{"id":44126,"date":"2017-01-18T15:01:11","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T14:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/?p=44126"},"modified":"2017-01-18T15:01:11","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T14:01:11","slug":"serge-attukwei-clottey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/serge-attukwei-clottey\/","title":{"rendered":"The Artist Critiquing Voting Systems through Performance Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"serge “My Mother’s Wardrobe”, 2015, image courtesy of gallery1957.com<\/p>\n

 
\nSerge Attukwei Clottey sits cross-legged on the floor of his studio in Labadi, the ocean-side community where he lives in Accra, Ghana\u2019s capital. Endless yellow tangles of cut-up water gallons sprawl the floor of the tiny studio. Picasso-like charcoal paintings decorate the walls, a reference to one of his greatest influences while studying art in his home country.
\nIn just a few years, Clottey\u2019s installation pieces made out of the ubiquitous jerry cans found all over Ghana have become an international movement, one intended as a commentary not only about water scarcity but, more widely, about consumption and migration in modern Africa. Being the son of an artist exposed Clottey to painting from a young age, but it wasn\u2019t until completion of a residency in Brazil that the artist became consumed with mixed media experimentation. His work now spans installation, performance, photography and sculpture that questions postcolonial power structures and joins the seemingly disparate narratives of person and nationhood.
\n\u201cWhen I started, my work was criticised a lot by the older generations. I had to be very careful where to perform and where not to perform,\u201d Clottey says of the rarity of performance art in Ghana. But GoLokal, the performance collective he started in 2012 with just five people, has now expanded to include over 60 members, all eager to engage with a medium that allows them to express their sociopolitical concerns in a public space. \u201cTo be heard in Ghanaian politics, you need a very strong voice \u2013 one that people who live in the slums with no money don\u2019t have,\u201d Clottey says. \u201cThese performances give them a platform to speak out.\u201d
\n <\/p>\n

In “Museum of No Tolerance”, Clottey campaigned\u00a0for president himself mimicing exactly the strategies politicians use to engage people in their campaign<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 
\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=31YU8egHA7k<\/p>\n

\"serge “All roads to success”, 2015, image courtesy of sfaq.us<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"serge Image courtesy of accradotaltradio.com<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI need my work to have a close relationship with myself and my community before it goes abroad\u201d – Clottey
\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Last year, in the wake of Ghana\u2019s imminent presidential election, the artist took\u00a0it upon himself to provoke a dialogue surrounding the ways politicians are elected in Ghanaian society. In a piece entitled\u00a0“Museum of No Tolerance”, Clottey even campaigned\u00a0for president himself. \u201cWe are going to mimic exactly the strategies politicians use to engage people in their campaigns, including house-to-house campaigns giving out food and water and soap,\u201d the artist said. Complete with guerrilla-style campaign posters splattered all over the city, his fictional campaign trail is intended to highlight the flaws of the current political system.
\nThe performance culminated in December 2016 with the audience dropping their ballots into toilet-like bowls at Accra\u2019s Gallery 1957 a few days before the actual election. The gesture was a powerful commentary on the significance of voting in what Clottey calls \u201ca bureaucratic and corrupt political system\u201d and another example of the artist\u2019s continuous exploration of the agency and symbolism in everyday objects.
\nPublic participation is the underlying force behind all of the artist\u2019s work, not just his performance pieces. In addition to staging all of his performances in Accra, Clottey remains committed to showcasing his installations and paintings in spaces accessible to his community before migrating them to the more exclusive realms of art galleries and private collections. The works comprising his current exhibition, at Berlin\u2019s Marta Gnyp Gallery, were first displayed outside the artist\u2019s studio in Labadi.
\n\u201cI need my work to have a close relationship with myself and my community before it goes abroad,\u201d Clottey says. \u201cMy country is my main inspiration, so it\u2019s important that it be shown here so that the people that make it happen can react to it.\u201d
\n 
\nWorks by Serge Attukwei Clottey are on display at New York’s Jane Lombard Gallery<\/a> until 18 February 2017<\/strong> \n 
\n 
\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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