Kalinosi?Mutale, Anawana?Haloba Konse Kubili (review)

r LI NOSI 7 MU T ALE, AW AN A7 H AL O BA K O N S E K U B I L I Henr y Tayal i Ar t Gal l ery, Lusak a, Zam b i a, Januar y 2 0 0 4 To f lip a coi n i s t o play a game of f at e t hat appear s t o onl y pr esent t wo opt i ons: heads or t ail s. The out come, however, is less rest rict ed t han it mi ght f irst appear. Det ermined by t he cat egories init ial l y assi gned t o t he deci si on- m aki ng pr ocess, t here are pot ent ially more variant s t han t he t wo sides of t he coi n. The t it le of Hal oba and Mut al e's exhi bi t i on, Konse Kubili, means "bot h si des, " or "bot h w ays, " i n Bemba, evoki ng t he dual it y t hat is of t en t oo simpl ist ical l y i mposed on Af rican art ist s. Heads: Af r i can. Tails: not (really) Af r i can. Or in t hi s cont ex t —Head s: Zambian art ist s. Tails: Zambians who have f orgot t en t heir art ist ic root s. By deliberat ely pl aying t o bot h sides of t hi s i mpr obabl e equat i on, Haloba and Mut ale assert t hat t he coi n is st i l l in t he air, and t hey i nsi st t hat t here are more opt i ons t han j ust Heads or Tails. Present ed in Lusaka t o a largely Zambi an audi ence, Konse Kubili addresses t he f act t hat Zambian art ist s who t ravel and st udy abroad of t en st r uggl e t o locally exhi bi t concept ual and i nst al l at i on art , as t hese works are perceived t o be t oo Eur opean. As Haloba assert s, "w e t hought t hi s [ exhi bi t i on] w oul d be anot her w ay of r espondi ng t o t hose t hat say t hat when you go t o Europe you f orget t he real art . . . and st art t o do what t he Europeans are doi ng, whi ch you can't even sell. We are t r yi ng t o t ell t hem we haven't st opped what we are doi ng We can't f orget , but we al so have new i d e as. "1 Unf ort unat ely, t he European and American donor and di pl omat i c com munit y in Zambia plays a si gni f i cant role in det er mi ni ng what "r eal Zambian ar t " shoul d be, as it makes up a large port ion of art consumer s in a cont ext of meager f i nanci al suppor t . Many exhi bi t i ons in Lusaka t ake place i n t he homes of expat riat es, and as Zambian art ist William Bwal ya Miko says, "t oo many pai nt i ngs are bought t o mat ch t he home f ur ni shi ngs of unenl i ght ened buyers who assume a posi t i on of conn oi sseu r sh i p . "^ The i m por t ance of Konse Kubili i s t hat i t not onl y f lies i n t he face of amat eurs who have posi t ed t hem sel ves as t he guar di ans of "Zambi an ar t " but al so t akes ser i ousl y t he perspect ives of a l ocal audience. It of f ers viewers i n...