Dr. Eric Appau Asante, a lecturer at the Department of General Art Studies, has participated in this year’s Conference and Research Travel to Germany. The invitation to attend this conference on the teaching of History was extended to him by Mrs. Hannimari, a visual artist in Hamburg, whose first contact with the Department Of General Art Studies,KNUST, was through her participation in the Kumasi Symposium organised by the Department in collaboration with Africa Community of Art Educators in July-August 2009.
The conference was opened at the University of Hamburg where other lectures were held. There was a guided tour of the Neuengamme NS Concentration Camp Memorial where lectures on historical learning on memorials were held. At the Academy of Mission (Rupertistrasse 67) lectures on historical learning in diverse societies were held. At Wandsbeker Markstrasse, the participant, Dr. Asante, assisted Hannimari Jokinen in a performative guided tour dubbed Wandbek World White Revisited on the central European slave trader, Heinrich Carl Schimmelmann.This slave trader has a historical link with Ghana because,at a point, he owned the Christiansborg Castle which today is the Osu Castle. He has been showcased in the National Museum in Accra.
Of the nine African participants at the conference, Dr. Asante was one of the privileged two who had the opportunity to moderate a section of the conference proceedings. The section he moderated was themed “The Transatlantic Slave Trade: A Forgotten Topic?” Dr. Asante, an art historian, presented a paper on slavery in Ghana which focused on “the last bath at Assin Manso”, the last resting place for slaves before shipment from the Cape Coast Castle.
Dr Asante also had the opportunity to meet with Claus Mewes, Director of Kunsthaus (Art House), Hamburg, and Prof. Dorothea Wenzal, Dean, Faculty of Design, Media and Information and Nir Alon, International Programmes Coordinator (Hamburg University of Applied Science). The meeting discussed the possibilities for collaboration and exchange between KNUST on one hand and Kunsthaus and the Faculty of Design, Hamburg University of Applied Science on the other hand, starting as early as 2013. Claus Mewes suggested a project that will involve art students and professional artists in Kumasi and /or Accra and Hamburg in 2014.
The focus of the project would be art works on urban spaces and community works-in-progress. The design students from Hamburg would also have the opportunity to see old art and craft works in the villages around Kumasi to enrich their artistic knowledge.The possibility of KNUST students working in urban space in Hamburg, for example, on themes such as colonial vestiges was also discussed.
A small delegation from Hamburg is expected to visit Kumasi in February, 2013, to commence the possible signing of an MoU with KNUST and also get to know more about Ghana and especially plan for the exchange and exhibitions in Kumasi and Hamburg.
The Kunsthaus honoured Dr. Asante with a special memorial edition of the "Skin" exhibition catalogue on scrap sculptures.
