1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, the leading international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and the African diaspora, announcs its return to Paris, set to take place over four days from 7 – 10 April 2022. 1-54 Paris at Christie’s will take place in the auction house’s galleries at Avenue Matignon and will feature 23 international exhibitors presenting more than 50 artists from Africa and the African diaspora. Taking over more exhibition space and hosting a greater number of galleries, the fair will be a larger event than last year’s in Paris, with both VIP and public days to engage with new and existing audiences.
For its second pop-up edition, 1-54 Paris will be accompanied by 1-54 Forum. This year’s series of events entitled, Adrift, Ashore: Surface, will be curated by Dr Omar Kholeif, Director of Collections and Senior Curator at Sharjah Art Foundation. 1-54 Forum will take place at Christie’s Paris on Saturday 9 April.
Adrift, Ashore: Surface, arises from across the African continent where it was originally scheduled to be held in February of this year. For this convening, which occurs just over two years since the first global lockdowns held the world in the grip of multiple forms of isolation, a series of in-person thought-lines and discussions rise to the surface. A group of interlocutors have been invited to participate in conversations, reflecting on the influence of the recent past but also speaking in the present tense — relaying how recent lived experiences can help map collective possibilities of art on the African continent and for its diaspora. Exploring the divergent circumstances of making and unmaking in varied spaces, 1-54 Forum Paris 2022 explores themes of cultural resistance and its appropriation; the weight of historical perception and its correction; mobility and its strictures, as well as the attendant aesthetics that govern an increasingly digital sphere.
Standing in the thick of multiple forms of cultural confusion, audiences and speakers are encouraged to engage freely around the possibilities of creativity and institution-building: We look to artists and practitioners to ask, what shall be done and what can become of our collective culture?
Forum Programme
- An Andy Warhol for the 21st Century, artist Hajjaj demystifies Morocco’s cliches, immersing us into the heart of the city’s Medina and revealing new work in progress in a conversation with Forum Curator, Dr Kholeif.
- Painting a New Expressionism: A Keynote conversation between artist, Anuar Khalifi and Dr Omar Kholeif
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- Marie-Ann Yemsi moderating the panel, Have We Ever Been Modern?, Joël Andrianomearisoa, Christine Eyene and Marie-Cécile Zinsou
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- Esteemed artist and filmmaker, Zina Saro-Wiwa, presents a specially curated screening and in-person conversation on her film and video work, including a special preview of an in-development epic feature.
- 1-54 Forum Curator Dr Omar Kholeif closes the day with a lyric poem authored during the course of the Fair and Forum
Courtesy of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair