Abstract
This essay presents a case study of a collaborative workshop and exhibition at Nafasi Art Space in Dar es Salaam with the Korean artist collective Bang & Lee. Funded by the Korea Foundation, the project was initially structured as a traditional curator/artists residency, but the COVID-19 pandemic required us to revise this format. Bang & Lee’s Artist Stone ceramic 3D printing initiative served as a point of departure to explore connections, parallels, and contrasts in Tanzanian and Korean design, patterns, and visual cultures. This essay examined the collaborative workshops and culminating exhibition at Nafasi as a case study to analyze art and curating as a mediator of interactions between Asia and Africa and reflect more broadly on modes of intercultural engagement when international travel is not possible.
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Notes
- 1.
Information about Nafasi is from its website, https://www.nafasiartspace.org/, a site visit in September 2018, and conversations with Rebecca Mzengi Corey, Nafasi’s director from April 2016 to February 2023.
- 2.
“Artist Stone: Photo Gallery, Vlog and Online Exhibition,” Bang & Lee, accessed 2 May 2023, https://artiststone.creatorlink.net/.
- 3.
Imagined Encounters: Bang & Lee in Dar, Nafasi Art Space, published 12 July 2021 and accessed 3 May 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo_BOHHikhI.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to the Korea Foundation for supporting this project and helping us navigate new challenges during the pandemic. As I hope was evident in this chapter, the Imagined Encounters project was truly a collaborative, co-designed group effort and I am grateful to all the participants who so generously gave their time and personal reflections. Special thanks to Rebecca Corey for being a most hospitable host and, especially, to Jayoung Bang and Yunjun Lee for their trust and for the many years they have shared their work and their valuable insights with me.
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Wright, K.D. (2024). Imagined Encounters, Cultural Patterns and Asia-Africa Intersections. In: Fendler, U., Chang, Y. (eds) Asia-Afria- Multifaceted Engagement in the Contemporary World. Africa's Global Engagement: Perspectives from Emerging Countries. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-0696-9_11
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