Advisor/tutor: Bassam El Baroni
Arnhem, August 2017

Abstract

This thesis takes Netsa Arts Village as a case study to examine the relationship between art institutions and the state in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. To do so, it will discuss what will be defined as ‘structural deficit’ in order to introduce the context for the necessity of a practice-led negotiation between informal and formal economies within Addis Ababa. Through working to understand more clearly the possible collaboration between these two institutional structures, Netsa Arts Village will be put forward as a blueprint for how to proceed with the development of future arts institutions – of the production of publics – in light of the limitations of state-led bureaucratization of the arts within Ethiopia.