89plus Addis Ababa Research Highlights

Sculpture is a prominent medium at the school, and the grounds are home to numerous statues produced by students over the years.

Netsa Art Village was located at Ferensay Park, one of Addis Ababa's only designated green spaces. The compound included a studio space and exhibition hall, and was the gathering point for diverse artistic events, which included concerts, poetry evenings, art talks and workshops as well as exhibitions. Kedebe mentioned the network however has gone into hiatus with the loss of its venue. An initiative by the city who "came up with an idea to reform and commercialise the park” Mehret explained, however ran into problems when it failed to secure bureaucratic consensus leading to Netsa’s eventual eviction.

We also met with Aida Muluneh, a dynamic individual and artist behind the city's premiere photography festival, Addis Foto Fest.

"I realised that within the context of photography there wasn’t proper training; the university does not have a photo department. So all these things basically led me to start developing a workshop series. And it wasn’t just a matter of the workshop series, but it was also presenting works. So in regards to these Foto Fests, I didn’t want to do a festival that was just Africa-based because I find that to be very limiting with the fact that we’re moving towards a global world. Within that, I thought it was important that we have to bring better photographers from every part of the world, but the main conversation being the image of Africa, and the image of Ethiopia, and how you have to promote the collaboration and networking."

—Aida Muluneh, founder of Addis Foto Fest.

Learn more: addisfotofest.com

After leaving Muluneh's studio and creative consultancy Desta For Africa, we headed over to the Goethe Institut and the Gebre Kristos Desta Cultural Center which houses the Modern Art Museum.

There, we sat down over coffee to meet with the young curator, Fitsum Shebeshe. Studio practice in Ethiopia has traditionally been consider paramount, it is the decisive factor that splits the older generation from those coming up now:

“I’m part of this new generation who are thinking to push the boundary and create something new, by thinking outside [of] the studio where they work, with a societal engagement and by trying to exercise and bring in new mediums and new ideas into society. For me this new generation is the one that is trying to bring Ethiopian art into a new level."

—Fitsum Shebeshe, curator, National Museum of Ethiopia

Playing a historic role in contemporary artistic practice and education, it was a pleasure and highlight to meet the senior artist and pioneer, Feleghe Selam who sadly passed away in July 2016.

The site is remarkable; there is a strong relationship between the outside and inside. Commenting on this, Hans Ulrich asked Sime at what moment the garden became important for him.

"The whole idea was to connect it all. As one thing is being built, for instance, when you do the garden, you have to harmonize it with the building or with the wall. Or if you see one area, the next has to communicate with it and create some kind of liaison."

—Elias Sime, artist and co-founder of ZCAC

"I wanted to do something that actually touches everyone. When kids come, they have things that are familiar for them. They recognize the turtles, the frogs, the little creatures, and they immediately connect with them."

—Elias Sime, artist and co-founder of ZCAC

Sime grew up in the Addis Ababa neighbourhood known as Qirkos (Cherkos). Although it is considered a rough part of town, Sime holds quite the opposite opinion and attributes growing up there as being a large part of what inspires him and allows him to see beauty where others don't. He is a master of bricolage.

For more info: zcac.weebly.com

Although the 89plus workshops focus on a post-Internet generation, intending to research how instant knowledge affects and informs the way they see the world and create, we also had the opportunity to meet a few of their older peers. They included Robel Temesgen, Rediet Terefe Wegayehu, Fitsum Shebeshe, Helen Zeru and Abel Asrat.

Rediet Terefe Wegayehu (b. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1988) is a passionate writer and poet creating pieces of literature and experimenting with presenting them through different platforms such as sound and performance. Because of her background in theatre, her works naturally fuse with other mediums to deliver poignant poems and scripts.

‘Love Against the Odds’ courtesy of the artist, and
Badilisha Poetry X-change

Our last studio visit was with artist Tamrat Gezahegne.

Travelling throughout Ethiopia for research is an essential part of Tamrat's practice. He documents the people he meets, the codified worlds typifying tribal life including their spiritual relationships to nature, colour and pattern. He translates these experiences and the emotions they conjure into inspiration for his artistic practice.

On the outskirts of Addis Ababa, some miles out, in an area described as the Grand Canyon of Ethiopia, we caught up with the talented filmaker Yared Zeleke. He was keen to introduce us to the majestic lands. It was a wistful moment, for his first film Lamb is an ode to a magical childhood spent in Ethiopia with the woman who raised him—his grandmother. He describes Lamb as a film about “a paradise lost.”