Interviews Don't talk to a wall...if you don't want to hear wonderful stories
South Africa | 26.10.2020
The third stage of the travelling exhibition Prête-moi ton Rêve (Lend me your dream) opened at the Musée des Cultures Contemporaines Adama Toungara in Abidjan. The objective of the organizers is clear: “African art, for Africa by Africans”.
Prête-moi ton Rêve (Lend me your dream) is the theme of the pan-African touring exhibition taking place from March 12 to April 29 organised by the Fondation pour le Développement de la Culture Contemporaine Africaine (FDCCA) for the first time in art history.
What kind of dreams is landing on Africa? The response from Fihr Kettani, general secretary of FDCCA, is gravid of hope and wonder:
“It all started with a dream, the dream to see African art spreading across its own continent…We have witnessed an unforeseen excitement surrounding contemporary African culture. Yet, all too often such focus creates nagging feelings that Africa as an art scene had been completely ignored.”
Prête-Moi ton Rêve redesigns the map of contemporary African art by challenging all borders, seeing the Sahara as a bridge rather than an obstacle, and by positioning a united Africa at the centre of the renewed map. From Casablanca to Abidjan, Dakar, Lagos, Addis Ababa, Cape Town and Marrakech, this first ambitious project addresses the role of African cities as contemporary art scenes and contribute to the rise of a shared feeling of belonging to the African continent while being open to the rest of the world.
This travelling exhibition features more than 100 works, converging thirty artists with international acclaim, of fifteen different nationalities, and shedding light on their brilliant artworks throughout their common land. Furthermore, this artistic relay exhibits an extensive range of new pieces, crafted specially by the artists during residencies that preceded the event, resulting in iconic works being added to the show. Overall, this selection reflects a diverse picture of the African continent, from the beautiful Senegalese women immortalised by Gora Mbeng in her paintings under glass to Seudou Keita and Malick Sidibé documenting the Malian perspective on African modernity through the medium of photography, and much much more beauty and diversity.
On each step of the tour the Foundation engages with a local curator for the carte blanche section of the exhibition and a local artist for the homage show in order to also celebrate the individuality of the artistic scene.
This unprecedented project has now become a reality that can proudly claim a portrait of African art, for Africa by Africans. In fact, by representing the cultural collaboration of a wide constellation of figures who are active in the continent’s artistic ecosystem, the event reflects on the abundance and vitality that deeply make up the art scene of the whole continent, as well as its interrelated dynamics. Aware of the need for African people and artists to reinforce and celebrate their own culture and art, the Foundation strives to make contemporary works more visible in their homelands and stimulate the intra-African art market through its common cultural trait.
Read the full interview by Fihr Kettani, general secretary of the Fondation pour le Développement de la Culture Contemporaine Africaine (FDCCA) the organisers of the touring pan-African exhibition Prête-moi ton rêve
South Africa | 26.10.2020
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