Humanos Derechos is a video art project by artist Fernando Arias which transcends politics and war because it focuses on individuals in the front line of the Colombian conflict and the Israeli- Palestinean conflict and captures them naked to reveal their common humanity. read more
With support of the Prince Claus Fund young rapper Master Nomila recorded his first album and he made some new video clips as well. Check out the video and read his stoy. read more
La Compagnie du Fil wants to contribute to the implementation of the art of puppetry in Burkina Faso and in Africa. Convinced that training is indispensable to create productions of quality, the company wants to progressively establish a permanent context in which puppetry artists from Burkina Faso and from West Africa in general can receive training. It is within this context, that the Company du Fil, with the support of it’s partners, has organised 5 workshops for puppeteers. The last workshop took place in 2007 in Oagadougou and was also supported by the Prince Claus Fund. Fifteen puppeteers from Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Niger and Togo participated in it. The workshop focused on Chinese shadow technique, a technique that is little known and hardly ever practised by African puppeteers. During the workshop, a new presentation was created and performed for the public in the Centre Culturel Français Georges Méliès in Ouagadougou.The current project named ‘Filigrane’ is meant to strengthen the already gained knowledge and techniques (papier mâché and shadow theatre) and is a completion of the previous workshops in 2006 and 2007. A residency workshop based on these and new techniques was held from 4 May to 2 June 2008. read more
The play is written by Nadia Davids and it is based on the life of Zainunessa ‘Cissie’ Gool, an anti-colonial, anti-apartheid activist from District Six in Cape Town, South Africa, who was born in 1898 and lived and worked in the area until her death in 1966. The play narrates her life, offers an enactment of the vibrant, dynamic and cosmopolitan area that was District Six before removals and displays how stories and histories of South Africa are being continuously unearthed. The play uses monologue, images and mise en scene and original music to evoke the lost world of inner city Cape Town mid twentieth century and create a dialogue between the present and the past. read more
Prince Claus Fund in collaboration with Foam present a unique exhibition of the work by Malick Sidibé (Mali) called Chemises.The exhibition can be seen at Foam from 13 June to 8 October 2008. Centrepiece of the show is a series of original chemises, coloured sheets of card on which Sidibé pasted small prints of the photos he took at parties and events in Bamako, the capital of Mali. Partygoers were able to view and order copies of photos after the event. The chemises displayed here date from between 1962 and 1973. They are accompanied by numerous portraits taken by Sidibé in the 1970s at his studio in Bagadadji, a working-class area of Bamako. Together the displays offer a unique and often heart-warming insight into Malinese society in the early years following independence. Malick Sidibé received a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement for his entire oeuvre at the Venice Biennale of 2007. This year Sidibé was also honoured by the International Centre for Photography (ICP) in New York with their 24th Lifetime Achievement Award. read more on the website of Foam
In What City Does It Live? by Liew Seng Tat is the winner of the 2008 Prince Claus Fund Film Grant of €15,000 for a CineMart project. Liew Seng Tat is a promising young filmmaker from Malaysia. In the film a Nigerian migrant hides in an abandoned wooden house and a small Malaysian community believes the house is haunted by a strange ghost. The jury found the film’s approach “modern, subtle and engaged” and was particularly impressed by the story’s visual power. Through a simple but universal story that appeals to the imagination, this film subtly discusses the social issues of the multicultural society and the field of tension that exists between tradition, globalisation and migration. read more
Photographs by Malick Sidibé, the exhibition can be seen at Foam in Amsterdam till October 8th 2008
The last project of La Compagnie du Fil was based on using Chinese shadow technique in puppetry
Production of a play based on the life of Cissie Gool activist from District Six
Flower in the Pocket by Liew Seng Tat
Innovative cultural activities and initiatives of individuals and organisations in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean are initiated and supported by the Prince Claus Fund. These creative processes lead to artistic productions in the realm of theatre, music, visual arts, architecture, audio-visual art and design.
