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MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST RESIDENCY Modzi Arts welcomes artists and art practitioners, of all disciplines, to participate in our self-funded Residency Program, for a duration of 1 week to 3 months.
The residency takes place in the vibrant city of Lusaka, Zambia and is an opportunity for contemporary, local and international artists to push the boundaries of cross regional artistic practices in the African context. Through our network Modzi Arts provides curatorial support, collaborative opportunities and concept development to those who are looking to expand their work and connect with others during creatives. |
Modz air | Liberatha Alibalio
May to June 2021
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Textile art and multimedia art | I am so inspired by nature and as much as I want to be close to it I have found myself so interested with cultural understanding and it's endeavours like spiritualiy, connection with nature and it's being. As a story teller of now I feel an obligation and interest to understand my culture and where I came/grew from so I can understand my self current better.
As a part of the current project am working on , am visiting my home village in Kagera , in the northern west of Tanzania , at the border with other countries like Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, where I was born, it owns a lot of amazing culture and diversity as it being in the border. Am visiting to talk to my ancestors like my great grandmother , my mother and other members of the society to have a conversation and talk to them or more of learn from them about my haya tribe culture, connection to nature and history as part of understanding and furthering the current and understanding myself. My residency at Modzi Arts in Zambia is part of learning from another African culture and making a connection to my home culture, I want to explore how the two cultures can collaborate and how do we understand and keep our own nature and connection as Africans before going to explore and connect with the outside world. Telling my stories that I have learnt about my culture, in Zambia and taking back home stories that I will learn from Zambia, that to me is two culture converting, connecting and collaborating as a collective |
Modzi Air | Andy Storchenegger
1 July to 15 August 2021
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Each year, within its Artist in Residence Programme, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia selects artists through an open call to cultural practitioners in Switzerland and in the regions of liaison offices presence. The programme gives a chance for arts professionals from each context to gain broad insight into a different cultural environment through spending a significant period in the chosen geography. The aim of the residency is to provide an opportunity for artists to find inspiration, establish networks and contemplate new projects and collaborations in their artistic domain.
Andy’s interest: I have been dealing with the wild and archaic side of our society for several years now. Where else can it be found? How is it acted out and, indeed, is it even necessary to act it out? I have found the mask and primitive traditions to illustrate it. The origin of the pagan customs often practiced in Switzerland is no longer particularly clear, though the need still exists. Adjectives such as impulsive, spontaneous, powerful, rousing, unpolished, instinctive, dynamic and relaxed are still present in childhood. In adulthood, however, these terms are typically traits to be avoided. Since antiquity, the mask has, as an object to conceal and transform one's face, been an indispensable element of theatre and cult. It is not only a historical object, however; it also plays an important role in our modern day society.I have documented most of the Swiss mask-wearing traditions with photographs. I showed the photos to different people when travelling in West Africa. The pictures seemed very familiar to them. The mask is a global phenomenon with local peculiarities. |
MODZI AIR | Paul C Malaba in collaboration with Iris Souad
April 12 2021 to April 30, 2021
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Paul c Malaba is a visual artist who lives and works in Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is an artist who discovered the true meaning of his talent at the Lubumbashi Waza Art Center. His practice includes performance, video, installation, painting and drawing. He has participated in various workshops, residencies and exhibitions in Africa, many more in his hometown. Paul's work had him explored on personal reality while using his body. He feels alive and cares for those around him, he talks about his search for balance in a world of conflict where the powerful trample on the weak; the emergence of new expressions awaits him at every step.
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From a mother from Casamance (region of South Senegal) and father from France, I grew up in Switzerland and voluntarily left aside and denied this double identity. The exoticization it implied seemed too suffocating to me. Following numerous personal and external events, I wanted to reconnect with a part of my roots, to reconnect with a part of me that I could never really deny anyway, since I was constantly reminded of it because of physical characteristics different from the stereotype expected to represent a certain nation-state. Here I am at the crossroads of multiple identities, with the co-constructed images attached to them, woman, mixed race, interracial... confused but approaching this confusion as a source of richness and creation. Passionate about music since I was a child, I learned the guitar and consumed music in an almost industrial way! Dance attracted my attention very early on; due to its high economic cost in Switzerland, I was not able to practice it in a school, which I finally consider today as an opportunity. Not marked out by regulated and institutional frameworks, my learning of dance was thus done in a "freestyle" way, which is the approach that I privilege today. I first became interested in Hip Hop culture, and then in Krump, which I practice today. I was able to confront my experience of dance in different socio-geographical contexts (Switzerland, France, Senegal, Kenya), which have always enriched my perception, my interpretation, and my understanding. Movement in general interests me, as a sign of life, because immobility embodies death, in a certain way. Curious by nature, I am interested in all forms of art and also make digital montages influenced by Afro futurism. With an academic background in territorial development, I like to incorporate and combine urban planning and artistic elements in a reciprocal way, bringing art into the city and investing the city with art.
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"66 MINUTES WITH A WOMAN "
As part of the MODZI AIR Paul and Iris were interested in discussing within the framework of the first steps of research regarding the positioning of women in Zambian society, which will then extend to women in different geographic areas. They have restricted their research field to “influential” women, as it would be too much of a generalization to think of framing and representing “women”, as if they were a compact and homogeneous group.
After having determined a certain list of criteria to define influential women, they have come to think current prominent position in a world where discriminations against women is a daily issue.
After having determined a certain list of criteria to define influential women, they have come to think current prominent position in a world where discriminations against women is a daily issue.
