches.
According to the site, the project was born from the observations that in the 1990s the presence of artists of African descent on large international exhibitions and publications increased dramatically. But, the site continues, these artists were primarily from Anglophone or Francophone countries. At the heart of the project is thus the desire to broaden the exposure base of artists the project feels have been neglected up to now.
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation summarises their response to the neglect of these artists as follows: 'To overcome the situation, a process was initiated in 2001 to identify and map contemporary plastic art production in African countries whose official language is Portuguese and by their respective diasporic populations in Portugal and other countries.
'During these years, trips were made to Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe. Fieldwork was carried out among artists in these countries as well as among their descendents living in Portugal, with priority given to those in the Lisbon metropolitan area. In this manner, it was possible to gather information and data about artists and their work; and about schools and other training institutions, museums, cultural centres, galleries, points of sale, public and private collections, exhibits and publications.'
This exhaustive research project has resulted in the establishment of the very useful database and communication tool of the website. The AfricanArt website will apparently be updated every trimester, and they intend to actively extend and flesh out their database. Mapping the visual production resulting from a complex Diaspora is an enormous undertaking, but one very well accomplished by this perceptive and rich site.
Soak
www.soak.co.za
A group of young South African artists, designers and comics artists from all over the country recently launched their collective promotional website Soak. This is a beautifully designed showcase of the artists' works, and includes a small number of downloadable items (which is sure to grow), as well as useful links to design, comics and animation sites. The current issue contains an interview with Garth Walker (from Orange Juice Design and iJusi), and goes some way into being more than a personal showcase, but a source of inspiration and information as well.
The aesthetic is a tight and successful fusion of contemporary pop, design and animation. The site includes contributions by the likes of Nicolene Louw (from Stripshow fame), as well as Daniel Du Plessis. These two artists are some of the new talents coming out of the Bitterkomix fan generation, trying to establish themselves as the new voices in South Africa's emergent comic market. Their success can be noted in the increase of locally created content in magazines and newspapers, in which these two artists figure prominently.
There are, however, also other kinds of work available on the site. Animations and paintings by the site's founders, Gerhard and Ronel Human, as well as sculptures by Edzard du Plessis can be viewed here. The quality of work and the reasonably tight aesthetic framework give the site a strong presence and identity. As with ArtAfrica, this site has set itself up very well to become a vibrant resource within its brand of visual production.
