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Public Art Festival

About

KLA ART 018 is a free visual artsfestival which celebrates public art forin and with the city.

KLA ART celebrates local art in public spaces, taking art from the galleries into the streets of the city. It’s an art festival that reaches non-traditional art audiences and gives participating contemporary artists new experiences of production and a unique platform for their work. KLA ART is produced by 32 East, an organization for the creation and exploration of Ugandan contemporary art.

Artists

William Kane Olwit
William Kane Olwit Title: Masks
Timothy Wandulu
Timothy Wandulu Title: Modern Intellects
Dilman Dila
Dilman Dila Title: Robots of the Pearl
Christine Ayo
Christine Ayo Title: Voicing Entebbe
Jared Onyango
Jared Onyango Title: Jua Kali Pedestrian
Nabukenya Hellen
Nabukenya Hellen Title: Munno Mu Kabi
Karis Upton
Karis Upton Title: The Red Files
Darlyne Komukama
Darlyne Komukama Title: Rage
Graffiti Crew
Graffiti Crew Stories on Walls | Mural Project of Kampala
Maasai Mbili
Maasai Mbili Title: ya Tola

Galleries

Videos

Locations

Uganda Museum

The Uganda Museum was set up in the early 20th century and moved over the years from Lugard’s Ford in Old Kampala, to Makerere University and landed on its current site along Kira Road in the 1950s. Museums are always set up from a certain vantage point in which, ideas – political, cultural, narrative and otherwise – shape decisions around what is worth showing and how to show it. The current displays of the museum hold a load of information and point to such political ideas and how they developed over time.

Kampala Road – Marvin’s Alleyway

With most of Kampala’s traffic in the city actually moving on foot, alleyways and small passages are key to our lives in the city. Kampala Road, a bustling centre of knock off-phones, delicious food and endless bodies moving up and down searching for sente, connects to many others. Join us in Marvin’s Phone services alleyway between Kampala road and Wilson road for a fresh way to experience the city and the exhibition of some of our artists’ work.

Secret Courtyard

For every front-facing building in Kampala, there seems to be an other secret, hidden place behind it where people make business and lives together.

This August, we found a particularly special one – a three storey high secret courtyard with beautiful street lamps and a small collection of uniquely curious statues inside it. This is the home of our opening night. Located on the corner of Kampala Road and Station Approach, right outside the train station in the city. You would never guess that you’ve walked by this slice of beauty every day without seeing it peak out at you behind an inconspicuous chicken-joint.

Nakasero Market

An initially temporary structure that has now lasted over 100 years, Nakasero Market may be  most honest and quintessential love-letter to and about Kampala.

The market was started in 1895, at first at the Lubiri. In 1905, Nakasero Market moved to Kagugube which was initially a temporary structure, where it has been shaping lives, collecting stories and becoming a central part of the city since. Nakasero market doesn’t just represent the city, but has also shaped it and holds much of Kampala’s history in its life.

Katanga

One could argue that informal settlements are a direct, progressional and improvised response of citizens to their city and their needs. Why they are they surpressed, underserved and kept off important official records? Impossible to ignore. Katanga is home to a wide range of people whose need for real infrastructure continue to grow.

Some of our graffiti crew artists have been working with Katanga to understand how they want to see their neighborhood grow, and how beautification of their places has immediate impact on the quality of their lives. Katanga itself is located between Mulago Hospital and Makerere University, both who claim that this huge swampy chunk of land is theirs, turning it effectively into no-man’s land.

Ham Mukasa House

Ham Mukasa is “The scholar who never went to school”. A maverick in his own right, he shaped Uganda’s history at a critical time that the British were entering. Unknown to many in Kampala, his family still preserved his house in Kampala, just off Kabaka Njagala Road. With it’s large balcony, huge beautiful garden and original furniture from Ham Mukasa’s days in the early 1900s, it’s hard to believe that such a historical gem is right in the middle of our city.

Kiyembe

Kiyembe road takes its name from the trees that used to surround it. Under these trees tailors and others would make for their customers, with each other and eventually built a sense of community in this shared space. Over time, trees have made way for multi-floor buildings, and now only the shade from  falls on the tables of those working below. It is a place of commerce, once also a place of community, right in the heart of our city.

Events

Date: Every Saturday Venue: Various Locations

Join us on a tour of different exhibitions to close the festival.

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KLA ART Tours
Date: 10 -11 Aug Venue: 32° East, Kampala

Workshops designed to better understand the entrepreneurial nature of public art

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Newcastle x KLA ART x BIEA Workshop
Date: 22 Aug

How do we as visual artists engage with humanitarian subject matter

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The Grammar  of Images: Workshop
Date: 1 Aug 6.30pm Venue: Kampala

The presentation of histories through photographs.

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History In Progress Soft Opening
Date: 18 Aug, 2pm onwards Venue: Kampala

Art in the day and Nakasero Night party in the night

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Nakasero Night
Date: 8th Aug Venue: Kampala

Celebrating Kampala’s finest.

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KLA ART 18 Opening Night
Date: 1st - 23rd Aug Venue: Uganda Museum + Pop Up locations city-wide

‘Ebifananyi’ marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.

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History in Progress | Ebifananyi Exhibition
Date: 23rd August  Venue: Ham Mukasa House, Mengo

Ekyoto with History in Progress and Robinah Nansubuga at Ham Mukasa House, Mengo.

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Ekyoto with History in Progress
Date: 1st Aug

History in Progress x UPPA photographer’s discussion at Uganda Museum

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History in Progress
Date: 12 Aug Venue: Secret Location

An intimate live event with extra attention paid to the artists

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SoFar Sounds | Off The Record
Date: On Request

Are you looking for something a little faster?

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Safe Boda Tours
Date: 18 Aug, 10am Venue: Kampala

Investigating the impact of legacy

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KLA ART x Writivism

Download the program

The Team:

The Team:

Margaret Nagawa

Curatorial Board

Gloria Kiconco

Curatorial Board

Kara Blackmore

Curatorial Board

Rasheeda Nalumoso

Creative Producer, KLA ART

Teesa Bahana

Director, 32

Sandra Suubi

Community Coordinator

Nikissi Serumaga

Programmes Manager, 32

Partners

partners Jajja Productions
partners British council
partners SoFar Sounds
partners The Square
partners Irish Embassy
partners Start Journal
partners KCCA
partners Mimeta
partners Newcastle University
partners Alliance Francaise
partners Politics of Return
partners Safeboda
partners Writivism