Past Editions

Critlab 2022 – Tamale

The third edition of Critlab took place in Tamale and was hosted at the Agyeman Osei Hall at Red Clay. For the most part of the fifteen days participants and facilitators were co-present with works on display from the permanent collection of Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) Tamale and Red Clay. For the duration of our stay in Tamale, the city became the site of many generative encounters, artistic interventions and pedagogical exchanges. The selected artists, critics, and curators learned with and from each other as well as local artisans, filmmakers, producers, schools, fashion houses, open markets, city corners, and other creative spaces. The scheduled and unscheduled site and studio visits also took us to SCCA Tamale, Nkrumah Voli-Ni, OBL Studios , Sanatu Zambang, the Centre for National Culture (Tamale), Nuku Studio, and to the Trends Runway fashion show in Tamale, amongst other locations. Besides the rich intellectual stimulations between co-facilitators, participants, and audiences, the city of Tamale was also ignited with temporary interventions such as performance lectures, interactive games, installations, participatory and site-specific projects, among others.

Participants: Nana Efia Serwah Barning (GH), Ayine Akolgo (GH), Edward Prah (GH), Maame Araba Baboa Opoku (GH), Isaac Gyasi (GH), Eugenia Asarewaa Kwateng(GH), Sihle Sogaula (SA), Ernest Atsukofi Akaba (GH), zozoTransistor (a.k.a Zoë Binetti) (CH), Ama Adoley Newman (GH)

Co-facilitators: George ‘Buma’ Ampratwum (Ghana), Gideon Appah (Ghana), Nuna Adisenu Doe (Ghana), Exit Frame Collective (Ghana), Chiara Figone (Dakar/Milan), Isshaq Ismail (Ghana), Nkule Mabaso (South Africa), Baerbel Mueller (Austria/Ghana), Nontobeko Ntombela (South Africa), Laurel Richardson (U.S.A), Shane Aslan Selzer (U.S.A), Gesyada Siregar (Indonesia), Łukasz Stanek (U.S.A)

Volunteers: Kimathi Agbanu, Franklin Yohuno, Sam Amegavi, Elizabeth Johnson, Bright Ahadzivia, Ernest Ofori Sackitey, Abbey IT-A

Partners: blaxTARLINES, SCCA Tamale, FCA – Ghana

Supporting institutions: Goethe Institut, Accra

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Critlab 2021 – Kumasi

The second edition of the annual professional development program inaugurated by Exit Frame Collective, CritLab, ended in Kumasi on 12th November, 2021. The program, designed for artists, curators, and critics, ran from 1^st – 12^th November, 2021. For this year’s event Exit Frame—the collective comprised of Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh, Kelvin Haizel, Adwoa Amoah, Bernard Akoi-Jackson, and Ato Annan— partnered with Foundation for Contemporary Art- Ghana, blaxTARLINES KUMASI, Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art, and KNUST Museum (Opoku Ware II Museum). The 12-day intensive program of film screenings, studio/site visits, seminars, online lectures, and workshops took place between the auditorium of the KNUST Museum and the blaxTARLINES space on KNUST campus. On the final day participants engaged the public with temporary interventions such as performance lectures, interactive games, installations, participatory and site-specific projects, among others.

Kumasi has, in recent history, been the site of the “silent revolution” happening in arts education in Ghana’s foremost art college, KNUST. The Department of Painting and Sculpture, à la blaxTARLINES, has been at the forefront of cutting-edge ideas and practices in contemporary art from Ghana, and indeed from Africa, since the late 1990s. CritLab complements this paradigm of Ghana’s art history by deepening the investment in the intellectual infrastructure of art practice and to further its ambition of establishing a network of professionals who desire to push the boundaries of art production, art thought, and exhibition making in the international field of contemporary art.

Participants:

Alice Korkor Ebeheakey, Elizabeth Ofosuah Johnson, Ama Benewaa Tawiah, Abraham Tettey, Albert Nii Nortey Dowuona (Alniinod), Christopher Effah Oppong, Godelive Kabena Kasangati, Mr. RK Ampem Darko (Nana Yaw Ananse), Nana Nyahan Tachie-Menson, Nii Motey Adielson, Patrick William Dodoo, Samuel Prophask Asamoah.

Co-Facilitators:

Exit Frame Collective (Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh, Ato Annan, Adwoa Amoah, Bernard Akoi-Jackson, Kelvin Haizel), Nomusa Makhubu (SA), Chiara Figone (SN/DE), Augustus Richardson, arch. (GH), Selom Koffi Kudjie (GH), Ibrahim Mahama (GH), kąrî’kạchä seid’ou (GH), Blebo Michael Jackson (GH), Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson (GH), Adjo Kisser (GH), Shane Aslan Selzer (US), Laurel Richardson (US), Evan Eghan (GH), George ‘Buma’ Ampratwum (GH), Edwin Kwesi Bodjawah (GH), Elolo Bosoka (GH), Nuna Adisenu-Doe (GH), Frederick Okine (GH), Dorothy Amenuke (GH), Priscilla Kennedy (GH), Hassan Issa (GH), CrazinisT ArtisT Studio (GH).

Documentation (photo and video): Elolo Bosoka, Franklin Yohuno

Volunteers: Theresa Adom, Isaac Broni, Kimathi Agbanu, Isaac Abbey

Critlab 2020 – Accra

Due to the global health crisis the inaugural edition of CritLab (2020) focused on the climate of Ghanaian contemporary art. For a duration of twelve days, twelve participants based in Ghana were selected to reflect on the commitments and responsibilities associated with studio practice, curating, and writing about art in the 21st century. The private and public sessions took place in Accra— respectively between the University of Ghana Guest House on Legon Campus and the W.E.B Du Bois Centre.

CritLab is an initiative of Exit Frame Collective, in partnership with Foundation for Contemporary Art-Ghana, blaxTARLINES KUMASI, and Savannah Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA), Tamale. It is an annual experimental professional development programme concerned with growing and sustaining criticality in the intellectual infrastructure of art practice in Ghana by building a network of artists, curators, and critics who desire to push the boundaries of art as such, art thought, production and exhibition making in local and international spheres of contemporary art. Tailored towards independent and self-driven practice, CritLab selects participants based on an open call system.

CritLab 2020 Lead Faculty:

Adwoa Amoah (Artist, Co-director of FCA-Ghana), Ato Annan (Artist, Co-director of FCA-Ghana), Bernard Akoi–Jackson, Ph.D (Artist, lecturer at Department of Painting and Sculpture, KNUST, Ghana), Kelvin Haizel (Artist, Ghana), Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh (Curator, Ghana), and Nontobeko Ntombela (Curator, lecturer at the Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa).

Guest Faculty:

Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Ph.D (Curator, founder of SAVVY Contemporary, Germany), George Buma Ampratwum (Historian, lecturer at Department of Painting and Sculpture, KNUST, Ghana), Ibrahim Mahama (Artist, Founder of SCCA Tamale and Red Clay, Ghana), Fatric Bewong (Artist, Ghana), Selom Kudjie (Curator, Artistic Director of SCCA Tamale and Red Clay, Ghana), Dorothy Akpene Amenuke, Ph.D (Artist, lecturer at Department of Painting and Sculpture, KNUST, Ghana), Nana Osei Kwadwo (Journalist/New Media Strategist, Ghana), Chiara Figone (Editor, founder of Archive, a non-profit publishing organization, Italy/Senegal), Renzo Martens (Artist, The Netherlands/DR. Congo), Shane Aslan Selzer (Artist, teacher at Parsons, The New School for Design, USA), and Baerbel Muller (Architect, Associate professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna).

Participants:

Yaa Addae, Kwabena Agyare, Hanson Akatti, Nana Adwoa Frema Amoabeng, Jesse Joojo Johnson, David Kojo Derban, Isshaq Ismail, Sharifah Issaka, Blebo Michael Jackson, Blaykyi Kenyah, Sheilla Aishetu Nelson, and Prince Amanfo.

Volunteers:

Kimathi Calistus Agbanu, Franklin Yohuno