THIS year’s Danish-Ghanaian Art Festival has been held at the Museum of Science and Technology from Friday, November 15-17.
Over 10 artists from Ghana and Denmark, exhibited their works at the three-day event dubbed the “Dialogue 2019”, which was organised by the Danish-Ghanaian Art Centre and the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board in collaboration with the Art 2 Change, a Denmark based organisation.
Initiated in 1993 by Hans Kjaer and Prof Ackam, the Danish-Ghanaian Art Festival is made up of exhibitions, conferences, workshops and reunion sessions.
The event thus brought the artists of the two countries together share ideas and discuss some of the pertinent challenges they faced.
Some of the art works displayed included the “water bags art installation” by Hans Kjaer, Henriette Lorentz and Vivian Rose (all from Denmark) and “Vikings Ackamism Drum Beat Series” by Prof Ackam.
In a brief remark to officially open the festival, the Principal Curator and Head of the Museum of Science and Technology, Mr Mahmud Malik Saako, said contrary to the perception that art was a hobby, it was a good source of employment and income generation and urged, particularly, institutions to change that perception through the orientation they give to students.
Mr Saako said more people, especially the youth needed to be encouraged to go into art because it was lucrative with a potential to create employment for many people.
“When we make art in the secondary schools look like a business and not a just a talent or hobby, many of the youth will be encouraged to do it”, he said.
Mr Cryril Senyo Kpodo, a senior lecturer at the Department of Art Education at the University of Education, Winneba, called for more exhibitions and also encouraged artists to come up with commercial and industrial art works as it would fetch them more income.
On his part, Professor Richmond Teye Ackam, Executive Director of the Danish-Ghanaian Art Centre, also expressed concern about the growing phenomenon of artists using plastic waste to create artworks as a way of reducing the waste menace in the country, saying the practice is rather making the problem even worse.
Prof Ackam said artists ought to rather focus more on what he called “public arts” by using their works to sensitise the general public and also create awareness on the ills of society which included the plastic waste canker and “not use a problem to create another problem”.
