Christopher Robbins P
Title: Ghana Think Tank
Location: N/A
The Ghana Think Tank is a process
The Ghana Think Tank is a conversation
The Ghana Think Tank is a strategy
that allows us to interact with people in other cultures, revealing our assumptions in the process.
A group of US artists proposed a set of problems to think tanks formed in Ghana, Cuba and El Salvador, who offered solutions to these problems, which the US artists performed.
However, these problems and solutions are not the goal of this project.This project is an attempt to transpose parts of one culture into another, exploring the friction caused by solutions that are generated in one context and applied elsewhere, and revealing some of the hidden assumptions that govern many cross-cultural interactions. By applying a typical process of community development against the grain, traditional power-roles are swapped, places are exchanged, and communities are connected through their disconnects.
Christopher Robbins grew up in New York City, and has since lived and worked in Tokyo, West Africa, London, Fiji, and Serbia. He built his own hut out of mud and sticks and lived in it in Benin, West Africa, spoke at a United Nations conference about his cross-cultural digital arts and education work in the South Pacific, and has exhibited in the United States, Europe, Fiji and Africa. Awards include the RISD Award of Excellence, SITINGS Installation Commission, the Stein Experiential Art Prize, SXSW Web Award, and residencies/ fellowships at MacDowell Colony, Haystack, Penland, Anderson Ranch, the Kala Art Institute, and the Nebraska Art Farm. He has an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and currently lives and works in Serbia. www.christopher-robbins.com
Matey Ebe Odonkor (native of Ghana, West Africa) graduated with an MFA in Digital Media from RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN (RISD) '07, Providence. He also holds a BFA in Graphic Design from Mass Collage of Art '04, Boston, and a collegiate teaching certificate from Brown University 's Sheridan Center. He currently works for the Boston-based information analysis software company, Visual iIo. His diverse experience with both print and interactive media is complimented by his conceptual thinking and creative process.
His interest lies in the fields of Interface Design, Data Visualization, and User Experience Design. Matey has worked as art director at EMC2 and served as the lead designer on various projects. As a freelancer, he has gained a wealth of experience working with institutions and organizations such as Boston University, RISD, Brown University, Cambridge College, Mass College of Art, and EMC2. Prior to migrating to the US '00, he worked as Graphic Designer/Office Manager for the Kokrobitey Institute (an American learning institute in Ghana ). He is the recipient of various awards and scholarships including the Presidential Scholars Awards at both RISD and Massart.
John Ewing is a new media artist merging dialogic public art with activism and education. He worked with an international development agency for two years in El Salvador, using the arts to organize and inspire dialogue about human rights. His work includes projects in Nicaragua, Uruguay and Cuba, as well as various cities in the U.S. He has an MFA in Digital Media from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA from Cornell University. He directs an art program for incarcerated girls in Boston, MA. John Ewing |
