Iwalewa House

The town of Bayreuth in southern Germany is known to classical music fans around the world over for its annual Richard Wagner Festival. But the town also has strong ties to Africa, strengthened by the reopening of Iwalewa House. This is a meeting place rather than a museum, more of a cultural center than a research institute, yet it is nevertheless an integral part of the University of Bayreuth which has a focus on research in Africa. Iwalewa House functions as a link between academic teaching, interest among the general public and African artists. It's a house with many different faces.

Where tradition meets modernity

Founded in 1981 as part of the University, the house recently moved to new, larger premises, just a stone's throw away from its old location. The building that once housed a bank has impressive stone facade decorations in the art nouveau style, giving it both a powerful and representative appearance as a forum for intercultural dialogue. The 2,300 square meters (25,000 square feet) of space is spread over four floors providing ample room for exhibitions, concerts, roundtable discussions, offices and storage.

The building even has studios for artists, much to the delight of Maimuna Adam who happens to be in Bayreuth once again. The Mozambican artist is full of praise for the modified concept of the house that has changed its focus from old fashioned exhibitions to show young artistic talent from Africa. "Iwalewa house always surprises me. I get space, energy and a lot of love from everyone who works here and from anyone who passes through. It gives me the opportunity to discover and further develop both myself and my work, " Adam told DW.

A treasure trove that has been put at the artists' disposal is now to be found in the new Iwalewa house - the largest collection of contemporary African art. Among the items in this outstanding collection are barber shop signs which decades earlier advertised hair styles such as the "Lumumba" and "Kennedy" cuts in Nigeria. Original masks, visionary aluminum reliefs, billboards of shoemakers from Mozambique showing the giant ape "King Kong" are also to be found. Whether graphics, watercolors, oil paintings, sculptures, batiks or fabric applications - many of the objects in the collection reveal the influence of European colonial powers. Others play with the possibilities provided by the new technological world. Kevo Stero, who grew up in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, took film stills of ceremonial dances in Burkina Faso and turned them into figurative colorful paintings.

An invitation to go below the surface

Versatility is an important principle of the Iwalewa House. Activities range from lectures and meetings to drum concerts and workshops. The extensive sound archive with its huge selection of African music is made use of by well known audio artists, such as DJ Raph from Nairobi who demonstrated his skill at the opening of the current exhibition "Mashup." Created by Sam Hopkins, also from Kenya, the exhibition brings together ancient carved figures and new interpretations by African artists of selected objects from the archives.

Uche Uzorka from Lagos, a member of the famous "Nsukka School" which has its roots in the Nigerian tradition of body painting, has created an installation in which glass jars are filled with torn up photos and magazines from the archives. One can, of course, interpret this as an act of destruction, but for the artist, they are now "in a different state of being, stored in a different way, representing a different form of visual awareness."

The name "Iwalewa" comes from the Yoruba, an ethnic group from Nigeria. Translated, it means "character is beauty," a wide-ranging philosophical concept, according to Iwalewa House director Ulf Vierke. It is a concept that encourages visitors to look beneath the smooth surface of people or objects.