Christian Tudula International exhibition IFAN at Dak'art 10th biennale of contemporary African art. 11 May - 10 June, 2012, Place Soweto, Dakar Senegal. by craniv boyd.

Christian Tudula International exhibition IFAN at  Dak'art 10th biennale of contemporary African art.  11 May - 10 June, 2012, Place Soweto, Dakar Senegal.  by craniv boyd.

Enter a dimly lit room, with red carpeting, walls painted white and a corner of that room has two flat screen video displays, one per each wall, and a between them, placed blatantly he media console that houses and plays back the digital media for both screens, and the audio tracks for both displays. Studio quality Head sets rest  casually on the floor beneath, their lines leading back up to each of the video displays. The content on the screens is moving images, it is footage filmed from two stationary angles. Each screen presents footage from one angle only, the camera is positioned from out side a grey wall with a distressed surface, both the concrete walls, have rectangular openings, that offer an interior view that is cloying because of the indeterminate character of it. There is no furniture so the settings do not have the appearance of domestic environs. The size of the structure and the opening of the wall seem to small to be heavy industry, light industry perhaps.  The wall opening establishes the space of where in the image plane to look. Young women, dressed in the latest current urban fashions amble into the room and gyrate and dance to ever-present music that is the audio track for these two videos. They enter an leave the room, without any explanation dancing only, and their movements could be seen as explanation enough. 

 

Christian Tundula, an artist from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the author of a celebratory series of photographs and videos entitled "Kin Kiese" or (Happiness Kinshasa).  Christian Tundula, selected Ngwaka, a part of Kinshasa, personally dear to him, to film in, to photograph in. Part of his series "Kin Kiese", was presented at the international exhibition of the 10th edition of the Dak'art Biennial, in Dakar, Senegal. It was to be seen there as, diptych of high resolution videos. Which displayed footage recorded during the preparations and the rehearsals of young women from Ngwaka,  who are accompany musicians and recording artists in Kinshasa. These women are referred to as Fioti Fioti or Kadogo. This series, or rather the two video instances of it which I saw, was an odd blend of components. The static distressed urban environment of Kinshasa, framing women on the move, dancing young women who are hopeful in their early career choice to accompany musicians of Kinshasa. The immobility of the camera, and the acute selectness's of where and who to film, contrasted with the loop of the videos themselves which seemed to be minimally edited, and as a result had the appearance of being free flowing, or non-selective.  This art work offers a view of some people in Ngwaka, Kinshasa from an artist who knows Ngwaka, Kinshasa. by craniv boyd.