Festival d'Art Urbain
Wheat Paste workshop,
Jarret Erasmus.
Tahina Rakotoarivony from Is’Art Galerie has planned an urban arts festival in Antananarivo Madagascar (and sometimes other Malagasy cities such as Majhanga and Antsiranana) annually, since 2014 to the present year, called Festival D’Art Urbain. Since it’s start, ANAE has contributed to both the organising of this festival-come-residency and knowledge residencies attached to it, focusing specifically on expanding the arts network within Madagascar through neighbouring countries within the Indian Ocean as well as on the African continent. This is done by inviting a diverse range of artists to participate and exchange, so far Comores, Reunion, Seychelles, Zambia, Kenya, DR Congo, Benin, Zimbabwe and South Africa, as well as by strengthening ties by visiting/participating in art events in Mauritius and Lesotho. The aim has been for artists to share knowledge/skills, collaborate, hang out and strengthen arts-based networks that make sense according to this geography.
Urny Mathiot
Cie Asara
Chief Nyamweya
Kadiatou Diallo
Cie Ariry
The Jack Fox(Keya Tama)
Moajia
Wallen Mapondera
Rado Manantsoa
Muchiri Njenja
Zenzele Chulu
Olombelo Ricky
Lindiwe Matshikiza
Aléa Des Possibles
DAndr
Freddy Sam
Njaka
Buntu Fihla
Eric Rakoto
Conor Ralphs
Andry Anjoanina
Donn
Ng’endo Mukii
Ledella Moe
Sexy Expédition Yéyé
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Taka
Joao Orecchia
Tahina Rakotoarivony
Nukwase Tembo
Faith47
Maherisoa
Richard A.Korblah
Nina Lune
Meghan Judge
Matthieu Crette
Temandrota
Naty Kaly
Rin’Art
Lavendhri Arumugam
Misty
Clipse Teen
Megot
Loris Behanzin
Eric Rasoariamanana
Jarret Erasmus
Jean Kamba
Nino
Alexia Webster
Ariry
Geraldine Tobe
Fabio Andriamiarintsoa
Center for the Less Good Idea (Season 3)
Temandrota and Naty Kaly
join Lindiwe Matshikiza's Desert
Africa|Nosy Art Echange and The Center For The Less Good Idea collaborate to bring out two Malagasy artists Temandrota and Naty Kaly to partake in Season Three of William Kentridge's the Center for the Less Good Idea to work with curators Lindiwe Matshikiza (Desert), Bettina Malcomess and Bhavisha Panchia (Writing for the Eye, Writing for the Ear). This season takes the shape of residency-style workshops that culminate in public showings between April 11-14, 2018 at The Center for the Less Good Idea at Arts on Main in Johannesburg.
During this time, the artists are encouraged to collaborate and explore experimental, collaborative and cross-disciplinary ideas that don’t often make the ‘final cut’ for larger productions. This transnational collaboration will thus strengthen networks between Madagascar and South Africa that have been developed over the last six years
by ANAE via Is’Art Galerie, the only contemporary art gallery in Antananarivo, Madagascar. In this regard, ANAE facilitates the cultural exchange between artists from mainland Africa and those of its surrounding islands, looking toward strengthening artist-lead networks. ANAE partners with Is’Art Galerie in the creation of Festival d’Art Urbain, an annual arts festival that takes place in Madagascar.
This collaboration with The Center for the Less Good Idea is particularly interesting in that curator and multidisciplinary artist Lindiwe Matshikiza is a previous participant of the Festival d’Art Urabain, and she has a keen interest in keeping this network alive.
www.lessgoodidea.com/#/season-3-3-curators
www.lessgoodidea.com/#/desert-the-makers
www.lessgoodidea.com/#/desert-the-cast
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This project is supported by an ANT Mobility Grant from Pro Helvetia Johannesburg financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
Imaitsoanala
Rural residency turned festival, Ambhoimangakely
Africa Nosy Art Echange began with the meeting of artists from Antananarivo and South Africa. During this meeting the first residency was planned and two South African artists went to Madagascar to begin a residency programme that would see the start of an annual arts festival in Antananarivo that follows an artists residency.
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During this initial residency the first exchange between artists Tahina Rakotoarivony, Cecil Bidaurd, Conor Ralphs, Meghan Judge and Laurant Lafuma took place in little cottage called Imaitsoanala in Ambohimangakely. Tahina and Cecil had started a residency programme that the artists were the first participants within. During the course of the residency (one month) at Imaitsoanala the artists painted, animated, filmed and explored the countryside of Ambhoymangakely, situated roughly 20km outside of the bustling lively capital city of Antananarivo. Tahina owns the only contemporary art gallery in Antananarivo that is dedicated to the development of local Malagasy artists. It was mainly through the events held at this gallery that the artists expanded their local arts networks artists, and thus invited some of these artists to participate in the festival of arts that grew from the residency itself as a way to solidify these connections.
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"By the time we left we had made good contact with a network of artists within Madagascar, through Is’Art Gallery. The first Imaitsoanala residency was kickstarted with a possible annual festival of arts, and the path for future collaboration was laid down."
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The owner of the cottage where the artists-in-residence stay holds a small experimental festival at his second home in France called REK. This festival was due to take place during the time of the Imaitsoanala residency and so it came to be that a response to REK was invented, named Rencrontres Austral Imaitsoanala (RAI). This festival took place in the tranquil settings of the Imaitsoanala property. The land bends around at the back of the little cottage, climbing up a hill with flattened rice paddies cut into it. It forms an amphitheater, the perfect place for performances. Fringed on the sides grows a pine forest that acts as a play area during the day and during the festival at night became a site for performance.
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