For ten years now, 1-54 has been the leading art fair dedicated to promoting the artistic and intellectual effervescence emerging from the African continent and its diaspora. After a very successful edition in New York last May, it is in the heart of London’s Somerset House, the emblematic place that saw the fair’s birth and growth, that 1-54 will celebrate its tenth anniversary from October 13 to 16. To highlight these ten years of the impetus for contemporary African art, a bet initially ambitious but quickly won for the founder Touria El Glaoui, she made sure to orchestrate an exceptional edition for this fair that has not ceased to thrill the art market since its debut in 2013. 

We are delighted to celebrate 1-54 London 10th anniversary with our flagship edition at Somerset House, where we have shown since our inception in 2013” says Touria El Glaoui, Founding Director, 1-54. “This milestone will see a bigger fair take over more space at Somerset House with a special courtyard installation and performance by the talented artist Grada Kilomba, which I can’t wait for the UK public to experience. We are looking forward to welcoming new galleries and artists along with our loyal regulars who have been on this journey with us for the past 10 years, without whom, we would not be here. — Touria El Glaoui, founder of 1-54 African Contemporary Art Fair

Significant numbers give substance to the scope of this tenth edition: 50 specialized galleries from 21 countries, the largest number of countries represented to date, will exhibit more than 130 African and diaspora artists whose approaches are as varied as their mediums. Of the 50 galleries present, 17 are established in Africa and 14 are attending the fair for the first time.

Overview and the emergence not to be missed 

For both connoisseurs and neophytes regarding contemporary African art, the 1-54 fair remains an essential moment to add to one’s list of favorite works and artists to discover. For example, portrait enthusiasts will be delighted by the stoic and powerful subjects of Nigerian painter Collins Obijiaku or the “Black kids from the hood” portraits of African-American Auudi Dorsey, both represented by Luce Gallery. For naive art and expressionism lovers, a visit to the Unit London gallery is a must to contemplate the work of the Zimbabwean artist Option Nyahunzvi, whose works serve as a medium to probe Shoa spirituality. Or at the THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE gallery where the eye will be delighted by the rhythmic paintings of Angolan artist Cristiano Mangovo who shares with the universe of the young Malian artist Famakan Magassa of the Albertz Benda gallery a free aesthetic and a bright palette. Sculpture enthusiasts are suggested to stop by the Montoro12 Gallery booth where the surrealist sculptures of South African artist Cow Mash will be highly appreciated for their intriguing essence or those of Namibian Stephane E. Conradie who plays with the effects of entanglement of domestic objects to explore the colonial history and creolization.

Alongside renowned artists such as Ibrahim El-Salahi, a key figure in African modernism, and photographers Hassan Hajjaj and Zanele Muholi, young emerging artists are not to be missed. Working and living in London, Sola Olulode, born in 1996, offers visuals of black and queer female intimacy in tender and profound scenes of connection that can be seen at the Berntson Bhattacharjee Gallery. Let’s also highlight the work of the young Brazilian Pedro Neves exhibited by the Portas Vilaseca Galeria. His large format works are the result of his ongoing research into the historical complexities, particularly in relation to colonization, and identities that form the cultural fabric of his native country. For the 25-year-old artist, who presented his first solo exhibition Tripa earlier this year, this participation in 1-54 marks an important moment in his career.

A rich parallel programme

Alongside the exhibition, visitors to this tenth edition will definitely have something to enrich their visit with the remarkable agenda of activities organized for the occasion. 

A mandatory stop for visitors on Thursday and Friday is the Somerset House courtyard, where Grada Kilomba‘s huge installation O Barco/The Boat unfolds. At 32 meters long, the installation, composed of 140 charred wooden blocks engraved with multilingual poems, draws the shape of the lower hold of a former slave ship. The work addresses the memories of the Atlantic crossing in a singular poetry, which commemorates and lays the foundations for a common reflection on the future memorial forms of these millions of life stories marked by the transatlantic trade. While O Barco/The Boat has been on view at Somerset House since September 29, 2022, it is at 1-54 that the work will take its full form, with two dancing, singing and musical performances scheduled for October 13 and 14 respectively. No need to applaud the fair’s commitment to making this poignant work a major event in its program, a notable choice considering that the installation will come to life in the heart of a city historically charged regarding slavery. These performances will be presented for the first time to British eyes.

The fair will also feature its traditional 1-54 Forum, a fruitful platform for dialogue between audiences and African and Afro-descendant artists, art historians and curators. Curated and directed by Omar Kholeif, the discussions are expected to be powerful moments of intellectual exchange, addressing issues of concern to Africans and the Diaspora. Topics to be discussed include black visual culture, the British anti-racist art movements of the 1980s, the tensions between tradition and contemporaneity in art, everyday racism, and the notion of “Africanity” from an identity perspective.

Finally, the 1-54 will please both the eyes and the taste buds. Moroccan-born artist Hassan Hajjaj will present “Love Letter,” a tea specially created for the fair that brings together a rich selection of spices and herbs from all over Africa, from vanilla to cocoa shells from Ghana to orange blossom from Tunisia. More than just a tea, these sweet and spicy notes make this aromatic blend a true taste journey through the richness of the African continent. Also, those visiting the VIP lounge will be greeted by a multi-sensory installation, the Chop Bar, a conceptual work by chef and restaurateur Akwasi Brenya-Mensa that takes the form of traditional Ghanaian chop bars, those roadside stalls where hearty portions of banku, fufu and omo tuo are served. With plastic chairs and tables, old gas cans as stools and paper napkins, the young Ghanaian-born chef seeks to immerse his guests in a personal interpretation of the African restaurant of the future and pay homage to the women behind this rich culinary heritage.

After ten years of dedication, sharing and highlighting African and Afro-descendant artists in the spotlight of the international art world, the 1-54 fair has continued to establish itself as a leading voice for contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. It is one of the most influential and ambitious extra- and intra-African events of its kind, with four recent editions in Marrakech and one planned for February 2023. This is all the more reason to make it your destination of choice this weekend.

Artskop3437 media partner of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair

1-54 London 2022

From October 13 to 16

Somerset House, 

Strand, London WC2R 1LA,

United Kingdom

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The backs of two painted African figures, an elder man and a younger boy, can be viewed on the large tapestry-like work of Kenyan artist Kaloki Nyamai in the Kenyan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The father-and-son-like rendering captures the pair in what seems to be a session of quiet contemplation, almost meditative. In some ways that is the experience desired after arriving by foot to Fabrica 33, the site of an old carpenter’s workshop in Calle Larga dei Boteri in the Cannaregio district of Venice where the Kenyan Pavilion is located. It is situated far away from the Arsenale and Giardini—the main attractions of the 59th Venice Biennale The Milk of Dreams curated by Cecilia Alemani. This year marks the fourth time Kenya is participating at the prestigious art world event, in which Africa, a continent that has garnered great attention from the international art world over the last decade, is still very much underrepresented. 

Kenya’s first and second national pavilions at the Venice Biennale pavilion, in 2013 and 2015, caused widespread controversy when they were curated by a team of Italians and showed works by Chinese and Italian artists and only one to two Kenyan artists. The serene feeling one receives while entering into Fabrica 33 is synonymous to the solid representation of the East African nation in Venice after two disastrous showings. When Kenyan Jimmy Ogonga came on board as the curator for the country’s pavilion in 2017 and its showing this year, an exhibition representative of the nation’s art scene was finally had.

This time the East Africa nation is presenting itself in a much sleeker way and with three prominent Kenyan artists—Dickens Otieno, Wanja Kimani and Nyamai—curated by Kenyan Jimmy Ogonga. It is titled Exercises in Conversation and explores the dynamics between participants in a conversation and how such a complex relationship can affect history It was commissioned by Dr. Kiprop Lagat, Kenya’s Minister of Sport, Culture and Heritage. The works, placed around the subtle setting of the Fabrica 33, are hung on the wall like Otieno’s seemingly sparking rendition of the pandemic hazmat suit made from African textile or hung across the room like Kyambi’s textile work that also refers to her Namibian heritage. 

Despite the international art world’s fixation on African contemporary art over the past decade, African representation at the Venice Biennale has been greatly lacking, due predominantly to the dearth of funding and resources, and oftentimes also from a lack of interest from respective governments. In 2007 there was only one African pavilion, and now, this year there are nine. Gradually, there has been increased visibility in recent years, particularly in 2015 when the late Nigerian curator, art critic and educator Okwui Enwezor (1963-2019) was curator. Countries that have previously participated, such as Angola, which won the Golden Lion for best national participation in 2013 for its pavilion Luanda, Encyclopedic City, Madagascar, Mozambique and Seychelles, are not present this year. 

This year nine nations out of the 55 member States that represent all countries on the African continent showed at the Biennale—out of 80 national participants that are present at the historic Pavilions at the Giardini, in the Arsenale and throughout the city of Venice. The African nations present include Egypt, Namibia, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Ivory Coast. Out of these three participated for the first time: Namibia, Cameroon and Uganda, with the latter being awarded a “Special Mention” by the jury of the Venice Biennale. 

“The Biennale Internazionale dell’Arte di Venezia is a stage offering an opportunity for a multiplicity of artistic narratives to be presented and heard,” said Neri Torcello, founder and director of the African Art in Venice Forum (AAVF), which staged its third edition during the opening preview this year. “As the Biennale is perceived by its audience as a global platform, accessibility and representation become even more vital to promote an inclusive creative dialogue in a just society. AAVF, with its discursive, and content partnerships based format is an agile platform to allow this to happen, exactly when  the hearts of those sensitive to artistic expression are tuned in to the frequencies of the Venice Biennale.”

This year, in Cecilia Alemani’s The Milk of Dreams, the Biennale’s central exhibition occupying the Arsenale and the Giardini di Castello, 12 artists were chosen from the African continent out of the 213 artists from 58 countries that Alemani selected. These included South African Igshaan Adams, Sudanese-Danish Monira Al Qadiri, Ibrahim El-Salahi from Sudan, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami from Zimbabwe, South African Bronwyn Katz, Antoinette Lubaki from the Democratic Republic Congo, French-Egyptian Amy Nimr, Kenyan Magdalene Odundo, Ethiopian Elias Sime and Portia Zvavahera from Zimbabwe.

Standout pavilions this year included Ivory Coast, participating for the second time since its debut in 2013. It showed Dreams of a Story, a presentation of ethereal works oscillating between a surrealistic dream world and everyday life in the West African nation, with the participation of artists such as Aboudia, Armand Boua, Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Aron Demetz, Laetitia Ky and Yeanzi. Curated by Italians Massimo Scaringella and Alessandro Romanini with support from the Ministry of Culture and Arts and Entertainment Industry of Ivory Coast and the Italian Embassy of Ivory Coast, the heightened abstract mixed media canvases of Boua, with their inclusion of newspaper clippings, hang next to the abstract lightboxes of Yeanzi replete with depictions of various local icons and symbols as well as captivating profiles of unknown figures. Pulsating with movement, color, brushstrokes and lines are the abstract expressionist canvases of Aboudia , one of the nation’s most recognizable stars. His canvases document the street scenes of his hometown of Abidjan with graffiti-like renderings of daily life, people and children, and include his recurring skull, bullet and soldier motifs that point to violence and trauma—a nod to post-election conflict that took place in the capital in 2011. The works are assertive, strong and vulnerable in ways that speak to an Africa in crisis and to the fraying of the continent’s social fabric in its post-colonial years. 

Zimbabwe, by contrast, is participating for the sixth time at the Biennale. Yet its pavilion, titled i did not leave a sign?,  and featuring four artists— Kresiah Mukwazhi, Wallen Mapondera, Terrence Musekiwa and Ronald Muchatuta—features a loosely held together show that is disappointing in formal content and themes. Curated by Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa and commissioned by Raphael Chikukwa, Mukwazhi’s expansive abstract expressionist work with its vibrant hues and animated series of figures  prompts the spectator to stay for a while and ponder the rhythmic movement and figures depicted. It is the star of the show.  In other rooms, mixed media installation works, some including figurines made of pink, cream and white bras holding Kalashnikovs or large phantom like figures in another room made of dozens of old black wires, give off an unsettling and  incomplete feel. The goal of Muchemwa is to explore tales of dispersion and migration,  knowledge, science and technology, as ways to rebel against the uncertainties of organized religion.

A gem at the biennale this year was Uganda’s pavilion, making its debut in Venice, and for which it received a “Special Mention” for national participation from the Biennale’s jury. Titled Radiance – They Dream in Time, the exhibition was curated by The Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development, which officially supported the pavilion.  Juliana Naumo Kuruhiira served as the pavilion’s commissioner, with Tanzanian-born British taking up the role curator, Shaheen Merali, and features works by Kampala-based artists Acaye Kerunen and Collin Sekajugo. Tradition and contemporary culture are elegantly paired in dialogue through the two artists’ work. Sekajugo’s paintings  portray poignant subjects in rich hues in everyday and public settings, whereas Kerunen’s work resurrects local Ugandan craftsmanship and heritage in her contemporary installations made of natural and reusable materials such as swamp grown fibers and polyethene bags. Their work, when paired side by side, introduces the diversity in heritage and contemporary culture in present-day Uganda.

“Uganda has barely been represented on the international art stage,” said Sekajugo. “A country whose people I personally consider resilient and persevering, has seen so many ups and downs during its artistic revolution. From the country’s turbulent past to present day sociopolitical struggles, creative production has taken different shapes where platforms for self-expression have often been limited to a few brave practitioners. I strongly believe that this showcase will only open more doors for our creativities.” 

While Namibia’s first-ever pavilion was embroiled in scandal a week before the Biennale opened, with its main sponsor, luxury travel operator Abercrombie and Kent, and its patron Monica Cembrola pulling out because of  what they viewed as a misrepresentation of the Namibian art scene (the pavilion features the work of one artist who is making his debut in Venice and goes by the pseudonym RENN), the Egyptian pavilion, which focuses on digital art and features work by Mohamed Shoukry, Weaam El Masry, and Ahmed El Shaer, curiously remained closed during the first few days of public viewing due to technical difficulties. 

For Cameroon’s first-ever pavilion, which took place in two locations, within the loggia of the Liceo Artistico Statale Michelangelo in the Guggenheim Museum in the Dorsoduro district of Venice and at the Palazzo Ca’ Bernardo. The former presents IRL (“in real life”) art by four Cameroonian (Francis Nathan Abiamba, Angéle Etoundi Essamba, Justine Gaga, and Salifou Lindou) paired with four international artists (Shay Frisch, Umberto Mariani, Matteo Mezzadri, Jorge R. Pombo). The works, done in a variety of media, including photography, installation, painting and sound, offer an eerie portrayal of the west-central African nation. While the works of Douala-based Salifou Lindou standout for their technical precision, color and movement, in the center of the loggia is Transfiguration (2022) by Justine Gaga, a Cameroonian sculptor and video artist. Her haunting installation consists of a group of metal rods akin to totem poles with circular metal objects as heads and long patterned scarves hanging from the top. On the metal rods are written words in French such as liberalism, violence, capitalism and fiction. 

It is the pavilion’s second location at the Palazzo Ca’ Bernardo that is perplexing. It presents an NFT show, arguably the first at the Venice Biennale, organized by Global Crypto Art DAO, a new collective that raises money to support artists making the transition into the world of crypto. Featured are works by artists from over 20 countries, notably Germany, China, and the US, but not Cameroon. 

Stationed prominently within the Arsenale, one of the biennale’s most coveted venues, is the Ghana Pavilion. Its exhibition Black Star – The Museum as Freedom follows the West African nation’s acclaimed debut in 2019 and features the work of Ghanaian artists Na Chainkua Reindorf and Afroscope and Brazilian Diego Araúja who is interested in the connections between Ghana and his homeland. It has the same curator as the 2019 pavilion, Nana Oforiatta Ayim, who is also the director of ANO Institute of Arts and Knowledge in Accra and director-at-large of Ghana’s Museums and Cultural Heritage.

While underwhelming compared to the size, vision and quality of works shown at Ghana’s first presentation in Venice, what is notable is the theme and the diversity of mediums used—from works on canvas to technology and installation. The works on display support the idea of the Black Star that symbolizes Ghana through its flag and most important monument, the Black Star Gate, part of Accra’s Independence Square now known as the Black Star Square, which is topped with the Black Star of Africa—a five-pointed star that represents the continent with a particular nod to Ghana, which in 1957 was the first Sub-Saharan country to break free from colonial year when it declared independence from Great Britain. The Black Star, as the exhibition further emphasizes, also connects Africa with its diasporas through Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line and his resulting Back-to-Africa movement. The Black Star now goes beyond Ghana: it is symbolic of all people of African descent wishing to make their way home to the continent. 

“Last year we showed the superstars of the Ghanaian art scene and this time I really wanted to look at the future-builders,” said Oforiatta Ayim. “These artists for me are ones that are creating new models through language, narratives and technology. Last time we looked at the legacies of the past on the present and this one is much more looking at how we create new futures.”

While Africa might not yet have an adequate representation of the richness of its evolving art scenes through a more prominent showing of national pavilions at the Venice Biennale, an increase in the showing of artists from the continent and its diasporas at the world’s most prominent art event tell of a new chapter on the horizon for art from the continent on the international stage. Still, much work needs to done.

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Considered one of the most influential artists on the contemporary art scene, Marlene Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa. She grew up and studied fine arts during the brutal Apartheid regime. In 1976, she came to Europe for further studies and settled in Amsterdam, where she still lives and works. If in the early years of her career she was known for her collages and texts, Marlene Dumas today works mainly with oil on canvas and ink on paper. Her work largely consists of portraits, which are universal representations of suffering, ecstasy, fear, desperation, but are also often comments on the act of painting itself. A crucial aspect of her work is her use of images from which she draws inspiration, be it in newspapers, magazines, film stills, films or polaroids she herself has taken.

Of her work Dumas says: “I am an artist who uses second-hand images and first-hand emotions”. Love and death, gender and race, innocence and blame, violence and tenderness are the major questions she raises, and which combine the intimate sphere with socio-political aspects, news stories and main topics of art history. Her work is based on an awareness that the endless flow of images we see daily impacts our perception of ourselves and our ability to read the world. For her, painting is a very physical act, revolving around eroticism and its different histories. Marlene Dumas’ work focuses on the representation of human figures dealing with the most intense emotions and paradoxes: “Painting is about the trace of the human touch. It is about the skin of a surface. A painting is not a postcard.”

Palazzo Grassi presents the solo show dedicated to Marlene Dumas (1953, Cape Town, South Africa), as part of the cycle of monographic shows dedicated to major contemporary artists, launched in 2012 and alternating with thematic exhibitions of the Pinault Collection.

This outstanding exhibition is curated by Caroline Bourgeois in collaboration with Marlene Dumas. Entitled “open-end” the exhibition brings together over 100 works and focuses on her whole pictorial production, with a selection of paintings and drawings created between 1984 and today, including unseen works made in the last few years. Presented over the two floors of Palazzo Grassi, the works exhibited come from the Pinault Collection, as well as from international museums and private collections.

The exhibition catalogue will be co-edited by Palazzo Grassi – Punta della Dogana with Marsilio Editori, Venice

Marlene Dumas «open-end»

27/03/2022 < 08/01/2023

Palazzo Grassi  | Venice (Italy)

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Although a number of the photographers have worked on assignment for major publications such as the New York Times, Vogue, Vanity Fair and Time, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see their artistic and personal work in their first museum exhibition. The photographers showcased in INWARD: Reflections on Interiority use a range of manual and digital image-making tools in their individual practices — for this exhibition, they have created the photographs using iPhone. The resulting images move beyond the endless scope of the constructed selfie to examine the intimate interactions and inner thoughts that make up their daily experiences as artists in a time of Covid-19, Black Lives Matter, and the 2020 U.S. election.

“The five artists featured in INWARD provide a thought-provoking window into their interior lives,” said curator Isolde Brielmaier. “The revealing new photographs explore intimate thoughts and personal relationships with great honesty, as the artists delve deep into the new reality and challenges of our contemporary lives at a time of global introspection.”

Exhibition Overview

Smartphones have often been used to generate images of public space and events in the broader outside world. iPhone has democratized image-making, and more recently, has been widely utilized as an impactful outward-facing tool to capture the human side of this particular moment of upheaval and turmoil. In INWARD, the artists reverse the focus to document their inner lives, and in the process show the full potential of iPhone in a fine art setting.

Revealing deep self-reflection, the work of Djeneba Aduayom explores her inner thoughts and subjectivity. As an introvert, she was at ease at home, sitting still, and being quiet in the company of herself during the pandemic. This quiet confidence can be seen in her self-portraits, in which she poses for the camera and directly gazes at the viewer. These images are punctuated by smaller, more abstract “studies” of objects and the human form of the artist’s own body.

Much of Arielle Bobb-Willis’s work is born out of her experience battling depression from an early age. She manipulates color, shape, form, and light, giving way to abstract images that reference ideas of the beautiful, the strange, isolation, and belonging. Influenced by painting, her use of bright colors speaks to the artist’s desire to claim power and joy in the face of confusion, sadness, and uncertainty.

Quil Lemons presents self-portraits from his series entitled Daydreams, 2021, which document his very personal journey, a process of self-exploration and self-validation: “As a Black queer man, there is no space for me, so I constantly carve one,” he states. He confidently defines his racial and gender identity in ways that allow for the intertwined, co-existence of both. His work visually articulates both self- assurance and the ongoing vulnerability with which he contends.

The work of Brad Ogbonna is comprised of a broad series of portraits of family, friends, and himself. In the style of some of the most important historical West African portrait photographers, such as Malick Sidibé, Meissa Gaye, Seydou Keïta and others, he has created, in collaboration with his friends and family members, a series of intimate portraits that underscore family history and relationships with a strong reference to the artist’s Nigerian culture as well as his late father. “I didn’t think much about the past until my Dad died,” said Ogbonna. “Shortly thereafter I inherited his first photo album filled with photos from his youth spent in Nigeria. At the time those images felt like a portal to the not-so-distant past and left me with many more questions than answers. I was enthralled by the mystery of it all.”

Isaac West is inspired by his girlfriend Naima in his series entitled Love, 2021. He focuses on the small ways in which human interactions, gestures, and expressions both encapsulate and demonstrate larger ideas about love, intimacy, and care. Through his strikingly bold colors and stark lines and use of light, as well as the strong articulation and centering of Blackness, he highlights everyday acts of kindness— grooming, eating, playing—in order to underscore these ideas.

INWARD: Reflections on Interiority 

Sept 24 – Jan 10, 2022

International Center of Photography

79 Essex Street, New York, NY 10002

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“I am deeply honoured to be opening a new space in Lagos – my first home, the city where I was raised, and still have strong ties to and where I first fell in love with art many years ago. Following crucial dialogues with and encouragement from mentors, old friends of the gallery and our artists, I am excited to finally make happen a dream I had ten years ago when Tiwani Contemporary first opened in London.” says Maria Varnava, Founder and Director, Tiwani Contemporary.

Tiwani Contemporary, Lagos will comprise a white cube exhibition space measuring over 2000 sq ft, purpose-built for expansive presentations and commissions by artists. The gallery also plans to develop a sculpture garden. The new space will partner with local and other West African institutions and cultural organizations to develop projects and opportunities for exhibiting artists alongside public programming and educational activities to activate exhibitions including screenings, talks and workshops.

Maria Varnava adds “Given the gallery’s focus, it was vital to demonstrate our commitment to the African continent and to allow our artists the opportunity to work, engage and exhibit in this region. Beyond our roster, as we plan to mount exhibitions by internationally known artists in the new space, we hope to provide wider in-person access to art to local audiences who would have only been able to view the work of such artists either abroad in galleries and museums or in books or online. With Tiwani Contemporary, Lagos, we hope to participate in the already-sophisticated arts ecosystem being developed by our peers in Lagos and the rest of West Africa. As such, we hope we can contribute to helping to expand the story, significance and possibility of art.”

The gallery’s expansion to Lagos, its second space outside of London, UK – marks a major milestone in Tiwani Contemporary’s history as it celebrates its 10th anniversary this month onwards.

Founded in London in 2011 by Maria Varnava, Tiwani Contemporary exhibits and represents international contemporary artists, focussing on Africa and its diaspora. Since its establishment, the gallery continues to showcase new and established talent – mounting landmark and critically-acclaimed exhibitions in a series of firsts. Among renowned artists we can mention Mequitta Ahuja, Virginia Chihota, Theo Eshetu, Joy Labinjo, Gareth Nyandoro or Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum among others.

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1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, the leading international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and the African diaspora, will hold its seventh edition of the fair in New York from May 17 – 23, 2021. “The global pandemic has meant that regretfully we have had to cancel our physical edition of 1-54 in New York for the second year in a row. Although we are sad not to be returning to our usual format, we are elated that our continued partnership and relationship with Christie’s has meant that we can once again exhibit the work of artists from Africa and its diaspora online via the auction house.(…)” commented Touria El Glaoui, Founding Director of 1-54

26 galleries and more than 90 artists

1-54 New York Online will welcome 26 international galleries presenting work by leading contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora.

• 50 Golborne (London, UK); 
• AFIKARIS (Paris, France); 
• De Buck Gallery (New York, USA);
• Duane Thomas Gallery (New York, USA);
• EBONY/CURATED (Cape Town, South Africa);
• espace d’art contemporain 14N 61W (Fort-de-France, Martinique);
• Fridman Gallery (New York, USA);
• Galerie Atiss Dakar (Dakar, Senegal);
• Gallery 1957 (Accra, Ghana; London, UK);
• Hafez Gallery (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia);
• HOA Galeria (São Paulo, Brazil);
• Jack Bell Gallery (London, UK);
• Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery (London, UK; Berlin, Germany;
• Nevlunghavn, Norway); LatchKey Gallery (New York, USA);
• Loft Art Gallery (Casablanca, Morocco);
• LouiSimone Guirandou Gallery (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire);
• Luce Gallery (Turin, Italy);
• Nil Gallery (Paris,France);
• Nuweland (Oosterzee, Netherlands);
• October Gallery(London, UK);
• OOA Gallery (Barcelona, Spain);
• POLARTICS (Lagos, Nigeria);
• Retro Africa (Abuja, Nigeria);
• ROSS-SUTTON Gallery (New York, USA);
• Sulger-Buel Gallery (London, UK);

Amongst the 90+ artists whose work will be shown at the fair, over 40 artists will be exhibiting at the fair for the first time.

A renewed partnership between 1-54 fair and Christie’s

Following successful presentations in London and Paris, 1-54 continues its partnership with Christie’s to create and host an innovative platform, extending the fair’s capabilities for showcasing an extensive range of artworks by participating galleries. “This is now Christie’s third global collaboration with 1-54, and we continue to discover new synergies together in the virtual presentation of this important event. While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt business travel and physical gathering, Christie’s is delighted to offer its digital platform and convening power within the art world to help present the fair online, and to support 1-54 in its dedication to contemporary artists from Africa and the African diaspora. We also look forward to welcoming local audiences to Rockefeller Center this May to see the curated exhibition “Knotted Ties” as an in-person element of this exciting fair”  said Bonnie Brennan, President, Christie’s America.

In addition to the fair’s partnership with Christie’s online, 1-54 and Christie’s will host in the Rockefeller Center from 15 – 26 May, Knotted Ties, an exhibition featuring a curated selection of artworks drawing together the works of female artists using textiles. Knotted Ties contemplates the pluralism of the medium as well as narratives portrayed and expressed through fabric and thread. The exhibited works illustrate both the power and strength of textile work and its capacity to convey humanity’s entangled histories, challenging social landscapes, and complex realities.

These works instigate debate while also offering the idea of mediative resolve through resilience, reminding us of the importance of community nurturing and constructive dialogue as we create futures through uncertain times. “(…), we will be curating a special exhibition with our galleries which will be on show in the Lobby Gallery at Christie’s in the Rockefeller Center. We are very much looking forward to safely welcoming visitors to the show in May and are thrilled that people will be able visit the fair online from across the world.” added Touria El Glaoui. Knotted Ties is free to visit by appointment only from 15 – 26 May 2021 at Christie’s Rockefeller Plaza. Hours are Monday- Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday 1-5pm.

Finally from May 19 – June 6, works from 1-54 will be available to purchase and view on Artsy for an extended period of time following the close of the official show and providing an even larger online audience for the artwork.

The Ritzau Art Prize

This edition also marks the return of the Ritzau Art Prize, an award supporting extraordinary artists from the African continent with three-month career-enhancing residencies at ISCP in New York City. The residency award, developed by the ISCP in collaboration with 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair and supported by Tauck Ritzau Innovative Philanthropy, will afford global visibility and invaluable professional development opportunities to a chosen artist. The Ritzau Art Prize winner will be announced the week of 1-54 New York Online 2021.

The Prize will be open to late emerging to mid-career artists whose work is being exhibited at the fair, and who have expressed interest in being considered and meet the selection criteria. The selection criteria looks for excellence of work, and potential for impact on the artist and their greater community. The annually rotating jury will be comprised of distinguished contemporary African artists and specialists.

1-54 Forum

For the seventh consecutive year, 1-54 New York will be accompanied by 1-54 Forum, the fair’s acclaimed program of talks, performances and screenings that explores the work and practice of artists from Africa and its diaspora. Additional details on the Forum series and other special projects will be announced in the coming weeks.

1-54 Contemporary African Fair New York

May 17 – 23, 2021

IP Preview May 17 – 18

‘Knotted Ties’, 1-54 exhibition at Christie’s in the Rockefeller Center from 15 – 26 May

1-54 on Artsy May 19 – June 6

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The ellipse Prize wants to help artists mobility to share their work and to upgrade their creative thinking with meetings with other like-minded creators from different cultures. It is crucial to support them in a more globalised world where economic and social disparities are growing. 

Across this program, ellipse art projects is committed to facilitate an artist to gain access to international networks through an artistic residency and an exhibition in France every year.

Senegal is the country selected for the First 2021 edition

ellipse art projects has decided to focus the First Edition for African artists based in Senegal. Applications are open ; from the 1st April 2021 until the 15th May 2021 (11:59 pm). Simply download the application rules and register via the application form tab. Applications sent by email will not be accepted.

Eligibility requirements and selection for the ellipse Prize

The applications call is open to :

• every African artists based in Senegal
• aged between 18 and 35 at application closing date (15th May 2021)
• whose practice is dedicated to visual arts
• not represented by a gallery but can have realised collaborations previously

To apply, candidates must fill in the application form made up of : 

• an administrative part : general informations
• an artistic part : portfolio, with no thematic requirement, and research task for the artistic residency inspired by a theme which will be announced at the launch of the call

Selection in two stages by an international, professional jury :

• first stage : selection of five artists
• second stage : selected artists advocate for their project through videoconferencing and the announcement of the winner 

Portfolios and research works are reviewed strictly according to the achievement, quality of the work, the theme of the work and the work’s innovative nature.

See the competition rules at the end of this article for more informations

Endowment of the ellipse Prize

The winner benefits from : 

• a three months artistic residency at la Cité internationale des arts in Paris, including a live-in studio place made up of a furnished living and working space (work space, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, wifi internet connection)

This program is made up of :

• a round trip ticket from Dakar to Paris (including VISA and travel insurance)
• a 800 euros grant per month living expenses
• a production grant, according to the residency project
• a professional and artistic support
• a presentation of them and their work during the AKAA (Also Known As Africa) international contemporary art fair in Paris
• a media campaign to support every step of the competition giving high visibility to candidates

Timetable 2021

• Applications call 2021 – from April the 1st to May the 15th 2021 (before midnight, 11:59 pm)
• First jury meeting : five artists short-listed/selected – at the end of May / beginning of June 2021
• Second jury meeting : selected artists advocate for their project through videoconferencing – mid-June 2021
• Announcement of the winner – mid-June
• Artistic residency – from October the 4th to December the 27th 2021
• Exhibition of the artists’ work – November 2021

*Dates will be susceptible to change depending on Covid sanitary crisis and to general measures announced by the French government that may affect travel arrangements.

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As per every February, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair should have taken place in Marrakesh. Due to the current pandemic circumstances, the fair exceeds itself and presents a hybrid format – for the first time at Christie’s Paris, opening for VIPS from the 18^th January, and for all public online (www.christies.com) from 20^th to the 23^rd January 2021. 

Under strict safety measures, the fair that specialises in contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora will be opening its doors to a French audience. 

“Following the postponement of the Marrakesh edition due to Covid regulations, we were formulating ideas for how we could still support our galleries and artists in this extremely challenging time. We realised we would have to move beyond our established model and take advantage of an opportunity offered to us by Christie’s Paris. So, this is a unique edition born out of the exceptional circumstances.” ^[1]

She offers space for 21 internationally renowned galleries, mainly from the African continent and Europe, including 68 artists by: Galleria Continua, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Luce Gallery, Nil Gallery, Gallery 1957, This Is Not A White Cube, Galerie MAGNIN-A et Galerie Lelong & Co, among others.

This time, the exhibition programme will have a strong international audience as it will be fully available online on the Christie’s website, allowing for a wider opportunity to sell and deliver artworks around the world. 

“More than ever, we are dedicated to platforming contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora, challenging the misconceptions laid upon artists from the continent by Western-based cultural institutions and encouraging sustainable and engaged collecting practices by all. For now, we are just doing this on a smaller scale and more adaptable format.” ^[2]

1-54 wants to be a platform hosting plural narratives by demonstrating a diversity of identities. Visitors will have the opportunity to discover or rediscover the works of Marie-Claire Messouma Manlanbien at the 50 Golborne. Her work presents a cultural syncretism of her identity between France, Guadeloupe and Ivory Coast. She presents hybrid representations of rituals and cultures, within her mixed media installations from textile to wood and copper to clay. There will be a key contribution from the Casablanca-based Loft Art Gallery that will be presenting the eclectic photographer Mous Lamrabat, the documentary photographer M’hammed Kilito and the visual artist and photographer Joana Choumali.

The latter depicts the African world that surrounds her daily, through photography; during her travels or from local scenes in her hometown, Abidjan, in Ivory Coast where she currently lives. Her photographic explorations further come to life with the use of colourful sewing on the print itself. A sewing element that has become a key meditative process in the production of her work. 

Not to be missed is the presentation by Nú Barreto at the Nathalie Obadia Gallery. The artist puts an accent on the continent with a focus on the denunciation of striking inequality, discrimination and oppressive systems that are deeply inscribed. He does so through drawings, paintings and video works – an urgent practicewhich offers a critical stance on current politics. 

Finally, another important stop is to be made to the Cécile Fakhoury Gallery to see the presentation of visual artist Roméo Mivekannin who closely works with ethnographic photography and classical paintings from the 19^th century – a key historical period in the articulation of a discourse on otherness in the dehumanising context of the slave trade and ravaging colonialism. His acrylic on bain d’élixir canvas strongly relate to two popular mediums capturing the black body, echoing very much with yesterday and today’s ongoing representations. 

In parallel to the exhibitions, it is within the online Forum 1-54 that Morocco remains present. The programmeCrafting wor[l]ds: for a vernacular economy of art, is curated by Le 18, an “independent platform of creation, dissemination and cultural and artistic exchanges based in Marrakesh” ^[1] which will be broadcasted from their space during the fair and throughout February. 

The discursive platform is fundamental in contextualising artistic, cultural, political and social discourses about the contemporary African scene, orchestrated with and by its main actors. The programme will be focusing on the theme of resonance, as they “propose to look at the ways in which new ecologies of cultural practices are emerging, drawing from vernacular principles and circular dynamics.” ^[2]

It will include long-term collaborators invited by Le 18 and their “proposal unfolds along seemingly diverging, and yet converging and intersecting lines, to explore some of the material and immaterial sites and infrastructures of cultural and economic production, reproduction and circulation, by establishing a protocol of diffused curatorship for each knot composing our canvas.” ^[3]For this unique edition, the 1-54 temporarily settle in the French cultural landscape, echoing the fair AKAA (Also Known As Africa) and coinciding with the AFRICA 2020 season (now 2021), among others – initiatives that are most necessary for the visibility of African artistic and cultural discourses in France

^[1] [2] Quote taken from an email conversation with Touria El Glaoui, Founding Director of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair.

^[3] This quote was taken from the Le 18 website, available at https://le18marrakech.com/about/

^[4] [5] This quote was taken from the fair’s website, available at https://www.1-54.com/paris/1-54-forum/

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Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, announced the appointment of Naomi Beckwith to the position of Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator. In this role, Beckwith will oversee collections, exhibitions, publications, and curatorial programs and archives at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and provide strategic direction within the international network of affiliate museums for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. A member of the Executive Leadership team, Beckwith will work closely with the Director, Trustees, and staff on planning and implementing strategy across the museum and on its global initiatives. She will play an instrumental role in shaping the museum’s vision. Beckwith joins the Guggenheim from Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, where she has held curatorial posts since 2011. Her position at the Guggenheim begins in early June 2021.

“With her highly regarded accomplishments, scholarship that contributes to building a revised canon of art history, and creative projects that connect artists of today with growing audiences, Naomi Beckwith will be a catalytic leader for our outstanding curatorial team,” Armstrong observed. “We warmly welcome Naomi. Her expertise will be invaluable in advancing and amplifying an inclusive range of perspectives within the Guggenheim collection and culture. We look forward to working with her to develop avenues for new research and programming, and to create powerful and meaningful ways to deepen engagement with modern and contemporary art.”

Beckwith said, “One cannot overstate the iconicity and consequence of the Guggenheim Museum—yet, refusing to rest on its laurels, it readily presents projects that disrupt art history’s mythologies. I’m excited to join the Guggenheim and its passionate team at a pivotal moment. I look forward to merging our shared goals of expanding the story of art, and also working to shape a new reality for arts and culture.”

An integral part of the Guggenheim’s senior leadership, Beckwith will provide an overarching intellectual vision for museum programming to be shared with diverse audiences, including local, international, and digital constituents, and in alignment with the museum’s objectives of increased accessibility and inclusion. She will oversee the creation and implementation of the exhibition program in New York and will articulate long-range collection strategies for the growth of all Guggenheim museums. She will advise on all global arts initiatives, will actively partner with the curatorial teams at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, and will collaborate on the development of collection and programmatic strategies for the future museum in Abu Dhabi.

Beckwith comes to the Guggenheim from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, where she has served as Manilow Senior Curator since 2018. During her tenure at the MCA, since 2011, her exhibitions and publications have centered on the impact of identity and multidisciplinary practices within contemporary art. She organized and co-organized acclaimed exhibitions such as Howardena Pindell: What Remains to Be Seen, the first survey of the artist, and whose catalogue received the George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award. Beckwith also developed The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now and Homebodies, as well as solo shows on The Propeller Group, Keren Cytter, Leslie Hewitt, William J. O’Brien, and Jimmy Robert; and a project with Yinka Shonibare CBE. Before joining the MCA, Beckwith was Associate Curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem, where she organized exhibitions such as Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Any Number of Preoccupations (2011) and 30 Seconds off an Inch (2009–10).

Beckwith served on the jury for the 2020 Hugo Boss Prize, administered by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and is a member of the curatorial team realizing Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America, an exhibition conceived by the late curator Okwui Enwezor for the New Museum. Beckwith’s other recent shows include The Long Dream, a presentation of 70 Chicago artists organized in response to the pandemic and social unrest; Prisoner of Love, centered around Arthur Jafa’s video phenomenon Love Is the Message, the Message Is Death; and Laurie Simmons: Big Camera/Little Camera, a retrospective that traveled from the Museum of Modern Art Fort Worth. The exhibition catalogue for Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago, edited by Beckwith, was recognized in the New York Times Best Art Books of 2020. Beckwith serves on the boards of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Laundromat Project, and she chaired the inaugural Curatorial Leadership Summit at the Armory Show in 2018. She has received fellowships at the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, the Center for Curatorial Leadership, and other institutions. Beckwith holds an MA, with Distinction, from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and a BA in history from Northwestern University in Chicago.

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Atta Kwami (b. Accra, 1956) is a painter, printmaker, art historian and independent curator based in Loughborough, UK. Kwami is known for paintings, murals and kiosk-sculptures that are conceived as expanded three-dimensional paintings, incorporating his signature use of colour and abstract painting style. His works play with the colour and form improvisations that are distinctive of Ghanaian architecture and African strip-woven textiles, especially kente, made famous by his culture the Ewe and Asante of Ghana.

The Maria Lassnig Prize is awarded biennially to a mid-career artist in association with an international institutional partner.  Atta Kwami is the third artist to be honoured by the Prize, he follows Cathy Wilkes, in partnership with MoMA PS1 (2017), and Sheela Gowda, in partnership with Lenbachhaus, Munich (2019).

The Maria Lassnig Prize was originally envisioned by pioneering Austrian artist Maria Lassnig before her death in 2014 at the age of 94, at height of her artistic career. Having achieved recognition only later in life, she hoped to encourage the efforts of artists not yet familiar to the public.

Atta Kwami, Loughborough, Autumn 2020: ‘I am proud to be associated with Maria Lassnig’s legacy. Her late recognition requires us to look again at so many artists whose life work has been overlooked or undervalued. Her formidable and wide-ranging body of work shows that she was an individual who pushed herself to her limits, without the critical recognition to guide her on. The Maria Lassnig Prize 2021 is completely unexpected. I am very happy it has come at this stage of my life. I shall always be humbly grateful for all the people who have supported me; my mother, my wife, my galleries and my friends both inside and outside Ghana. I am glad for myself and for Ghana.’

Atta Kwami will receive a major grant of 50,000 euros and a project with Serpentine Galleries, the institutional partner for the 2021 Maria Lassnig Prize. The Serpentine Galleries presented a solo exhibition of Lassnig’s work in 2008. Kwami was selected by a jury comprising the Serpentine Galleries, the Maria Lassnig Foundation, the former partnering institution Lenbachhaus and the artist Albert Oehlen.

Atta Kwami’s project with Serpentine – a comprehensive monograph publication and a public art commission – will be launched in 2022. But in the meantime, the year 2021 is likely to be a year full of news for the artist as he is also part of the forthcoming Folkestone Triennial and is designing a triptych of large stained-glass windows for the new Ghana National Cathedral in Accra designed by Sir David Adjaye OBE.

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