Continents condensed

‘Africa Remix’ is a conflation of contemporary African and African diasporic works which seeks to charter the modern creative landscape of 23 African countries.

Celebrations of hybridity are glimpsed in Bodys Isek Kingelz’s ‘La ville de Sete’, a surreal vision of a futuristic world and Fosso’s photographic fusions of the modern and traditional serve as testimonies to the diversity caused by globalisation. With such a monolithic task in his hands, however, it is no wonder curator Simon Njami runs into a few problems. Comprised of over 50 countries and with a total population of over 800 million, Africa is the most culturally and linguistically diverse continent on the earth, so in taking two steps from one installation to another, viewers are asked to cross entire nations in global terms. The affect implicitly collectivises contrasting histories and cultures and conducts a metonymic treatment of the continent.

Furthermore, the presence of submerged Western stereotypes is evident: in some ways this is less of a ‘remix’ but more a remake of such reductive notions. Metaphors of the tribal find voice in recurring themes of war, death and poverty. Goncalo’s assemblage of guns, Tito’s aeroplane and Samba’s ‘The Bankrupt’ re-inscribe age-old derogatory views. With its mixed media content, Hayward’s latest offering has a colourful, varied character yet manages to fall short of communicating the truly complex, multicoloured terrain of modern-day Africa. JW