Contemporary African Artists: Changing Tradition (1990)

Changing Tradition was an exhibition that presented only artists working in Africa with artworks selected from the decade before then. It wasn’t considered as a comprehensive survey of the entire continent since the focus was mainly on sub-Saharan artists. Curated by Grace Stanislaus, the exhibition opened at the Studio Museum in New York City and travelled to Philadelphia and Chicago. After three years of research in Africa and in the United States, Stanislaus identified nine artists from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and Zimbabwe. Most of them were relatively well known locally but almost unknown abroad. If some of these artists were much self-taught, others had however studied in major art schools in the Europe and the United States. Stanislaus didn’t claim to give an overview of the contemporary African art, but to distinguish the work of some artists.

Magiciens de la Terre (1989)

Magiciens de la Terre (Magicians of the Earth) is considered as the starting point of the globalization process of the contemporary art world. Curated by Jean-Hubert Martin, the exhibition opened jointly at the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Grande Halle de la Villette, in Paris. Martin conceived the exhibition in response to growing criticism about the stereotyped presentations of non-Western contemporary artists in Western contexts. The curator proposed for the first time a direct confrontation between contemporary artists from all cultures of the world. He invited one hundred artists to participate at the exhibition, a group made up half Western and half non-Western – including nearly twenty African artists, mostly autodidacts. While this strict ratio was meant to balance both worlds representation, this division perpetuated what the event was meant to displace.

In accordance with the main theme centered on magic, participant artists were chosen mostly on the spiritual evocativeness of their works. The choice of this theme was criticized as well as the selection process that raised further criticism about the representative quality of the artworks showcased during the event. Many discussions and exhibition projects took place after Magiciens de la Terre, which analyzed and tried to correct the selection bias of the exhibition. The question of contemporary African art became a recurrent subject of analysis as part of these developments.

Art contemporain arabe : Collection du musée de l’institut du Monde Arabe (1988)

Opened in 1987, the art museum of Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute) is distinguished by its location and stylish architecture. Several exhibitions related to the Arab world have been held there including Art Contemporain Arabe (Contemporary Arab Art). This inaugural exhibition featured several key works from the permanent collection of the institute. Specifically focused on contemporary art created from the 1950s to the present, the exhibition presented artworks that were considered to be representative of contemporary Arab practices, techniques, and aesthetics. The exhibit included artists from Mediterranean and Saharan countries, regions which are often omitted from major exhibitions of contemporary African art.

Moderne Kunst aus Afrika : Horizonte '79 (1979)

Moderne Kunst aus Afrika was, with 47 artists and nearly four hundred featured artworks, the first exhibition of contemporary African art of this scale organized in Europe. It presented several artworks from the collection of Gunter Péus, who travelled through Africa during the 1960s. And it was organized during the first edition of Festival der Weltkulturen in Berlin. The exhibition favored the work of popular artists, who have developed their practices in informal workshops rather than in formal art schools that appeared in the post-colonial Africa. Today, it is understood that this exhibit announced the enthusiasm for contemporary African art in Europe from the late 1980s to early 1990s.

Sources: Contemporary African Art Since 1980, Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu, Damiani, 2009