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BAMAKO ~ 7th African Photography Meeting at Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona

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Written by rubin   
Thursday, 26 February 2009 05:02

Maazouz Azamourm - Camel Boy - on view at the exhibition Bamako – 7th African Photography Meeting

BARCELONA - The Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona presents the exhibition Bamako – 7th African Photography Meeting, curated by Pep Subirós, from 24 February to 1 June 2009. As in previous years, Bamako has two main objectives. The first is to present an overview of contemporary African photography, a particularly outstanding art on the creative scene of that continent, which, despite its geographical proximity, is only now beginning to receive the attention its cultural and artistic vitality deserves. The second is to showcase the importance of the Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie, a biennial event which, after seven outings, is now consolidated as one of Africa’s biggest artistic meeting points.

With these objectives as its base, and thanks to an agreement with the organizing bodies of the Rencontres in Bamako, the show at the CCCB presents the pick of the 2007 event: some 200 photographies and a selection of original videos, and printed and film documentation.

With the title “In the City and Beyond”, most of the seventh Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie de Bamako centres on the theme of the urban phenomenon. The urban phenomenon rather than the city because, over and beyond the usual reductive views that see cities as material, functional structures and devices, they are, in reality, fundamentally networks of relations between individuals and social groups.

Lolo Veleko Untitled PhotographIn addition to its specific theme, represented in particular by a selection of some 150 photographs from the “International Exhibition”, this latest review of the Rencontres at the CCCB includes the “Tribute” to a foremost African photographer, the late Serge Jongué (Guyana, 1951-2006); a “Monograph” given over entirely to Samuel Fosso, one of the great contemporary creators who are taking photography to the forefront of the visual arts; and, finally, a selection of the original videos submitted in the section “New Images”.

The Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) organizes and produces exhibitions, debates, festivals and concerts, programmes film cycles, courses and lectures, and encourages creation using new technologies and languages. It promotes artistic research in fields such as multimedia, backs research into exhibition formats, exports its in-house productions to other national and international arts centres, museums and institutions, and generates debate, thought and reflection on the theme of the city and the public domain, as well as other issues of current affairs. The CCCB also compiles materials that are available for public consultation, comprising its inheritance, its holdings and archives of exhibition formats, publications, digital archives, audiovisuals, and so on. It is a space open to groups of independent artists, creators and programmers, and to various bodies with which we have forged bonds over the years. Visit : http://www.cccb.org/ca/

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