Thesis Abstract

<p> </p><p>Recently, video art concepts in Africa have been haunted by tentacles of<br>universalism, transculturation and acculturation that threaten their socio-cultural<br>thresholds prospectively. The implication of this includes a muted indigenous<br>voice and the possibility of the genre not being indigenously personalised by<br>African artists in the course of its development. The intent of this research is to<br>address this. Methodologically, it is strictly but flexibly constrained to video art<br>footages that are sometimes depicted in the form of animated drawings. Nsibidi<br>and uli motifs have been chosen because of their aesthetic and functional<br>qualities. Finally, the strategic approach adopted in the organisation of the study<br>is the researcher’s attempt to justify and satisfactorily contain the vast nature of<br>its subject matter.</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <br><p></p>

Thesis Overview

<p> INTRODUCTION<br>Background to the Study<br>African art has been in contention with the growing challenges and influences<br>imposed on it by western perspectives on modern art over the years. Among other factors,<br>these challenges are sometimes associated with the ideal indigenous creative communication<br>pattern and its adaptation to this burgeoning global art phenomenon without characterising a<br>compromised cultural inflection. One cannot ostracize the fundamental role culture plays in a<br>society. It is a vital aspect of a people’s very humanity and identity (Teaero, 2002). In Africa,<br>however, art is wholly integrated in the socio-cultural norms of ethnic groups in nations<br>across the continent; in fact, culture is a holistic part of art and vice versa. Teaero (2002)<br>further stresses on the threats haunting this pattern, this shrewd manifestation and dictation of<br>what he dubbed ‘eurocentricism’ in the African artistic expression when he states:<br>There is a salient need for newer ways of expressing the African traditional ideologies<br>and worldviews in a relevant and updated contemporary language for the purpose of<br>preserving, establishing, and empathically communicating the continent’s cultural identity<br>and ideals. It is also necessary for this ideological approach to be adapted to the evolving<br>twenty-first century art world. So far, this syndrome, what the researcher would refer to as an<br>As an important part of culture, art has always been<br>traditionally conceived, produced, used, distributed, and<br>critiqued by islanders from their ethnocentric<br>perspectives. Over the centuries alternative perspectives<br>– especially from a Eurocentric viewpoint– were<br>introduced, used and perpetuated through the school<br>system.(ibid.)<br>xv<br>“afro-centric renaissance in modern art”, has affected areas in the visual arts such as sculpture<br>and painting. On the contrary, however, there is an obvious conceptual dearth when it comes<br>to the aspect of employing the multimedia and, more specifically, video art as a medium for<br>expressing and projecting this concept.<br>The works of prominent African video artists like William Kentridge (South Africa)<br>exhibit a kind of universality that was not created to be interpreted from that cultural angle.<br>More so, they are actually not intended to do that. Perhaps this is because Video art, which is<br>an art that combines music, dance, performance, and computer graphics, shown on video, is<br>not only a relatively new genre in art, but is quite an alien concept in Africa unlike the other<br>aspects of arts that have definitive historical roots in the continent. Interestingly, it is a new<br>and exciting art and technological development that is fast becoming a huge consideration<br>fraught with endless innovative possibilities to both the artistic and academic worlds.<br>Kentridge’s works are primarily animations or animated drawings to be more precise.<br>Animation could be defined as:<br>Furniss further states:<br>the term implies to to creations on film, video, or<br>computers, and even to motion toys, which usually<br>consist of a series of drawings or photographs on paper<br>that are viewed with a mechanical device or by flipping<br>through a hand-held sequence of images (for example,<br>a pad of paper can be used to create an animated<br>flipbook of drawings). The term cartoon is sometimes<br>used to describe short animated works (under ten<br>minutes) that are humorous in nature. (Ibid)<br>motion pictures created by recording a series of still<br>images—drawings, objects, or people in various<br>positions of incremental movement—that when played<br>back no longer appear individually as static images but<br>combine to produce the illusion of unbroken motion.”<br>(Furniss, 2007).<br>xvi<br>Video art has generally undergone some conceptual evolution over the years, since its<br>introduction in the modern art scene around the late fifties and early sixties. Presently, an<br>avalanche of video art presentations have been created by artists and non-artists alike because<br>the medium itself is easy to obtain and manipulate by both professional and nonprofessionals<br>alike. What separates the video artist from the experimental video consumer is creativity; that<br>is the artist’s ability to manipulate the medium in order to address a whole range of issues in<br>its thematic content.<br>The integral Africa identity and worldview has been compromised in this new genre<br>of modern art. Unlike the other aspects of the visual arts, the challenges confronting video art<br>are connected with the technology that actually initiated it. Furthermore, the tendency of the<br>art to be abused due to the relatively easy accessibility of the technology by consumers and<br>the overabundance of easy-to-use editing software is another problematic issue. It is<br>important, since this art is still in its early stages when compared to the other arts, that the<br>African ideology be integrated into video art footages and themes, at least aesthetically.<br>There are very few video art footages in existence truly project the African ideologies and<br>motifs conceptually. In addition, it was Uche Okeke’s (1961) letter to the then president,<br>Nnamdi Azikiwe, which stoked the embers that later flared up the radical development of the<br>natural synthesis philosophy in Nsukka years later. The content of the letter reads:<br>I believe that it is only through the acceptance of<br>‘natural synthesis’ that the conflicts of the<br>contemporary African mind must be resolved…the<br>African artist must live in his culture and express or<br>interprete the yearnings of his society. He must not live<br>in an ivory tower (Okeke, 1961).<br>xvii<br>Uche Okeke was not just the leader and founding member of the Art Society<br>(popularly known as ‘Zaria Rebels’) that was formed in 1958, reputed for their propagation<br>of the Natural synthesis ideology, he also played a significant role in its development. The<br>Natural Synthesis ideology, as the name implies, involved ‘the acceptance of much of<br>European media and technique (though not barring experimentation with these)’ and the<br>development of styles and content close to the students’ Nigerian experience, whether it be<br>their own cultural tradition, that of other Nigerian cultures, or current Nigerian life’<br>(Ottenberg, 1997). Ottenberg, in citing Okeke’s 1960 speech to fellow members (which later<br>became its manifesto) states that this synthesis “was to be natural, unconscious, and unforced,<br>to come from the experience of the individual artists, including from their cultures” (ibid.)<br>The project is an investigation and creative exploration of the bridge that connects the<br>possibilities this new form of art offers with the integral creative tenets of indigenous<br>concepts in order to initiate a new artistic trans-cultural paradigm. The videos will involve<br>interpreting selected proverbs in staged and animated footages, and will also exhibit a sort of<br>aesthetic visual conundrum that is both poetic and surrealistic. The motifs and sketches will<br>be animated and sometimes interfaced with the abstract motion backgrounds in most of these<br>videos. All of these will relate to the general idea of the respective concepts. The visual<br>effects will not be entirely subjected to software manipulation alone; other creative strategies<br>and mediums will be employed if they are appropriate in ensuring a creative expression of the<br>video art. The project will be deliberately streamlined to accommodate motifs and ideas that<br>are indigenous to the Igbo (that is the uli and nsibidi motif), because of the patterns and<br>symbols inherent in them that are somewhat unanimous and relatively easier to access.<br>xviii<br>Statement of the Problem<br>Although there is an impressive display of dynamism in terms of video art concepts<br>shown by notable video artists in Africa, Europe and the rest of the globe, there is still an<br>aspect that has not been extensively explored or addressed in the aesthetic aspect of the<br>footages. The African socio-cultural identity, for instance, has been lost or ignored entirely in<br>these conceptual outbursts.<br>xix<br>There is therefore a need for diversities in artistic expression that individualizes the<br>African artists’ video concepts in a socio-cultural context, hence establishing a plausible and<br>effective platform for their respective projection.<br>Objectives of the Study<br>The objective of the research is to investigate the following issues:<br>To synthesize indigenous motifs and ideas into created video art footages in order to<br>arrive at themes that reveal socio-cultural ideologies. This would be achieved through<br>drawings, digital adaptation of the motifs to video footages and animations via appropriate<br>video and animation software alongside other relevant media hardware like HD cameras and<br>green screen props<br>To creatively employ innovative techniques that will bring out interesting results, as<br>well as approaches that reflect the African socio-cultural identity. Most of the concepts will<br>be captured chance occurrences and selected reference footages with socio-cultural allusions,<br>all of which will be digitally manipulated<br>To creatively manipulate the themes of video art footages in order to address issues<br>from a socio-cultural perspective. As earlier stated, the researcher will use video editing<br>software like Adobe Aftereffect, Pinnacle, Adobe Premier, Corel Video Studio to achieve<br>this. The researcher will also adopt a strategic process which will involve a workflow; that is<br>using the software that will best enhance an effect rather than wholly concentrating on one<br>xx<br>To examine the challenges or factors that have restricted and discouraged African<br>artists from exploring video art from this socio-cultural point of view and recommend<br>strategies in addressing this.<br>Significance of the Study<br>This study is significant because it will ensure that the African identity is not lost in<br>the growth and evolution of the expressive content of video art for subsequent African video<br>artists engaged in the medium. Ultimately, since video art is an aspect of visual<br>communication, it will introduce and further enhance the concept of hybridity with<br>indigenous designs, which will consequently inspire graphic designers to explore that<br>relatively uncharted area.<br>This study will also help to situate the African indigenous motif and values in the<br>history of the art for future reference and provide avenues for further research in this area.<br>Finally, it will add to written literature in the area of visual communication.<br>Scope of the Study<br>This research will focus on the aspect of video art that deals with capturing of staged<br>or chance performances that are in consonance with a specific theme. Also, other approaches<br>such as animation and installation video art will be explored. These strategic approaches are<br>necessary since the emphasis is on integrating socio-cultural idioms, like uli and nsibidi<br>motifs for example, into the fabric of the themes, and not using the technology itself as a tool<br>to achieve this, which on the long run will produce contradictory results.<br>Limitations<br>xxi<br>In the course of executing this project, the researcher encountered some challenges<br>that somewhat threatened the achievement of its stipulated aims and objectives.<br>Time factor is one that posed one of the greatest challenges during the course of<br>completing this research. Making of standard animations requires time and usually teamwork.<br>This is because of the enormous number of storyboards sketches that are meant to capture<br>each frame, as well as other aspects like sound effects and the like. The making of standard<br>animations usually require departments that are created to handle each of these aspects<br>effectively under a stipulated time frame and budget.<br>The high cost involved in successfully executing this project to its optimum was also<br>another limitation. Many of the hardware and software to be used to arrive at some interesting<br>and highly professional effects were very expensive and sometimes quite hard to find. The<br>researcher had to make do with downloaded trial versions, which had limited functions and<br>time usage.<br>Research Methodology<br>The collection of data for this research was through primary and secondary sources.<br>The primary sources involved fieldwork. The equipment used for the fieldwork include<br>writing pads, sketch pads and multimedia materials like ipads and tablets.<br>Data was also collected through secondary sources. The Nnamdi Azikiwe Library of<br>the University of Nigeria, Departmental library and the library at the Centre for<br>Contemporary art (CCA), Yaba, Lagos played important roles in this sense. Most of the data<br>were sourced from the books, theses, journals, magazines, articles and catalogues retrieved<br>from these libraries. In addition, the internet was necessary because it enabled the researcher<br>gain access to significant information from very rare books that would have been virtually<br>xxii<br>impossible to reach in Nigerian libraries. Data that involved video interviews and video art<br>footages from notable artists, retrieved from social media and sites like Youtube, were made<br>possible because of the internet.<br>Five major approaches were also adopted in the data analysis. They include aesthetic,<br>functional, historical, stylistic, and iconographic methods. The rationale behind the adoption<br>of these approaches is significant and relevant because of the following reasons:<br>The aesthetic approach was necessary in order to examine the quality of the<br>compositions in the video footages and animations based on its effectiveness in inducing a<br>pleasing visual appeal; the functional approach was used to ascertain the importance of<br>integrating ingenious motifs into video art concepts and animations; the stylistic approach for<br>analyzing the nature of used materials and their various techniques and distribution patterns;<br>and the iconographic approach for discussing the meanings associated with the symbols and<br>grabbed stills of the videos and animations.<br>Organisation<br>The research report has been structured into seven chapters. The first chapter<br>introduces the research and addresses the background, objective, significance, scope of the<br>study, as well as the methodology among others. The literature relevant to the research will<br>be reviewed in Chapter 2, while in chapter three the socio-cultural significance of the selected<br>motifs will be evaluated within the context of Nigerian modern art. Chapter 4 will be a<br>review of some Nigerian video artists who have made some invaluable contributions to the<br>development of the art in Nigeria. In chapter five, the methodological and technical approach<br>xxiii<br>for the execution of the video art concepts. The themes of the concepts will be discussed in<br>the sixth chapter, while the research will be concluded in the seventh. <br></p>