Echoes from the Classifieds
Exhibition Type: Collaborative Public Installation, Pop-Up Cinema Takeover & Media Archeology Lab
Venue: Aftersun Cinema & Cafe, Kampala, Uganda
Dates: May 1st – May 31st, 2026
Project Context: A site-specific partnership hosted during Aftersun’s monthly cinema openings
Project Lineage: Started from the Ebinyumu Ebyaffe research exhibition at the Uganda National Museum in 2023 before gaining its own independent name and standing as an autonomous entity.
Medium: Mixed-Media Archival Collages, 1970s Newspaper Cut-Outs, Vintage Cinema Posters, and Trans-Temporal Photographic Diptychs
Echoes from the Classifieds: A Page 4 Cinema Exhibition" is a dedicated research and artistic initiative focused on documenting, assembling, and reactivating the rich, disappearing histories of cinema culture in Uganda and East Africa. Curated by Jim Joel, this long-term body of work originally began as an extension of the Ebinyumu Ebyaffe research showcase at the Uganda National Museum before finding its own conceptual grounding, voice, and standing on its own under the independent moniker Page 4.
The project draws its title and inspiration from Page 4 of The Uganda Argus newspaper classifieds from the 1960s and 1970s—the exact page where the daily film schedules and movie house showtimes were historically published for the public. From May 1st to May 31st, 2026, the project moved into a creative public setting, staging a month-long pop-up exhibition in collaboration with the Aftersun Cinema & Cafe during their recurring monthly cinema openings.
The Geometry of the Collage
Bypassing traditional corporate galleries, the installation utilized walking as a methodology to trace the afterlives of Kampala's entertainment structures, framing the modern pavement as a living archive. The centerpieces of the Aftersun showcase were large-scale, complex mixed-media collages detailing three defunct cinemas along Kampala Road: the Odeon, Delite Cinema, and Norman Cinema.
The formatting of these collages seamlessly fused historical and contemporary urban realities:
The Trans-Temporal Juxtaposition: Contemporary photos of the three defunct theater exteriors were layered directly with mid-century archival images of the same geographical positions.
The Classifieds Overlay: The photographic diptychs were placed beneath their original 1970s film titles, cut straight from The Uganda Argus archive rows.
The Film Grid: These architectural surveys were mixed with vintage movie posters of the exact films that were screening in Kampala during that specific month in the 1970s.
Featured Artworks
By hanging these rich visual collages alongside Aftersun’s active, modern film schedules, the exhibition gave contemporary moviegoers a direct glimpse into what cinema, film culture, and social architecture looked like in the 1970s. Through this blend of physical archival research, public installation, and digital storytelling, Echoes from the Classifieds activates the city, reframing Kampala not as a static built landscape, but as an evolving space of memory, transformation, and shared collective experience.
Installation views
