In Paris, Strasbourg, Ouidah, Mainz, Saint-Denis, Aude, Biarritz, Nairobi, Berlin, Los Angeles, Lyon, Hamburg, Brussels, Omaha, Lens en Valais, Geneva…, in theaters or outdoors, here are 22 an event of Afro or African culture not to be missed this month of January. Do not hesitate to send us your next “unmissable” cultural events to [email protected].
From January 6 to February 24, the painter Alioune Diagneselected to represent the Senegalese pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale, unveils at the Templon gallery in Paris a selection of six paintings on the theme of illegal migration at sea. Seede (“The testimony” in Wolof) artistically recreates the life stories of Senegalese fishermen confronted with growing foreign industrialization around the fishing trade.
From January 6 to February 25, the 193 Gallery in Paris dedicates two exhibitions to African artists: The memory of the world by the Burkinabe artist Hyacinthe Ouattara presents the existential vertigo apprehended through indigo paint and fabric sculptures. Ordinary magic brings together artists from the Togolese scene : Estelle Yomeda, Tessilim Adjayi, Kossi Assou, Yao Metsoko and Sokey Edorh pay tribute to memory embodied in ancestral know-how.
From January 9 to 13, Eva Doumbia, co-founder of the Décoloniser les Arts collective, tells the story of Afro-European youth on the ridge at the Théâtre National de Strasbourg. The iench is a dive into the life of Drissa Diarra, son of Malian parents, who finds himself in a provincial suburban town, between parental codes, social assignments, refusal to endure and thirst for justice and joy.
In Benin will take place on January 9 and 10 the Vodun Days (The days of voodoo). This first edition of the festival in the historic city of Ouidah pays tribute to the arts, culture and spirituality of Vodou.
The Congolese artist invites until February 11 to the Kunsthalle in Mainz, Germany, twelve artists from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Europe with whom he works regularly. At the heart of the initiative Unextractable : Sammy Baloji invites lies the history of mining in his hometown of Lubumbashi. At the same time, it encourages collaboration between art producers, activists and academics to bring together and interweave different types of knowledge and artistic productions. A strategy that he considers as resistance to the economic extractivism from which his country suffers.
From January 10 to 21, director Maêlle Poésy presents at the Théâtre Gérard Philippe in Saint-Denis Cosmos. Inspired by real events, the play returns to a clandestine American program called Mercury 13 in the 1960s. In the midst of the Cold War, young female airplane pilots were selected to participate in tests. Result: they demonstrate a better capacity than men to conquer space. On stage, three actresses and two artists from the circus arts, having grown up under the skies of Chile, Central Africa, Austria or Normandy, all linked by the power of their passion, embody the Mercury 13.
When the Haitian universe imbued with the mysticism and spirituality of voodoo dialogues with the African heritage that came from Benin with slavery. Titled Nou ak sa n pa wè yo (Us and the Invisibles), the exhibition at the Magnin-A gallery shows from January 13 for the first time in France the very original work of the Haitian painter Schneider Léon Hilaire. “ For him, every work of art has within it the representation of the doubts of an era. »
From January 13 to 28, the Festival Maghreb So far so close presents its 27th edition on 15 sites in Aude and the eastern Pyrenees. Among the previews: Bye bye Tiberias by Lina Soualem (France), Joint ownership by Leila Kilani (Morocco), The wild olive tree by Kamel Azouz (Algeria).
From January 19 to 27, the Fipadoc in Biarritz presents more than 140 films, 5 documentary series, 25 short films and 19 experiences. The unmissable documentary meeting affirms: “ In the geography of the festival, just like Europe, Africa stands out. For the first time, in our selection, nine films are labeled African Stories which reveal the issues of contemporary Africa. »
The Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI) presents until February 17 the first major retrospective of Chelenge Van Rampelberg, 62 years old. The career of the Kenyan artist, known as one of the country’s greatest sculptors, spans almost forty years and also includes painting, prints and engraving. The Long Way Home draws attention to Van Rampelberg’s artistic methods and to the subjects that have always preoccupied her: the concept of home, our connection to the natural world, motherhood and family, and the position and power of women in our society.
From January 19, the Senegalese visual artist Omar Victor Diop presents three distinct, yet interconnected, iconic bodies of work at Fotografiska Berlin: Allegoria, Diaspora And Liberty. “ The artist uses self-portraiture as a way to highlight black history that is often overlooked by a Eurocentric society “.
On January 23, the final list of nominations for the 2024 Oscars will be announced. So far, two African films are still among the films selected for Best Foreign Film: The Mother of All Lies of the Moroccan Asmae El Moudir And Olfa’s daughters of Kaouther Ben Hania.
From January 24 to 28, the Arlequin cinema in Paris welcomes the films of the International Competition of the 45th edition of the Festival des 3 Continents de Nantes which had also programmed a multitude of new african films : Gold of life from Boubacar Sangaré (Burkina Faso/Benin), The mother of all lies by Asmae El Moudir (Morocco), Al Djanat, Original Paradise by Chloé Aïcha Boro (France/Burkina Faso/Benin/Germany), All the colors of the world are between Black and White by Babatunde Apalowo (Nigeria)…
From January 25, the Carrefour des Cultures Africaines in Lyon is offering the exhibition Treasures from Elsewhere. On the occasion of its new Sarraounia space, the place welcomes for the first time a visual artist in creative residency, the Togolese Ake O’lokan. His photographs, writings, documentaries and sculptures form a story of memory traces and times-spaces of escape.
Until March 2, the Melbye-Konan gallery in Hamburg, Germany, presents works by the young Ivorian artist Yannick Ackah. Spiritual Symphony is announced as “ an expressive symphony of colors, emotions and an exploration of one’s own origins “.
From January 26 to February 9, Christie’s presents an exhibition and sale in Paris around the Arab and North African artistic scene. “Visible spectra traces the richness of artistic creation in this region »: Ahmed Cherkaoui, Mohamed Melehi, Hatem El Mekki, Abdullah Benanteur, Nidhal Chamekh, M’barek Bouhchichi, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Malika Agueznay and Amina Agueznay.
From January 26, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin opens an exhibition dedicated to Josephine Baker (1906-1975), first black woman to join the Pantheon, Moving icon. Beyond his artistic work, it is the strategies that led to his success that are at the center of the event. And the exhibition addresses Baker’s contribution to cinema for the first time.
More than 130 leading galleries from 14 countries are expected at the Brafa Art Fair in Brussels. From January 28 to February 4, the Belgian fair also welcomes galleries specializing in African art such as the Claes gallery, the Dalton Somaré gallery or the Flak gallery.
The history of textiles as a means of communication and representation is explored in the exhibition The Neo-Custodians : stories woven from heritage, cultural memory and belonging in Omaha, Nebraska. Under the direction of Nigerian curator Nneoma Ilogu, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts connects until April 14 the themes of migration, identity and environmental sustainability through works by El Anatsui, Malene Barnett, Layo Bright, Celeste Butler, Sanaa Gateja, Enam Gbewonyo, Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga, Seydou Keita, Ron Norsworthy, Nnenna Okore, Patrick Quarm, Latrelle Rostant and Yinka Shonibare.
From January 30, the Arab World Institute (IMA) is putting on display the exhibition Étienne Dinet, Algerian passions. Considered an extraordinary artist, Dinet (1861 – 1929) is one of the only orientalist painters who escaped the criticism of colonial exoticism. “ His work, powerful and sensual, testifies to his incandescent love for his adopted country Algeria, whose land, faith and cause he married. »
Until April 14, the Opale Foundation in Switzerland is celebrating its fifth anniversary with the participatory exhibition High Five ! The foundation, located in Lens in Valais, challenged 26 personalities from the world of Swiss culture to choose a work of contemporary Aboriginal art from its collections, by proposing a “mirror work”. Among the artists selected for this innovative initiative is the Swiss-Guinean photographer Namsa Leuba, renowned for her questions about the representation of African identity.
Under the title Scarificationsthe Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva is bringing masks, statues and vessels from various African cultures from its collection into dialogue with paintings, drawings and ceramics by the Spanish artist Miquel Barceló until April 21 and promises “ a myriad of visual experiences » : « The “skins” of a Senufo anthropomorphic statuette, a Baule mask, a pendant face from the kingdom of Benin, among others, bear witness to the same operation. »