this is the notes by Katya Egorushkina, who took it at the last preparation zoom meeting.
Context
Mutual aid practices in Kenya: people make commitments for certain things they could do for each other for free, then swap with others (farming labour, tailoring, cleaning, looking after children, etc). In some cases these meetings happen on a weekly basis, people exchange mutual aid gift cards.
These systems operate all over Kenya: in cities, refugee camps, rural communities etc. They are what David Graeber called ‘everyday communism’. These networks can start connecting with each other. Will has been doing this across Kenya for several years.
Nairobi is very international, the UN is moving there, Kibera makes up 6% of the territory of Nairobi and is a home for 1 mln ppl. Kibera is the largest slum in Africa.
Kibera Arts parade is held annually in the Kibera Arts district and will become a carnival in October 2026. Kibera Arts District offers enormous production space with 37 artist studios and workshops that are equipped to support art practice in a variety of disciplines (incl. textiles, sculpture, metalwork, glassblowing). We have 60 sewing machines in Kibera. We produce for fashion designers.
Production costs in Kibera are much lower. Some works can be sent digitally. Bridge from Kibera to the rest of the world. There’s already a lot of exchange going on between the UK and Kenya. There’s a gallery space and accommodation for resident artists. Recently we had 5 resident artists working with textiles with support from 15 local artists. Many young artists didn’t know how to sew.
Nobody was paid. No money exchange, no payment for models or performers. Even the soundsystem was bartered. It was a great experience, lots of collaborations. Residencies are available for the entire east african arts community. Also for international artists. It’s not an NGO, it’s a movement. People can come on a very low budget. Lots of backpackers. We’ve worked on it for 15 years. There’s also a market where artists and makers can sell their artworks. Lots of Kenyan buyers, plus international travellers. Young art collectors. Often they use a kind of barter system. Artists trade artworks with each other. Sales for money also happen, but they are not enough to support Kibera art district, so it has to rely on alternative systems of exchange. Artists in Kibera often don’t have funds to complete their work. Kibera lends them money in exchange for some of their artworks.
David Graeber Institute has an experience of art exchange with apt art exhibitions (e.g. ‘Make Carnival not War’).
In St Vincent, people take loans before the carnival and pay them back after the carnival. There’s a prize giving too. Example of similar initiatives in Detroit: in the early 2000 there was a group of artists who formed The Detroit Unreal estate agency to document all forms of organic alternative economies that emerged during the decline of Detroit.
Usually there’s very little transfer of knowledge between these experiences and other communities, so they decided to document it.
There is a book by Andrew Hursher ‘The Detroit Unreal estate guide’ describing Detroit’s experience. Lots of ideas there.
Marcus Lyon also created a human atlas of Detroit, not linked but interesting when you consider place and time Ideas and questions to think about We want to make the Kenyan system of exchange international.
How can we bring together our international group of artists and Kibera’s creative production space?
We could produce things in Kibera during this coming year and exhibit them during the carnival in October. We have a lot of ideas about the things that can be produced in Kibera (e.g., DGI has a collection of flags that can be printed in Kibera, Nika wants to make 100 dresses for the Carnival), but how can it be funded? Will it be possible to rent some of Kibera’s working spaces to produce things?
We could put an open call for people who want to produce something for the carnival, and try to combine it with Kibera’s production facilities.
The group in Kenya will decide if they can produce. Maybe we could make two wish lists: 1 – our ideas / 2 – facilities and costs of production in Kibera.
Maybe we could put together a fund for creatives in Kibera (Carnival can be a starting point). A kind of credit union based around Carnival. Seed funding to start with. What are the resources from the international side?
We could also create a digital marketplace that can have money as well as products and services. The money can be used to give loans to artists with artworks as collateral. Can we have a prize giving in Kibera? Maybe we could put aside a fund for the prize. We need to make a budget for the Carnival Maybe we could publish a book on Kibera Art District.
