023 - Khartoum Contemporary Art Center
I talked to Karin Erixon and Fadlabi about and in their recently openened
gallery and bar in the heart of Oslo.
It's called Khartoum Contemporary Art Center.
We only had time for a short talk since the place had to be opened up shortly after,
but it should be enough so you can find your way.
Here is the LONGTEXT from their facebook
The Middle East is a dynamic and shifting region, moulded by changing historical, social and political realities. And so is Africa. It's not a geographical entity. One could ask: is there any shared history or future that unite Africans other than their colonial history? Do those who were displaced because of slavery still belong to Africa? Is Africa a real place or is it just a goal, a utopia of some sort.
The investigation of the histories and arts of those regions is actually an investigation of the arts and histories of the world.
Khartoum Contemporary Art Centre (KCAC) is a conceptual art initiative founded by Fadlabi and Karin Erixon with focus on contemporary art and new media. The center was meant to be located in Khartoum, a city that was always a meeting point between Africa and the middle east since the day it was founded by Ibrahim Pasha of the Ottoman empire in 1821. The city with its African roots in the kingdom of Nubia and Kush and it’s Arabic and Islamic culture was always a fertile soil for identity crises and political conflicts and influences from both pan Arabs and Pan Africanists simultaneously. It’s a bridge between the two and a border at the same time. A wall that separates them and a window for both to look into each other.
For now, our center is based in Oslo, Bernt Ankers gt 17. A cultural center in exile, waiting for democracy and working to make it happen.
The main goal of KCAC is to motivate and develop discursive projects that stem from Africa and the Middle East. Bridging the gap between them and the rest of the globe. KCAC gardens a new understanding for arts in Africa and the middle east in relation to all aspects of our present life and cultures.
The center aims to help Sudanese artists to get in touch with their peers in neighboring countries, help African artists to learn more about the arts in the Middle East and vise versa and it is a platform for the arts from both regions in Oslo.
