International Live Art Show to be Staged in Addis

Addis will host a live art activity next week, which organizers said was the first of its kind in the African soil. Five international
and ten Ethiopian artists will paint live, giving spectators the rare opportunity of watching artists as they paint, with the sound of the stroke of their brush amplified over the public address system.

In the group of the Ethiopian artists is one of the highly exhibited painters in town, Behailu Bezabeh, and Engidaget Legesse,
Meheret Dawit, Mered Tafesse, Mathias Lulu, Dawit Abebe, Girmachew Getnet, Yoseph Lule, Workneh Bezu, and Ebtihaj
Abdella.

The artists from around the world include Elsabeth Atnafu (USA), Kenfe Michael Bethe Selassie (France), Guido Borelli
(Italy), Jimnah Kimani (Kenya).
Organizers said America�s famous artist, David Hammons will not make it to the live art show but will hold lectures in the
weeks that follow the art week.

Dubbed Giziawi # 1, the three-day art show that starts on November 6, 2002, will take place inside a huge
tent at Maskal Square. Spectators will watch as the artists paint the bodies of 12 dancers from the Adugna
Community Dance Group, who perform to the sound of jazz music fused with traditional Ethiopian music.
Ethiopian jazz composer and musician, Mulatu Astatke will lead the music inside the tent. Guido Borelli da Caluso

According to the program, at 5:00pm on Wednesday November 6, Mulatu Astatke fuses modern jazz with
the sound of traditional Ethiopian music, while the Adugna dancers improvise. At about 6:00pm the visual
artists begin painting on canvasses. On the second day, visual artists will paint all day with the sound of their
brush amplified over the public address system. On the third day visual artists continue painting, with the
Adugna dancers reappearing for the closing performance and at about 6:30pm the artists will exhibit their
works on the stage.  Jimnah Kimani

A number of other artists including the self-thought ones would perform in galleries and studios throughout
Addis in the three-day art extravaganza. 

�This live art activity is the first of its kind and we believe it will be a boost to the promotion of Ethiopia�s
contemporary artists and their works. It is different in that you see the artists actually painting for three days
listening to the strokes of their brushes,� said Mekerem Assegued of the Zoma Contemporary Art Center,
the organizer of the event.
Micael Bethe Selassie