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Bio

Ayo is a Ugandan-born, Rotterdam-based visual artist interested in enlivening unofficial and official archival materials.  She enjoys studying oral records, intangible forms of cultural heritage, and craft practices, among other sources, to build plural worlds favourably presented as multi-media constellations encompassing sculpture, film, and performance.

Residency

2024: Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, NL

2022: Amant Foundation, New York, U.S.A  

2021: Triangle-Asterides, Marseilles, France

Education

2018-2020: MA Fine Art (Cum Laude)  Piet Zwart Institute, Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2016-2017: BA Fine Art (Honour's Program) Propedeuse, ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Arnhem, The Netherlands

2008-2012: BBA, International School of Business & École Supérieure de Commerce, Montpellier, France 

Selected Exhibitions & * Film Screening

Present -2026

  •  Collection research & commission, Textile Museum, Tilburg, NL

2024​​

2023​​​

  • Unbalanced Power relations (Ladderkast Project) curated by Mirjam Westen, Galerie Phoebus, Rotterdam, NL

  • That which chases away sorrow, two-person presentation with Kitty Maria, Singular Art Gallery, Art Rotterdam, NL 

  • Prospects, Art Rotterdam, NL 

  • When things are beings, Municipal Art Acquisitions, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL

2022

  • *An Invitation for liveness, For Your Reference, Amant, New York, U.S.A

  • When things are beings, Municipal Art Acquisitions, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL 

  • A Door Ajar, Singing, Shimmer, Rotterdam, NL  

  • Singing off KeySingular Art Gallery, Nijmegen (Solo) 

  • Unfair22 Amsterdam, NL  (Solo

  • Heks, Artphy, Groningen, NL

  • *Rencontres Internationales Paris, FR & Berlin, GR

2021

  • *25th Afrika Film festival, Leuven, BE 

  • Ateliers Portes Ouvertes, Triangle-Asterides, Marseilles, FR

  • Material Context, Het Archief, Rotterdam, NL, curated by Nathalie Haartjes & Danny Giles.

  • *Tent Online Cinema, Tent Rotterdam, NL

  • On Display, Print& Play Group Exhibition, curated by Marieke van den Belt & Thieu Custers

  • *Possessed, European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, GR

  • Unbound Anthologies, a two-person exhibition with Katrina Niebergal, Available and the Rat, Rotterdam

2020​

  • *A house of Many Parts, curated by Lucas Morin, Goethe Institute, Bangkok, Thailand

  • Modern Day Griots and Tapped Train Conversations, a two-person exhibition with Kateřina Gabriel Konarovská), Expoplu Experiment, Curated by Fenne Saedt, Post, NL

  •  Daybed, Weelde, curated by KONTRA Rotterdam, NL

  • * We are Living Monuments, 66th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, GR 

Grants + Awards

2023

  • Mondriaan Project Grant

2022

  • Amarte Fonds

2021

  • Guido Huysmans Young African Film Maker Award (Nominee)

  • Mondriaan Stipend for Emerging Artists (Werkbijdrage Jong Talent) 

2020​

  • Willem De Kooning Master Research Award 

  • Putsebocht Award

  • African Culture Fund

2019​

  • Stichting Vivace project grant

2018

  • KLA Public Art Commission

2016 - 2017

  • ArtEZ Academic Merit scholarship 

Conversations

2023

2021

2019​

2018

  • Legacy: An Artist and literary Panel discussion organized byWritivism in collaboration with KLA ART, the Square, Kampala.

Bibliography

2022

2021​​

  • Material Context review, Metropolis Mag

  • Don't touch, Artist publication

2020

  • Mister Motley

  • Melkweg Expo

  • Frames of Loss and Memory, An Interview with Christine Ayo. Art for social justice, Tijschrijft Kunstlicht

2019

  • Speaking with Others - An Interview with Pussy Riot, APRIA digital publication, ArtEZ.

  • Twaalf Vrouwen Een Stem, Gelderlander 

  • Alle Vrouwen Een Stem, Nieuwe Veluwe  

  • Trendbeheer

2018

  • Voicing Entebbe Artbook 

  • Art Monthly UK, November issue   

  • Studium Generale ArtEZ podcast contributor about diversity in art practices and institutions.     

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