***
Koko’TEN. Get
into the flow. Take a walk. Feel the atmosphere; use your head and eyes. Read
the signs, the streets and the people. What is that we need over here? What can
we do about it? Then go back to your studio, sit down again and start painting.
Lushoto. A
small Tanzanian city located in the middle of the Usambara Mountains right next
to the border of Kenya. You can’t see the city from the ground. We are hidden
in the mountains between the earth and the sky. There’s only one way to get in and
only one way to return.
Koko’TEN
was founded in 2011 by a well-known Tanzanian artist Gadi Ramadhani. The basic
idea behind the Koko’TEN is to gather artists from all over together and
support young people to start thinking via artistic point of view. The target
is set to improve not only Tanzanian art scene but the whole East African cultural
life.
Lushoto
itself is a small mountain town where lives approximately 30000 people. It’s
basically one of the main tourist places as it is located on the way from
Zanzibar to Kilimanjaro. The nature, mountains and viewpoints makes this city
as interesting and fascinating as it is.
The local
population is a combine of all kinds of Tanzanians living in the same area. Old
people wearing traditional East African “kanga” clothes as in the same view of
the street there are young people wearing skinny jeans and carrying their Beats
By Dr. Dres.
The
inspiring combine of modern life style and traditional African habits made
Ramadhani to start playing his game in this field. Getting the art, print
making, music, movies and everything outside of the Dar Es Salaam.
And even it
is a David fighting against Goljat, Koko’TEN is ready to take involve with this
battle. Actually it has been ready for a while and will be ready for long time.
Petrus
Koskimies
