Yinka Olatunbosun
On August 15, the world of arts will come alive once again with the opening of a group exhibition organized by arebyte Gallery, London and National Gallery of Zimbabwe. Featuring works by Nigeria’s award-winning artist, Bolatito Aderemi Ibitola, Mr Color, Vincent Bezuidenhout, Scumboy, King Debs, Mbakisi Sibanda, Kumbirai Makumbe and Isaac Kariuki and Christopher Macinnes, the show is a celebration of works expressed in digital media, moving image and technology.
Power play foregrounds the digital arts scene in African and presents work by digital artists who are from or based in Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe and the UK. Exploring the use of technology in creating a sense of identity and place within a digitized world, the artists in the exhibition look at the relationships of power experienced in varying ways. The works address isolation and alienation; societal bias around gender and race; transformation of being; the politics of borders and migration; dark markets of trade; and communities that work outside the mainstream economy.
Supported by the British Council’s New Art New Audiences Grant, the artists’ works will be viewed in a six-week multimedia installation in arebyte Gallery, London. Set for both online and off-line viewers, the multi-sited exhibition format brings to light the fluidity between the virtual and the real especially on how power influences decisions and movements and their consequences.
Powerplay will be the first exhibition of digital and new media art at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, Harare and Mutare.
