Panya Routes is about the working principles that independent art spaces in five different cities in Africa have in common, and its title refers to do-it-yourself communal pathways or get-arounds.

“Forging such routes involves a radically different way of thinking about sustainability: it is not about perpetuating given conditions but rather instituting tomorrow’s desired world, today. A collective ethos, collaborative models, and solidarity networks are at the heart of these working principles. They have world-building implications: by practising strategies of refusal and re-imagination, these so-called offspaces are not only thinking about things as they are but as they could be,” Gurney says.

Five independent spaces participated in her research: GoDown Art Centre (Nairobi), ANO Institute (Accra), Townhouse Gallery (Cairo), Zoma Museum (Addis Ababa), and Nafasi Art Space (Dar es Salaam).

Gurney recently presented her findings at the Arts Research Africa conference and her paper, “Epistemic Disobedience: Institution-Building as Artistic Practice”, can be accessed below.

Other Arts Research Africa 2022 conference presentations available here:  https://ara2022.witsevents.co.za/

More information about Panya Routes: