Exhibitions

Boris Nzebo: Urban Style is still on view at Manchester Art Gallery in Manchester, United Kingdom until November 13, 2016

Boris Nzebo explores urban life through elaborate hairstyles and vibrant city views. Urban Style, his first solo exhibition in a UK public gallery, presents Nzebo’s large-scale stylized silhouettes of human heads overlaid onto architectural facades and interior spaces in multi-layered scenes. Using intense colors and striking compositions, Nzebo invites us to consider this urban aesthetic – how people can be defined by their hairstyles and express their identity in a city full of urban encounters. Based in Cameroon, he draws his inspiration from the bright, hand-drawn advertising boards found in Central African beauty parlors, street culture, and classic Pop Art aesthetics. The unstructured and animated city environment contrasts with the careful efforts of maintaining individualized and highly intricate hairstyles. Through his paintings, Nzebo addresses the complex relationship between individuals and the urban spaces they inhabit.

Biennials

Venice Architecture Biennale is still open at several locations in Venice, Italy until November 27, 2016

The 15th International Architecture Exhibition, titled ‘Reporting from the Front’, is curated by Alejandro Aravena and organized by La Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta. The exhibition is open to the public since May 28 until November 27 at the Giardini and the Arsenale. The International Exhibition is laid out in a unitary exhibition sequence from the Central Pavilion (Giardini) to the Arsenale, and includes 88 participants from 37 different countries. 50 of them are participating for the first time, and 33 architects are under the age of 40. The Biennale also includes 62 National Participations in the historic Pavilions at the Giardini, at the Arsenale and in the historic city centre of Venice. Five countries are participating for the first time: Philippines, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Seychelles, and Yemen. The biennial features three Special Projects, the first promoted by La Biennale, the other two the result of agreements stipulated with other institutions, organized and realised by La Biennale itself.

Festivals

The 7th edition of LagosPhoto Festival is still open in Lagos, Nigeria until November 21, 2016

LagosPhoto Festival is the first, and so far, only international arts festival of photography in Nigeria. The festival lasts for a month and it features exhibitions, workshops, artist presentations, discussions, screening, and large outdoor installations in different public spaces in Lagos. LagosPhoto aims to provide a viable platform for the development and education of contemporary photography in Africa. This is done by providing mentorships and cross-cultural collaborations with local and international artists. LagosPhoto presents photography as it is embodied in the exploration of historical and contemporary issues, the promotion of social programmes, and the reclaiming of public spaces. The theme of this year's festival is 'Rituals and Performance: Inherent Risk'. In this edition, the festival explores the role of acts of repetition that shape gender, image, identity, social agency, power and social constructs in contemporary society.

Art Fairs

The 20th edition of Paris Photo will open at Grand Palais in Paris, France from November 10-13, 2016

Paris Photo, the international art fair for photography, will reunite 153 galleries and 30 art book dealers for its 20th and largest edition to date. The public will discover the most important selection of exceptional photographic works from 30 countries worldwide. Among the exhibitors, some will participate for the first time while others will return despite either the cancellation of the fair’s West Coast offshoots due to lack of sales, or the forced early closure of Paris Photo in 2015 after the November 13 terror attacks. Following its successful debut in 2015, the large-scale exhibition project PRISMES will return, emphasizing the versatility of the medium by bringing together exceptional large format, serial works and installations in the monumental Salon d’Honneur. Paris Photo will also present a selection of the collection of its official partners as well as work by young artists which contribute to enrich this year’s fair.

Conference

Black Portraiture[s] III will open at Turbine Hall in Johannesburg, South Africa from November 17-19, 2016

Black Portraiture[s] III: Reinventions – Strains of Histories and Cultures is the seventh conference in a series of conversations about imaging the black body. It offers a forum that gives artists, activists, and scholars from around the world an opportunity to share ideas from historical topics to current research on the 40th anniversary of Soweto. Participants will present more than 140 papers and performances on a range of topics such as the global art market, activism, politics, tourism, sexuality, sites of memory, Afrofuturism, fashion, dance, music, film, and photography. In 2013, the world took notice when Black Portraitures: The Black Body in the West was presented in Paris. By 2015, Black Portraitures II: Imaging the Black Body and Restaging Histories was held at NYU’s La Pietra in Florence, and after overwhelming demand, it was brought to New York earlier this year for Black Portraitures: Revisited.