Système de Grands-Frères is 9’36’’ audio visual material by Annette Schemmel, about systems of transmission and making of art, spaces of learning and making, and about her book on ways to become a visual artist in Cameroon.
In 2016, Annette Schemmel published a book Visual Arts in Cameroon, a Genealogy of Non-formal Training 1976-2014, a case study of the major actors, discourses and paradigm that shaped the history of visual arts in Cameroon during the second part of the 20th century. Her book meticulously reconstructs the multiple ways of artistic knowledge acquisition – from the consolidation of the Système de Grands Frères in the 1970s to the emergence of more discursively oriented small artists’ initiatives which responded to the growing NGO market of social practice art opportunities in the 2000s. Based on archival research, participant observation and in depth interviews with art practitioners in Douala and Yaoundé, this study is a must read for everyone who wants to better understand the vibrant artistic scenes in countries like Cameroon, which until today lack a proper state-funded infrastructure in the arts. In this video, Annette explains the Système de Grand-Frères.
The video Système de Grands-Frères by Annette Schemmel is part of My learning is affected by the condition of my life, a symposium spread over time by Aude Christel Mgba, which is an experiment of various forms of learning, listening, touching, transmitting and producing knowledge.
