Abstract
Does Nollywood video-film have a place in visual art? Could a profoundly popular visual form such as Nollywood – intensely significant to a very large number of people – be seen as video art or performance art? Rooted in itinerant theatre, celluloid cinema and television programmes, the study of Early Nollywood video-film necessitates a trans-disciplinary approach to its contra-institution visual aesthetic. Writing as an art historian, I argue that time – as a foundational social construct for all societies – is an important lens that enables seeing the socio-political entanglements video-film may have with performance or live art. Furthermore, such a view destabilizes the distinction between art and popular culture in African contexts since it implies divergent conceptions of labour/leisure time in Afro-urban cultural practice, as opposed to cultural consumption. Focussing on its representation and uses of time, I propose that Early Nollywood video-film could be seen as a collective, performative creative practice.
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