JUNIOR WANTS A NEW PHONE
Hosted by Daudi Karungi
01. 08. 2025
Daudi Karungi (b. 1979, Kampala, Uganda) is a pioneering figure in contemporary African art, known for his visionary leadership and deep commitment to building sustainable art ecosystems on the African continent. He is the founder and director of Afriart Gallery, established in 2002 in Kampala, which has grown into one of Africa’s leading contemporary art galleries. Under his direction, Afriart represents a generation of artists whose practices are shaping global conversations around contemporary art, and regularly exhibits at major international fairs including Art Basel Miami Beach, Art X Lagos, and LISTE.
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Karungi is instrumental in cultivating a critical and supportive infrastructure for artists living and working in Africa. He co-founded Kampala Arts Trust (KART), an organization dedicated to transforming art into an integral part of Ugandan society through education, exhibitions, and long-term institutional development. He is also the founding director of the Kampala Art Biennale, a major international platform for African artists, which has become a space for mentorship, experimentation, and global visibility since its inception in 2014.
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Beyond his work as a gallerist and cultural strategist, Daudi is an active collector, arts educator, and advocate for African-led narratives in the art world. He currently serves on the board of the Contemporary Art Society of Uganda (CASU), a group of committed Ugandan art collectors dedicated to supporting artistic excellence and growing the local art market.
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Karungi’s insights on cultural leadership have been shared at global forums such as Talking Galleries (New York Edition), and his work has been featured in major publications including The New York Times and The Art Newspaper. He trained at the Margaret Trowel School of Industrial and Fine Arts at Makerere University and was a practicing artist for over a decade (2002–2016), a foundation that continues to inform his curatorial clarity and long-term vision.
" When Immy and Sandra invited me to host Kitchen @ the Granary, I said yes without hesitation. It felt like the right moment to pause and gather — to reflect, to question, and to surface the currents running beneath our work and lives. The space we’re creating together is informal but intentional: a conversation not about outcomes, but about where we are, how we got here, and what we’re carrying forward.
The title of the gathering — “Junior Wants a New Phone” — emerged from a metaphor shared in an earlier discussion. Imagine a family still struggling to finish their house — no doors, no windows — and in the midst of that, their child, Junior, asks for a new phone. It seems absurd, even selfish. But when the phone is bought, it needs charging. That small need leads to a connection with neighbors, introduces the idea of solar power, and eventually transforms how the household functions.
What started as a trivial desire becomes a pathway to infrastructure, knowledge, and lasting change. It reminded us that transformation often begins in unexpected ways. That story became a lens through which we began to think about art, aspiration, and change — and the layers of misunderstanding, resistance, and possibility that come with it.
Kitchen @ the Granary is not a lecture, and it’s not a panel. It’s a space for minds — artists, thinkers, builders — who care deeply about the future, and are willing to ask the harder questions. Questions about where we are, how we work, and what kind of world we’re making — or neglecting to make.
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If we can begin to understand the predicament we’re in, we may begin to imagine what lies beyond it. And just like Junior’s phone, a seemingly small or misplaced desire might become the spark for something far greater".