Only that it would be manifesting itself in a different form (or forms) in days to come.
She began by having pop up exhibitions. Initially, there were at the Lord Erroll Restaurant in Runda.
The co-occupancy doesn’t seem to bother either Wambui or Longinos who is no stranger to sharing conceptual exhibitions with others.
Yet his installation at the Museum relates more to documentary work he did while assisting a Kenyan graduate student concerned with land-grabbing.
When the Art Space closed its doors on its Riverside Drive location, some people thought that was the end of one of Nairobi’s newest centres.
Yet Art Space owner and curator Wambui Collymore had no intention of shutting down the concept that had led to the space’s creation or the institution itself, only the physical construct.
Art in showroom
Only that it would be manifesting itself in a different form (or forms) in days to come. She began by having pop up exhibitions. Initially, there were at the Lord Erroll Restaurant in Runda.
She exhibited a whole range of artists, from painter Elias Mun’gora of Brush tu Art Studio and photographer Osborne Macharia to Kenyatta University fine art lecturer Anne Mwiti and fashion photographer Thandiwe Muriu.
But still, Wambui has wanted to present Kenyan art in ways that are even more original, innovative and dynamic than simply hanging artworks on other people’s walls.
Thus as from this Friday, she’ll be curating an interactive exhibition in an utterly unconventional setting.
She wasn’t disclosing too much about exactly where the interactive artworks of Longinos Nagila will be. She’s only said it’s a huge “industrial car sales showroom.”
Wambui is not the first gallery owner to exhibit art in a large car showroom.
Artist Tabitha wa Thuku explains her art to Wasanii Jukwaani MC Wambui Collymore. PHOTO | MARGARETTA WA GACHERU | NMG
Back in the 1990s, Alan Donovan of the African Heritage House and by then a co-owner of African Heritage Pan-African Art Gallery transformed the former GM truck showroom (what became Libra House) into a vast pan-African art exhibition.
The big difference between Libra House and Wambui’s newest edition of The Art Space is that the artist’s installations, Longinos, will be sharing the space with a whole range of cars on sale in the gigantic hall.
The co-occupancy doesn’t seem to bother either Wambui or Longinos who is no stranger to sharing conceptual exhibitions with others.
For instance, he had a fascinating exhibition at the Italian Institute of Culture in which the IIC Director Francesca Chiesa took some of Longinos’ works and set them within a cultural context which was primarily based in the Western Renaissance.
Media schools
It was a beautiful blend of Kenyan contemporary art and classical Western artworks by such painters as Rembrandt, Giotto and Caravaggio.
The other artist who’s currently created an art installation the size of a large room is the Dutch photographer Ralf (‘Rxaxlxf’) Graf.
He’s one of a number of Nairobi-based artists whose artworks are at the National Museums of Kenya in the “Sensing Nairobi” show which originally came to life at the British Institute of East Africa, then moved over in early June to the National Museum.
Ralf’s been in Kenya since 2001 when he was recruited by the Dutch government to provide media workshops to youth in informal settlements like Mathare and Kibera.
Ralf found the work so rewarding, he went on to start up two digital media schools (again with assistance from the Dutch).
One was known as Nairobits, the other called Sasa Hivi.
Yet his installation at the Museum relates more to documentary work he did while assisting a Kenyan graduate student concerned with land-grabbing.
His installation, like the one Longinos’ is interactive. It has generated an overwhelming response from Kenyans who are moved by the controversial issue of land-grabbing.
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