News:
Movie posters from Ghana, exhibition in Brno (CZ)
Text and pictures from Brno Biennale press kit
The Devil, Death and Schwarzenegger
African street film poster from the Wolfgang Staebler collection
Moravian Museum, Brno (CZ)
Ethnographic Institute - Palac slechticen, Koblizna 1a, Brno
2010.06.24 - 2010.10.24
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This exhibition, the title of which blends African ritual tradition with Hollywood imagery, presents African street posters for films, painted on the reverse of empty flour and sugar sacks, showcased in the Czech Republic for the first time. The project, prepared by the Ethnographic Institute of the Moravian Museum, Brno is one of the accompanying events held as part of the Brno Biennial 2010.
The series of hand-painted posters is part of an African art collection made by Dr. Wolfgang Staebler from Munich. The exhibition is a must for all those interested in film poster, cinema, or naive and African art. The atmosphere of an African street is mediated by a large-format photograph of one of them; visitors will be also able to view some of the films made in Ghana that are shown in local street cinemas. The installation comprises several wooden sculptures: visitors will encounter, for example, a mermaid and a mythical figure with three heads.
"In western Africa, hand-painted signs are part of everyday life. They promote hairdressers', refreshment stalls, healers, public phone boxes and the like. When the first video players made their way to Ghana in 1980, small street video cinemas started to crop up, and soon achieved vast popularity. Talented, if untrained, painters creating street signs expanded their repertoire and as a result, a new genre was born: painted posters promoting the programmes of the street cinemas. Their colourful and fantastic images of frequently drastic contents are painted on empty flour sacks. After being used in town "video clubs" the posters tour rural areas with mobile cinemas consisting of a video or DVD player, a monitor and a car battery. The exhibition presents selected pieces from this poster production. Death, the devil and characters derived from the world of African mythology advertise the prolific film output of Ghana. However, the local audiences also love world-famous stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and heroes of kung- fu movies, and have their favourite action film scenes. " Hana Dvorakova, exhibition curator |
 Author unknown, Desperate Billionaire 2 (film Nigeria), ca 2005 |
 Gideon Art Works (Ghana), Conan the Destroyer (film USA 1982), ca 1995-2000 |
 Agyei Art (Ghana), I hate my village (film Nigeria 2005), ca 2005 |
 Agyei Art (Ghana), The Wind (film Nigeria 2000), ca 2000 |