Silent Ruptures: Emergent Art of the Kumasi College of Art
kąrî'kạchä seid’ou, George Ampratwum, Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu, Robin Riskin

Introduction
The Fine Art Department of KNUST, had been in the doldrums until the recent visibility of its alumni on the world stage of contemporary art. Material and documentary evidence of the past discrepancy is borne out by the hegemony of touristy paintings and sculptures in the Department’s heritage, consensual accounts of contemporary commentators, and the persistence of epi-colonial curricula anachronistic to real-time ambitions of 20th century art. Nevertheless, the past decade has seen a silent revolution and transformation of the curriculum. The new curriculum introduced an ethos of contemporaneity, material and political sensitivity and reflective public engagement. This change was instigated by an Artist Collective of young tutors inspired by the artist kąrî'kạchä seid’ou’s “Emancipatory Art Teaching” project. Why did it take long for such changes? Tracing histories of the Department and its colonial and post-colonial formation, the authors link these happenings to wider phenomena in contemporary art practice and intellectual histories.

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