Samson Kambalu
{{Short description|Malawian artist and academic}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Samson Kambalu
| image = Samson Kambalu (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| caption = in 2022 (by the Scotland Malawi Partnership)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1975
| birth_place =
| known_for = designing the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square
| education = Kamuzu Academy, Chancellor College, Nottingham Trent University,Chelsea College of Art and Design
| occupation = artist
| title =
| spouse = Susan Kamalu
| partner =
| nationality = Malawian
}}
Samson Kambalu (born 1975) is a Malawi-born artist, academic[http://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/member-of-staff/samson-kambalu Professor Samson Kambalu: Magdalen University] and author who trained as a fine artist and ethnomusicologist at the University of Malawi's Chancellor College. He is a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.
Life and work
Kambalu was born in Malawi, where he attended Kamuzu Academy, the "Eton of Africa".Kamuzu Academy He graduated from the University of Malawi's Chancellor College, Zomba in 1999. Kambalu completed his MA in Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University in 2003 and wrote his PhD at Chelsea College of Art and Design, looking at how the problematic of the gift and the general economy animates various aspects of his art practice.{{Cite web|url=http://blogs.arts.ac.uk/chelsea/2015/04/01/phd-student-samson-kambalu-to-exhibit-at-venice-2015/|title=PhD student Samson Kambalu to exhibit at Venice 2015 – Chelsea College of Arts Blog|website=blogs.arts.ac.uk|language=en-US|access-date=2017-12-20}}
Kambalu's work, which references Situationism and the Chewa Nyau culture of his native Malawi,Aloisia Leopardi, [http://griotmag.com/en/game-changers-samson-kambalu-idea-play-art-life/ Game Changers: Samson Kambalu and his idea of play in art and life], Griot, 31 March 2016Roxana Azimi, [http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2015/05/07/afrique-a-venise-3-sombres-et-majestueux-futurs-d-okwui-enwezor_4629710_3212.html L’Afrique à Venise (3) : sombres et majestueux « futurs » d’Okwui Enwezor], Le Monde, 7 May 2015 manifests in various media, from drawing, painting, installation, video to literature and performance.[http://www.blouinartinfo.com/galleryguide/283133/305321/event/1368884 Blouin ArtInfo art listing]
One of his most well known artworks is Holy Ball, a football plastered in pages of the Bible.Massa Lemu, [http://www.stedelijkstudies.com/journal/play-and-the-profane/ Play and the Profane in Samson Kambalu's Holyballs, Holyballism and (Bookworm) The Fall of Man] Kambalu held an exhibition of 24 "Holy Balls" at Chancellor College in 2000 at which he invited the visitors to “exercise and exorcise”.{{Cite web|url=http://www.vmcaa.nl/vm/magazine/001/artikel002/|title=Virtual Museum Of Contemporary African Art|website=www.vmcaa.nl|access-date=2017-12-20}} He has since shown his work internationally.{{Cite news|url=http://www.katemacgarry.com/artists/samson-kambalu/|title=SAMSON KAMBALU - Kate Macgarry|work=Kate Macgarry|access-date=2017-12-20|language=en-GB}} In 2015 he was included in Okwui Enwezor's All the World's Futures at the 56th Venice Biennale.{{Cite news|url=http://labiennale.org/en/mediacenter/video/56-25.html|title=Biennale Channel|date=2017-03-06|work=La Biennale di Venezia|access-date=2017-12-20|language=en}} In November 2015 a judge in Venice dismissed a complaintRaffaella Pelligrino, [http://www.artribune.com/2015/12/gianfranco-sanguinetti-samson-kambalu-biennale-venezia-tribunale/ "Gianfranco Sanguinetti contro la Biennale di Venezia"], Artribune, 28 December 2015 filed by the Italian situationist Gianfranco Sanguinetti against the Venice Biennale and Kambalu with regard to the unauthorised and wholescale appropriation of Sanguinetti's entire archive for one of Kambalu's installations, Sanguinetti Breakout Area.Roxana Azimi, [http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2015/10/19/l-ecrivain-italien-sanguinetti-porte-plainte-contre-la-biennale-de-venise_4792574_3212.html "L’écrivain italien Sanguinetti porte plainte contre la Biennale de Venise"], Le Monde, 19 October 2015
Kambalu's Nyau Cinema is a series of short film clips of psychogeographical performances, shared as interventions on social networking sites and as installations in galleries.Eric Loret, [http://cafedesimages.fr/samson-kambalu-souverain-du-cinema-nyau/ "Samson Kambalu, souverain du cinéma «nyau»"], Cafe des Images, 8 September 2015 These have been described as "cinematic fragments that blend slapstick and spiritual ritual".Louisa Buck, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150529132923/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/art/73228/venice-biennale-highlights-and-best-of-the-rest.html "Venice Biennale: highlights and best of the rest"], The Telegraph, 29 May 2015
His first book, an autobiographical narrative entitled The Jive Talker or How to Get a British Passport, was published by Jonathan Cape (Random House) in July 2008, and in August 2008 by Free Press (Simon & Schuster).{{Cite news|url=http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/015_03/2766|title=The Jive Talker: An Artist's Genesis|work=Bookforum|access-date=2017-12-20|language=en-US}} His second novel, Uccello's Vineyard, published in 2012,{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Uccellos-Vineyard-Samson-Kambalu-ebook/dp/B009Z48N2Y?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0|title=Uccello's Vineyard|last=Kambalu|first=Samson|date=2012-10-30|publisher=Appleluck|edition= 1st|language=English}} is in The Book Lovers, a collection of artist novels at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp.[http://ensembles.mhka.be/items/8136 M HKA Ensembles: Uccello's Vineyard]
Kambalu is represented by Kate MacGarry in London and Galerie Nordenhake in Stockholm.{{Cite news|url=http://www.katemacgarry.com/artists/samson-kambalu/|title=SAMSON KAMBALU - Kate Macgarry|work=Kate Macgarry|access-date=2017-12-20|language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.nordenhake.com/php/artist.php?RefID=268|title=Samson Kambalu at GALERIE NORDENHAKE {{!}} Berlin — Stockholm|website=www.nordenhake.com|language=en|access-date=2017-12-20}}
On 5 July 2021, it was announced that Kambalu's artwork had been selected as the next to occupy the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in central London from September 2022 until 2024. The sculpture, entitled Antelope, restages a 1914 photograph of Baptist preacher and pan-Africanist John Chilembwe and European missionary John Chorley. Chilembwe wears a hat in an act of defiance, as it was illegal at the time for an African to wear a hat in front of a white person.{{citation|title=Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth: Winning artworks announced|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57699300|work=BBC News|date=5 July 2021}}.
Exhibitions
= Selected solo exhibitions =
- 2017 – Red Barn Farm, Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, Sweden {{Cite web|url=http://www.nordenhake.com/php/exhibition.php?id=267&year=2017|title = Red Barn Farm}}
- 2015 – The Unbearable Lightness of Nyau Cinema, Gallery U Mloka, Olomouc, Czech Republic
- 2015 – Double Feature: Nyau Cinema, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
- 2014 – Sepia Rain, Stevenson Johannesburg, South Africa
- 2012 – Tattoo City: The First Three Chapters (with guests), Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK
- 2000 – Holyball Exercises and Exorcisms, Chancellor College, Zomba, Malawi
= Selected group exhibitions =
- 2016 – Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK{{Cite web|url=http://www.biennial.com/2016/exhibition/artists/samson-kambalu|title=Artists {{!}} Liverpool Biennial: Festival of Contemporary Art|website=www.biennial.com|language=en|access-date=2017-12-20}}
- 2016 – Dakar Biennale, Dakar, Senegal[http://dakart.net/lexposition-internationale/ L’exposition internationale]
- 2016 – Lost & Found, Paradiso, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- 2015 – Embodied, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2015 – 50/50, New Church Museum, Cape Town, South AfricaThuli Gamedze, [http://artthrob.co.za/2016/02/01/giving-renewed-attention-to-old-voices-5050-at-the-new-church-museum/ Giving renewed attention to old voices?], Arthrob, 1 February 2016
- 2015 – Transformation Marathon, Serpentine Galleries, London
- 2015 – Schema, Stevenson Cape Town, South Africa
- 2015 – All The World's Futures, Venice Biennale, Italy{{Cite news|url=http://labiennale.org/en/mediacenter/video/56-25.html|title=Biennale Channel|date=2017-03-06|work=La Biennale di Venezia|access-date=2017-12-20|language=en}}Sean O'Toole, [http://www.contemporaryand.com/magazines/africa-from-afar/ Africa from afar], Contemporary And, 29 May 2015
- 2014 – Chroma, Stevenson Cape Town, South Africa
- 2014 – Dakar Biennale, Dakar, Senegal
- 2004 – Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Liverpool, UK{{Cite web|url=http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/2004|title=2004 {{!}} New Contemporaries|website=www.newcontemporaries.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2017-12-20}}
Bibliography
= Books =
- 2012 – Uccello's Vineyard. ASIN: B009Z48N2Y
- 2008 – The Jive Talker or, How to Get a British Passport. {{ISBN|0-224-08106-3}}
= Articles =
- 2015, Entering the Arena: All the World's Futures, Art in Culture, South Korea,{{Cite web|url=http://www.artinculture.kr/magazine/199|title=2015. 06 — Art In Culture|last=deerstep|website=www.artinculture.kr|access-date=2017-12-20}} and Contemporary And{{Cite web|url=http://www.contemporaryand.com/magazines/entering-the-arena-all-the-worlds-future/|title=Entering the Arena: All the World's Future {{!}} Contemporary And|website=www.contemporaryand.com|language=de|access-date=2017-12-20}}
- 2014, Great African Minds: Dr Charles Chanthunya, Peter Hammer Verlag
- 2013, The Museum and the Individual, essay on Meschac Gaba's Museum of Contemporary African Art, Tate Modern{{Cite news|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/meschac-gaba-museum-contemporary-african-art/viewpoint-samson|title=Viewpoint: Samson Kambalu {{!}} Tate|last=Tate|work=Tate|access-date=2017-12-20|language=en-GB}}
- 2011, Der skurrile Diktator, Kulturaustausch, IFA, Germany
- 2010, Dr Albert Schweitzer's Troublesome Young Brother, Kulturaustausch, IFA, Germany
- 2010, Windmill Jive, Salz Magazine, Austria
- 2009, Action Bitte – Malawians at Leisure, Kulturaustausch, IFA, Germany
Residencies, fellowships and awards
- 2015, Research fellowship, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African Art, Washington DC, USA
- 2014, Research fellowship, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, USA
- 2013, AHRC PhD Research Award, UK
- 2005–10, The Fire Station Residency, ACME, London, UK
- 2004, Decibel Visual Arts Award, Arts Council
- 2000, Thami Mnyele Artist Residency, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Notes and references
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.samsonkambalu.com/}}
- [http://www.katemacgarry.com/artists/samson-kambalu/ Kate MacGarry: Samson Kambalu]
- [http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/author.htm?authorID=52118 Random House]
- [http://www.simonsays.com/content/destination.cfm?tab=1&pid=585364 Simon & Schuster]
- [http://www.contemporaryand.com/person/samson-kambalu/ Contemporary And: Samson Kambalu]
- Giles Foden, [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/aug/23/biography.society "Good news from Africa", review of The Jive Talker], The Guardian, 23 August 2008.
- Susan Williams, [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-jive-talker-by-samson-kambalu-859396.html "The Jive Talker, by Samson Kambalu – Portrait of the artist as a young African"] (review), The Independent, 4 July 2008.
- Aminatta Forna, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3558285/Review-The-Jive-Talker-by-Samson-Kambalu.html "Review: The Jive Talker by Samson Kambalu"], The Telegraph, 10 August 2008.
- Massa Lemu, [http://www.contemporaryand.com/magazines/for-the-ranter-the-whole-world-is-a-playground/ "For the ranter, the whole world is a playground. In conversation with Samson Kambalu"], Contemporary And, 13 February 2014.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kambalu, Samson}}
Category:Black British artists
Category:British conceptual artists
Category:Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford
Category:21st-century Malawian writers
Category:University of Malawi alumni
Category:Alumni of Nottingham Trent University