Artificial Afrika

Artificial Afrika examines the idea of Africa, not only a continent with a multiplicity of cultures, languages and peoples, but also of Afrika – a country of the mind. A notional landscape, encompassing everything from Aunt Jemima to Tarzan, filled with our fear and desire and hope and despair. It’s Mother Afrika and it’s the Heart of Darkness. It’s the Darktown Strutter’s Ball, and it’s a cakewalk with automatic weapons. Artificial Afrika will begin in the Dixon Place Gallery with an exhibition that considers contemporary artistic appropriations of African visual culture through mythology, religious traditions, fetish objects d’art, and other culturally-specific practices.