The Doual’art contemporary art center founded by Princess Marilyn Douala Manga Bell is hosting session 10 of the RAW Academy, to be held from October 02 to November 03, 2023 in Douala, Cameroon. This is an experimental residential program based on the study and research of artistic and curatorial practice and reasoning.
The RAW Academy usually runs for one seven-week session a year in Dakar from May to June or October to November. The 10th session of the RAW Academy, entitled “Landmarks“, focuses on dynamic reflection on artistic research, critical writing and curatorial practice. This year, the artistic residency will take place in the Princess Marilyn Douala Manga Bell contemporary art center, where you can observe beyond any notion of conflict between private and public, the scope of art’s power in reconciling private and public desires as well as collective imaginaries in an urban space.
With a view to presenting this conciliatory vision of art in contemporary African metropolises, the “Landmarks” exhibition of the RAW Académie program represents a materialization of this perception of art. Under the artistic direction of contemporary exhibition center La Doual’art, RAW Académie session 10 will feature artworks, projects and spaces inspired by the urban environment as raw material for entering into symbiosis with the life, heartbeat and dreams that constitute the city’s ultimate rhythm and force.
The Doual’art is the right exhibition center for this 10th session of the artistic residency program, in the sense that it is in a certain reflexive concordance with the exhibition theme. Indeed, the institute provides real support and guidance to artists interested in urban issues through their research and practice. It is a contemporary art center and experimental laboratory dedicated to new urban practices in African cities. Doual’art and the RAW Académie Landmarks, imbued with the association’s three decades of experience in the conservation and maintenance of works of art, are, in the words of Princess Marylin Douala Manga Bell, “in resonance with urban space”.
Application period for the RAW Academy artistic residency program runs from May 15 to midnight GMT on July 02, 2023. Applications can only be submitted online, and only the first 75 applications will be considered. The selection committee for Session 10 of the RAW Academy will be made up of Princess Marilyn Douala Manga Bell and the curatorial teams from RAW Material Company and Doual’art. Shortlisted candidates will be informed and invited to attend an online interview. The final selection, which usually includes a maximum of 10 outstanding artists, will take place on July 15, 2023.
