Exhibitions

Isaac Julien: Western Union – small boats is still on view at ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Aarhus, Denmark until May 27, 2018

The acclaimed British visual artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien opens the first exhibition presented by ARoS in a new series shown in the Focus Gallery in 2018. The series is called Intermezzo and shows art where the perception and appreciation of the works of art is facilitated via other faculties beside vision. “With Intermezzo, we want to open up horizons and boost the senses. The artists in this series, for example, work with sensory space”, says Erlend G. Høyersten, museum director, ARoS. Enclosed in a totally blue room, Isaac Julien presents his three screen film installation Western Union: small boats from 2007. This work has won numerous awards, including the Charles Wollaston Award and portrays the refugee crisis unfolding in Europe in recent years where especially the southern Italian island of Lampedusa has become known as a reception centre for refugees. Due to its sheer beauty, the island has been also a popular destination for tourists.

Kader Attia: The Field of Emotion is still on view at The Power Plant in Toronto, Canada until May 13, 2018

This exhibition presents Attia’s installation J’accuse (2016). Inspired by the injury and disfigurement of millions of soldiers in World War I, Attia created an installation of eighteen wooden busts, arranged before a projection of the eponymous antiwar film by French film director Abel Gance. Originally made in 1919, the film was reshot as a warning against the looming threat of war in 1938 and featured footage of these veterans. The artist used portraits from the archives of the Historisches Museum Frankfurt, the Musée du Service de Santé des Armées in Paris and the Wellcome Collection in London as a visual reference for the carving of the busts. The work suggests that further damage was perpetrated by the ostracizing reactions of a society that viewed these faces as “monstrous”.

Yto Barrada: Agadir is still on view at the Barbican Centre in London, United Kingdom until May 20, 2018

For her first major London commission, Yto Barrada weaves together personal narratives and political ideals to create a complex portrait of a city and its people in a state of transition. The sweeping form of the Curve is transformed with a dramatic installation – encompassing a mural, film commission, sculptures, and a series of live and recorded performances – to consider how a city and its people might address the process of reinvention following disaster. Barrada takes as her starting point a surreal text by Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine, Agadir (1967), reflecting on the devastating earthquake of 1960 that destroyed much of the modernist Moroccan city. Over the past two decades, Barrada’s multimedia practice has explored questions ranging from migration to abstraction, from fossils to botany, examining the strategies of resistance employed every day in her native Morocco.

Biennials

Dak’Art 2018 is opened at several locations in Dakar, Senegal from May 3 to June 2, 2017

After “The city in the blue day” which refers to a poem by Léopold Sédar Senghor, “The hour is red” is the theme of this edition, bearing the seal of Aimé Césaire, another father of Negritude. Extracted from his play And the dogs were silent (1958), this theme speaks of emancipation, freedom, and responsibility. To ensure consistency in the line of the Biennale, Simon Njami, the Artistic Director of the last edition was renewed for 2018. Alongside Simon Njami, the biennial has invited five international commissioners; each of them will curate a collective show with 3-5 selected artists. Furthermore, the international exhibition titled “A New Humanity” has, this year, seventy-five artists from thirty-three countries around the world. Encounters and Exchanges will focus on African art and contemporary transformations of the intellectual and normative frameworks.

Art Fairs

1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair is opened at Pioneer Works in New York, United States from May 4-6, 2018

Founded by Touria El Glaoui in 2013, 1-54 is the leading international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora with annual editions in London, New York, and Marrakech. Drawing reference to the fifty-four countries that constitute the African continent, 1-54 is a sustainable and dynamic platform that is engaged in contemporary dialogue and exchange. In this fourth edition, 1-54 will present 21 international exhibitors, the artworks of over 60 artists from Africa and its diaspora, alongside an extensive experiential programme of Special Projects and 1-54 FORUM programme of talks curated by Omar Berrada.