Exhibitions

Sammy Baloji: A Blueprint for Toads and Snakes is still on view at Framer Framed in Amsterdam, Netherlands until August 26, 2018

In A Blueprint for Toads and Snakes, Sammy Baloji presents a highly original commemoration of the painful history of exploitation and cultural formation in Congo. Through questioning their hierarchical imposition and constitutive nature, the artist critically addresses a past of Western colonialism, the subsequent post-colonial disillusionment, and the continuing imperial aftermath. The exhibition offers a critical reflection on the ways in which mineral extraction, combined with the influence of cultural structures, have impacted contemporary life in Congo: the foundations of the metaphorical stage on which the present is taking shape. By showing how cultural structures were formed, and how they play a part in current ethnic tensions and mineral extraction, Sammy Baloji makes an important contribution to the memory and perception of his home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Pulling at Threads is still on view at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town, South Africa until August 20, 2018

Pulling at Threads considers the role of craft in the practices of contemporary artists from South Africa and beyond. Bringing together artists that use techniques such as weaving, sewing, beading and collage, the artworks included in this exhibition challenge traditional art historical hierarchies that prefer painting and sculpture over craft-based media. These techniques represent both process and subject, where the form of making fundamentally informs the meaning of each object. Through labour intensive processes, innovative use of materials, exploration of form and hybrid cultural references, these artworks suggest new approaches to making images and objects in the 21st century. Pulling at Threads highlights the various social, political and religious meanings of the materials and techniques that the selected artists use.

African-Print Fashion Now! is still on view at the Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, United States until August 12, 2018

African-Print Fashion Now! A Story of Taste, Globalization, and Style introduces visitors to a dynamic and diverse African dress tradition and the increasingly interconnected fashion worlds that it inhabits: popular African-print styles created by local seamstresses and tailors across the continent; international runway fashions designed by Africa’s newest generation of couturiers; and boundary-breaking, transnational, and youth styles favored in Africa’s urban centers. All feature the colorful, boldly designed, and manufactured cotton textiles that have come to be known as African-print cloth. The exhibition includes 60 tailored fashions, 100 archival and contemporary cloths, 20 black-and-white studio portrait photographs, a series of runway videos, and seven works by contemporary visual artists. Ensembles on view draw from the Fowler Museum at UCLA’s collections, private loans, and the extensive archives of the Dutch textile manufacturing company Vlisco.

Biennials

Manifesta 12 is taking place at various locations in Palermo, Italy from June 16 to November 4, 2018

Manifesta 12’s main ambition is to work in a truly interdisciplinary way with local communities in order to rethink the basic architectural, urban, economic, social and cultural structures of the city. This year, Manifesta 12 travels to Palermo, which will host a number of exhibitions, performances, multi-media experiments, talks and workshops. Titled “The Planetary Garden: Cultivating Coexistence”, the concept explores coexistence in a world moved by invisible networks, transnational private interests, algorithmic intelligence and ever – increasing inequalities through the unique lens of Palermo – a crossroads of three continents in the heart of the Mediterranean. Closely collaborating with Palermitan partners, Manifesta 12 will co-inhabit Palermo as a laboratory to investigate the challenges of our time, looking for traces of possible futures.

Festivals

Evora Africa Festival is opened at the Cadaval Palace in Évora, Portugal until August 25, 2018

Evora Africa Festival is celebrating contemporary art and music from Africa in the historic city of Évora, Portugal. More than 30 contemporary artists, musicians and performers from Africa are gathered in the city of Évora to celebrate the culture and heritage of the continent. The contemporary art exhibition African Passions, curated by André Magnin, will be accompanied by a music programme and concerts directed by Alain Weber and Alcides Nascimento. Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Burkina Faso are some of the countries that will be represented in the festival. Music and dance workshops will be part of the educational programme by the Mozambican music and dance company, the Xindiro, and by the orchestra of Ballaké Sissoko, master of the kora and Mandingue tradition.