In addition to Hermine Ritter (see below), another visual artist was part of the Windhund group in East Africa: Robert Zielasko, husband of Melissa Coleman and father of Zoe, is a renowned Austrian painter who gave a highly popular art workshop in Zanzibar.

The workshop took place at Hassan Kadudu’s studio, a gallery of art at Stone Town’s Old Fort from 5th to 8th July 2010. It was attended by young Zanzibari artists, who wanted to look beyond their horizons and find out about Robert Zielasko’s ideas of abstract art.

With the attendants being very skilled painters, some of who make their living with their works, the workshop turned out to be a vital platform for theoretical exchange. And some intriguing works were produced during the short period of time:

Unlike in Europe, where abstract art is a long established genre, the Zanzibari artists didn’t have much experience in experimenting with non-figurative styles and techniques. Robert Zielasko, who has decades of experience as an artist, presented the participants of the workshop with a whole new range of possibilities. You get an idea of the issues that were discussed and the questions that came up when listening to the brief introduction to abstraction, that Robert gave at the beginning of the workshop.

Robert Zielasko – workshop (mp3, 2′40”)