OtherNetwork visualises some of the many creative collaborations happening organically between artists, curators and cultural producers that make artistic programming possible in a diverse range of contexts. Alongside its extensive database, OtherNetwork includes specially commissioned editorial content and user-generated event listings, various satellite events hosted in selected partner cities worldwide and the continuation of a travelling exhibition that began at ifa Gallery Stuttgart in 2022.
The platform is accessible on both desktop and mobile devices and has been developed by an international group of collaborators responding to the cultural contexts of Accra, Johannesburg and Kinshasa.
ONLINE PLATFORM
The website has been developed to automatically generate a data visualisation of the network for each city as it changes over time. Although each individual art space is grounded in a specific context, OtherNetwork takes a fluid approach to data visualisation that eschews geographical referencing and the limitations of traditional mapping.
The platform also aims to become an active and up-to-date resource that spotlights cultural programming in independent spaces worldwide by allowing users to add their own event listings. The platform has been developed by an international group of collaborators and started with research in Accra, Johannesburg and Kinshasa.
The web development and design of the website was realized by the Paris-based design studio F451 together with developer Geoffrey Oliaro in Nairobi.
EDITORIAL PROJECTS
OtherNetwork commissions original editorial content that deepens an understanding of independent cultural production in different contexts. A first series of essays titled 'Interdependence' is being co-published in collaboration with e-flux Architecture, focusing on selected projects and spaces based in urban centres across sub-Saharan Africa including the Centre for Contemporary Art Lagos, Keleketla! Library, Terra Alta, Foundation for Contemporary Art–Ghana and more.
Each of the texts will be re-published in a language of the author's choice, making them more accessible to local audiences. Additional content will be released over the coming months through OtherNetwork and its partner organisations, including a podcast that will build further connections between independent cultural practitioners.
FUTURE AMBITIONS
OtherNetwork has ambitions to become a research tool for curators, a networking opportunity for artists and fundamentally a place for independent spaces existing outside of mainstream institutional frameworks to gain visibility. This year, the core research team will expand beyond the African continent to host events in new cities across South America, including Santiago, Bogotá and São Paulo. As the platform and community around it grow, OtherNetwork hopes to become a supportive tool for curators and cultural producers worldwide as a go-to source for funding opportunities, grants and speculative opportunities for collaboration.
In October 2022, the first leg of a travelling exhibition took place at ifa Gallery Stuttgart as part of OtherNetwork, bringing together the works of six artists from Accra, guest curated by Foundation for Contemporary Art – Ghana. Later in 2023, this journey will continue in the form of a relay to Accra, before heading to several other cities worldwide.
Visit https://othernetwork.io Subscribe to the mailing list here.
OtherNetwork is a project by ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen in collaboration with Cookies.
Art Direction, Concept & Production: Cookies (Federico Martelli, Alice Grégoire, Clément Périssé) with Colin Keays
Research Team: Samantha Modisenyane, Abraham Tettey, Lucille de Witte
Website Conception, Design & Technical Realisation: F451 (Quentin Creuzet and Domitille Debret), Geoffrey Oliaro
Editor: Colin Keays
Graphic Design: F451 (Quentin Creuzet and Domitille Debret)
Project Management: ifa Visual Arts Department (Nina Frohm and Laura Wünsche)
Additional Project Partners: Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, Between Bridges Foundation
About ifa
ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen is an intermediary and protagonist that uses its networks, projects, and research to promote freedom in art, civil society, and science all over the world. ifa creates analogue and digital spaces for encounters, exchange, and co-creation. ifa supports artistic and cultural exchange in exhibition, dialogue, and conference programmes, and it acts as a centre of excellence for international cultural and educational policy. ifa is part of a global network and relies on sustainable, long-term partnerships. ifa is supported by the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Baden-Württemberg and its capital Stuttgart. www.ifa.de
Press contact
Corinna Wolfien
Books Communication Art
+49(0)175 5676046
mail(at)corinnawolfien.com
Miriam Kahrmann
ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen,
Director of Communication
+49 (0)7112225 105
presse(at)ifa.de