This is not Africa, This is us (Part I: Kunsthal Rotterdam)
Kudzanai Chiurai

Location: Kunsthal Rotterdam
Opening: 01.02.2014, 14:00
Morning Debate: 07.02.2014, 10:00 (free entry, RSVP required)
Open: 01.02.2014 — 16.02.2014

Presented by West ‘This is not Africa, this is us’ is a triple exhibition and debate taking place as part of Art Rotterdam in Februry 2014. Held at Kunsthal Rotterdam, Part I shows a monumental video installation by Zimbabwean artist Kudzanai Chiurai. Part II presents photos by Chiurai with works of South African artists Simon Gush and Kemang Wa Lehulere at Art Rotterdam. Part III a series of black and white films by Gush and chalk mural and a performance by Kemang Wa Lehulere at West’s home base in Den Haag.
The three parts come together Kunsthal Rotterdam in a morning debate with Jelle Bouwhuis, Simon Njami, Nana Adusei-Poku, Renzo Martens, and Senam Okudzeto and the artists on Friday 7 February. (free entry, RSVP required)

Kudzanai Chiurai
‘This is not Africa, this is us’, is a monumental video installation comprising of three works by internationally acclaimed Zimbabwean artist Kudzanai Chiurai. Born one year after Zimbabwe’s emergence from white-ruled Rhodesia; Chiurai’s work focuses on the political, economic, and social strife in his homeland. Chiurai works through issues of public acts of violence and sacrifice. Exhibited at Kunsthal Rotterdam the series includes the recently completed video work ‘Moyo’ alongside ‘Iyeza’ and ‘Creation’, which were part of dOCUMENTA (13) in 2013.

Kudzanai Chiurai, Simon Gush, Kemang Wa Lehulere
West presents sites other works of Kudzanai Chiurai brought together with artists Simon Gush and Kemang Wa Lehulere. Like Chiurai, Gush and We Lehulere underline tensions, vulnerabilities, and tenderness through video and photos by drawing connections from their homelands into their practices.

Kudzanai Chiurai, Simon Gush, Kemang Wa Lehulere
On Friday 7 February, Part III opens at West Den Haag, where a new black and white films by Simon Gush can be found. As part of a larger examination of the correlations between labor and society, Gush’s installation highlights the vulnerability to the pressure of a Calvinist work ethic. Kemang Wa Lehulere (resident at the Rijksakademie Amsterdam) will create a new chalk mural around Nat Nakasa's work, life, exile and death. The opening will include a performance by Wa Lehulere called ‘A Native of Nowhere (A Sketch)’.

Morning debate moderated Jelle Bouwhuis at the Kunsthal
The title of the debate ‘This is not Africa, this is us’ is borrowed from a text by Jelle Bouwhuis (Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam) in Metropolis M, who questions the audiences’ place in the works of Kudzanai Chiurai. Held at Kunsthal Rotterdam Auditorium on 7 February 2014, 10-11:30am, the debate connects the exhibitions of Kudzanai Chiurai, Simon Gush, and Kemang Wa Lehulere, and places issues of image creation and the utility of art in diverse settings on the table. ‘This is not Africa, this is us’ is moderated by Jelle Bouwhuis with Simon Njami (curator and critic), Nana Adusei-Poku (Lecturer at Rotterdam University), Senam Okudzeto (artist and writer) and Renzo Martens (filmmaker and artist) and Kudzanai Chiurai, Simon Gush, Kemang Wa Lehulere.
More information about the speakers and RSVP here.

For more information about the exhibitions, artists, and debate please contact Eloise Sweetman at office@west-denhaag.nl We are pleased to invite you to the triple exhibition and debate at the Kunsthal, Art Rotterdam and West. For press photos and more information, you can contact Marie-José Sondeijker: info@west-denhaag.nl