‘The End of Black Mamba’, a video by Cyrus Kabiru, will be shown at Beaufort 2015 in Belgium.
This recently by Han Nefkens for his Han Nefkens H+F Collection acquired video is the first in a series of short documentaries about the decline in usage of the fixed speed bicycle in Kenya.
Cyrus Kabiru (1984, Nairobi, Kenya) estimates that in the 1980s and 1990s 80% of the Kenyan population used the iconic bicycles – almost every household had a ‘Black Mamba’. In 2014/2015 that number has dropped to below 30% as people replace their bicycles with scooters and Chinese manufactured motorbikes. In memory of these bicycles, Kabiru began a project recycling discarded and outdated bicycles and transforming them into unique sculptural assemblages.
Filmed on a flower farm near Mount Kenya, Kabiru speaks to cyclists who still use this traditional mode of transportation. This generation praises the ‘Black Mamba’ for its reliability and health benefits, claiming that the bicycle’s replacements, scooters and Chinese motorbikes, bring sickness and death.
In this film, Cyrus Kabiru consciously takes on the role of the antagonist, taking the position that the ‘Black Mamba’ will indeed be replaced and cease to be seen on Kenyan roads.
On invitation of the Han Nefkens Foundation Cyrus Kabiru will be artist in residence in Barcelona in 2016!
The fifth edition of Beaufort, entitled
Beyond Borders, will take place from 21.06.2015 until 21.09.2015, one of the curators is Hilde Teerlinck, also president of the Han Nefkens Foundation.
Links:
Biography Cyrus Kabiru
Beaufort 2015