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Published by BARONMAG
Building on the success of its first edition in 2016, Also Known As Africa (AKAA), contemporary art and design fair centered on Africa, is returning to the Carreau du Temple in Paris for its second edition November 10 to 12, 2017.
With 15,000 visitors in 2016, AKAA has established itself as a major cultural and artistic rendezvous for the contemporary art scene from Africa. A real enthusiasm for this artistic scene was confirmed this spring by the many events dedicated to contemporary art from Africa throughout France. In this context, AKAA affirms itself as a perennial commercial and cultural platform for artists coming from Africa and its diaspora, and those inspired by the continent.
AKAA continues its development
This year AKAA welcomes 38 galleries from 19 countries, including 11 African countries: Angola, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda, Zimbabwe.
AKAA is expanding into both La Grande Halle and the underground level of Carreau du Temple to present the work of 150 artists.
The design section is getting stronger with the arrival of designers like Hicham Lalou, Abderrahim Yamou, Hamed Ouattara, Balla Niang, and more.
AKAA will host 7 special projects:
A monumental installation is welcoming visitors in the central nave of the fair, a stunning piece by the Cameroonian artist Bili Bidjocka: Enigma # 55 – Je suis la seule femme de ma vie.
In the new space AKAA Underground, an artistic think tank with workshops, meetings, conversations, performances and book signings:
–A carte blanche is given to the South African artist Lady Skollie who will occupy a space dedicated to a bold site-specific project: The Mating Dance.
–A tribute will be paid to the Senegalese artist Ousmane Sow, deceased in 2016. AKAA is dedicating a space to this renowned artist for the presentation of his masterpiece, Le Nouba qui se maquille, two bronzes from the series Petits Nouba , and photographs by Béatrice Soulé. Two documentaries directed by Béatrice Soulé will be shown on November 10 followed by a panel discussion moderated by the art historian Françoise Monnin.
–Duck & Rabbit Projects, is a collaborative pairing between long time studio partners Arlene Wandera and Richard Zeiss, designed as an experimental conversation between their vastly different artistic practices and backgrounds. Duck & Rabbit is dedicated to producing site-specific exhibition projects aimed at engaging the viewer in a push and pull of two artistic approaches within a single space.
Within the glass and steel structure of La Grande Halle:
–Neofuzz an exhibition dedicated to African design is curated by Amy Ellenbogen from Cape Town. “Fuzz” relates to the lines between ideas, cultures, perceptions and aesthetics having become blurred/fuzzy. The exhibition focuses on products, objects, vessels, adornments, materials and sensations that allow for a sense of play and celebration of African Design in a broad context.
–The TRIAD Foundation, presents Shields | Boucliers, a project by Virginia Ryan and René Peña. Both artists investigate the relationship between white and black, between contrast and contact, between the object and the often visceral relationship born from the transformation of raw materials: our own skin-surface in the case of Peña, that of abandoned debris as in Ryan’s large objects of contemplation.
–The Tears of Banana Man—an installation by Jean-François Boclé—Maëlle Gallery. The banana remains today the icon of an exoticized and fantasized elsewhere, as it refers us to the figure of a radical alterity. The fruit tells us the impossible, yet necessary, fluidity between endogenous and exogenous. On Sunday, November 12, at 5pm, the public will be invited to eat up the sculpture by Jean-François Boclé, entirely made of fresh bananas.
Les Rencontres AKAA
AKAA is also a cultural and educational platform with Les Rencontres AKAA. Les Rencontres AKAA give voice to artists, curators and contemporary art experts, engaging in direct dialogue with the public. A moment of sharing for our cultural program whose central theme this year is “Healing”. Our world is in flux, constantly changing. This world to be shared is at the core of our adventure, the ineluctable project called AKAA.
AKAA stands for a multi-faceted Africa, which transcends historical boundaries and whose voices resonate in the four corners of the world, carried by the vision of each artist.
Our Africa is fluid, complex and permeable. It influences and inspires the world by its capacity to innovate and create.
Join us November 10 to 12, 2017, come and discover these artists, confirmed and emerging who make the contemporary art scene from Africa. Four days to share the African energy, hear its hum and feel its vibration.
source : art-agenda