The SUD Salon Urbain de Douala (meaning South - Urban Festival of Douala) is a triennial

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

and

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

organised in

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. It was home to Central Africa's largest port, now being replaced by Kribi port. It has the country ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. The festival had its first edition in 2007 and it is promoted by the art centre and cultural organisation doual'art.

History

The SUD Salon Urbain de Douala was announced during the ''Ars&Urbis International Symposium'' organised in

in 2005 by doual'art; the Ars&Urbis focussed on the relationship between art and urban transformations and it was created as a preparatory research gathering for the SUD. At the end of 2005 is established in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

the iStrike Foundation (officially registered in 2006), which will contribute to the start-up of the SUD and its first edition as a European office of doual'art. doual'art and iStrike Foundation organize together in 2007 the ''Ars&Urbis International Workshop'', an event to produce and collect documentation about

and its cultural scene, which will be published in the book ''Douala in Translation. A View of the City and its Creative Transformative Potentials''. The first edition of the SUD Salon Urbain de Douala takes place as planned in December 2007 with the support among others of Arts Collaboratory, Mondriaan Foundation and the Prince Claus Fund. In 2008 the theme of ''water'' is chosen for the SUD Salon Urbain de Douala 2010. Meanwhile, a series of projects are developed within the frame of ''Liquid Projects''. In 2009 takes place the ''Ars&Urbis Curatorial Meeting'', at the end of which

Simon Njami Simon Njami (born 1962 in Lausanne) is a writer and an independent curator, lecturer, art critic and essayist. Career Writing Njami published his first novel, ''Cercueil et Cie'', in 1985, followed by ''Les Enfants de la Cité'' in 1987, and '' ...

is announced as new artistic director of the SUD 2010. In December 2010 the second edition of the SUD Salon Urbain de Douala took place in

Organisation

The SUD Salon Urbain de Douala is structured into a triennial programme which produced site-specific ephemeral and permanent artworks located in different districts and neighborhoods of the city of

. The programme involves all the activities of doual'art and it includes a programme of

artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...

, exhibitions, the recurrent event ''Ars&Urbis'', a meeting and think tank around the relationship between art and urban transformations and of course the triennial festival meant to give visibility to the public art produced and involve a wider public.

Ars&Urbis

* ''Ars&Urbis International Symposium'', organised in 2005. The symposium is the first gathering devoted to research and critical thinking around the relationship between art and urban transformations. It involves Remy Bazenguissa-Ganga, Hervé Béchy, Odile Blin, Danièle Diwouta-Kotto,

N'Goné Fall N'Goné Fall is a Senegalese curator, editor, and cultural policies consultant. Early life and education N'Goné Fall was born in 1967 in Dakar Senegal where she grew up. She graduated with honors from the École Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris ...

, Goddy Leye, Dominique Malaquais, Philippe Mouillon, Alphaeus Mvula, Joseph Owona Ntsama, Iolanda Pensa, Oumar Sall, Abdoumaliq Simone, Béatrice Simonet, Mamadou Jean-Charles Tall, Nigel Tapela, William Wells, Sue Williamson and Águida Zanol. * * ''Ars&Urbis International Workshop'', organized in 2007. The workshop focuses on producing and collecting documentation and interpretations of the city of

. It involves artists, intellectuals, journalists and researchers: Vincent Assiga, Lucia Babina, Edgar Cleijne, Sandrine Dole, Dodji Efoui, Jacques Epangue, Emiliano Gandolfi, Christian Hanusseck, AchilleKà, Abdellah Karroum, Aser Kash, Joë Kessy, Koko Komégné, Goddy Leye, Salifou Lindou, Lionel Manga, Aretha Louise Mbango, Same Mbongo, Alioum Moussa, Zayd Minty, Cheuping Njoya, Giulia Paoletti, Iolanda Pensa, Joseph Francis Sumégné, Kamiel Verschuren, Alexander Vollebregt, Jules Wokam, Hervé Yamguen and Hervé Youmbi. * * ''Ars&Urbis Curatorial Meeting'', organized in 2009. The meeting is structured in a series of conferences, discussions and visits to the different neighborhoods of the city of

. It involves Martin Barlow, Adeline Chapelle, Marilyn Douala Bell, Michèle Ebongue, Martin Fouda, Eungie Joo, Kinsey Katchka, Mauro Alessandro Lugaresi, Lionel Manga, Benoît Mangin, Danièle Moudeke,

, Iolanda Pensa, Olivier Priso, Jérôme Sans, Didier Schaub, Paulin Tchuenbou and Jean Yango. * * ''Ars&Urbis Meeting'', organized in 2011

SUD2007 - Salon Urbain de Douala, first edition 2007

The first edition of the SUD Salon Urbain de Douala took place in Douala between 9 and 16 December 2007, and it is promoted by doual'art in collaboration with the iStrike Foundation. The festival produces performances, installations and permanent artworks. The performances are * ''Bend Skins'' by Philippe Mouillon and Lionel Manga * ''Le Zebu de Douala'' di Lucas Grandin * ''Fantasia Urbaine'' by Pascale Marthine Tayou * ''Ring'' by Collectif Autodafé The public art temporary installations are * ''Black Bodies Swinging'' by Michèle Magema * ''Les Néons d'Amour'' by Hervé Yamguen * ''Les 9 notables'' by Joseph Francis Sumégné The permanent public art produced are * ''L'Arbre à Palabres'' by Frédéric Keiff * ''Sud-Obélisk'' by Faouzi Laatiris * ''Paï'' by Baby Kouo Eyango * ''La Nouvelle Liberté'' (completamento dell'opera) di Joseph Francis Sumégné * '' Nje Mo Ye'' by Koko Komégné

Conferences and Documentation

The documentation of the event is prepared during the ''Ars&Urbis International Workshop'' and it is published in the book ''Douala in Translation'' presented at the opening of the festival. The first edition of the SUD 2007 is presented in the website of the Sawa people in an interview to Marilyn Douala Bell.

SUD2010 - Salon Urbain de Douala, second edition 2010

The second edition of the SUD Salon Urbain de Douala took place in Douala between 4 and 11 December 2010, and was sponsored by doual'art in collaboration with ICU art projects. The festival produced performances, installations and permanent artworks.

SUD2013 - Salon Urbain de Douala, 3rd edition 2013

The 3rd edition from 3 to 10 December 2013, SUD2013, entitled "Douala metamorphoses", encouraged artists to transform the collective space, to work on the physical evolution of the common shared city sites and to liberate and create poles of encounters.

SUD2017 - Salon Urbain de Douala, 4th edition 2017

The theme of the 4th edition of the SUD2017 is "The human dimension" and will take place from 5 to 10 December 2017. In a context of strong dehumanization and disempowerment of youth and adults, doual'art hopes by this 4th edition to mark the city with artworks which interpret the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights and to start a dialog that helps to share ideas on a better way of living together.

References

External links

* {{usurped,
Website of the Festival SUD Salon Urbain de Douala
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Website of the SUD Salon Urbain de Douala 2010

All About SUD 2010
A blog by doual'art and ICU art projects.
Website of doual'art

Facebook page of doual'art
Public art in Douala Culture in Douala