Author: Luisa Nannipieri
Putting the spotlight on curators and presenting a discerning and keen selection of art pieces, AKAA’s 8th edition promotes a hybrid art fair, balancing business, and exhibition. A model that will be exported to Los Angeles next spring.
“AKAA has come a long way. The fair’s size didn’t change so much over the years, but its credibility certainly did.” Bénédicte Alliot, director of the Cité international des Arts in Paris and member of the fair Selection Committee, has no doubts: Also Known As Africa keeps growing. “It’s not a growth that you can measure just by looking at the number of the galleries who participate each year. But it is clear when you think about the reputation the fair has built for itself: we don’t have to explain anymore what our goals are, what we are doing and why. I think it is something meaningful in today’s art world and market.” The leading fair in France dedicated to artistic scenes from Africa and its diasporas hosted its 8th edition at the Carreau du Temple, in the center of Paris, from the 19th to the 22nd of October.
More than 15,000 visitors browsed the booths under the glass canopy of the ancient French market to admire and buy some astonishing pieces of African and African American art. The organizers are particularly fond of this historical venue, that gives out iconic and gracious vibes at the same time. The space helps in keeping the event cozy. Allowing AKAA to host up to 40 international galleries, and showcasing 119 artists in total, in a familiar and informal setting. Most of the exhibitors who decide to come back to Paris truly appreciate this side of the event: “This art fair is different from the others, that can be bigger and colder,” they told us. “Here, it feels more like a family. We are not just numbers for the organizers, and we can talk with the director, Victoria Mann, or the artistic director, Armelle Dakouo, about the artist we want to present and the works we would like to showcase.”
The curatorial effort that Mann and Dakouo put behind AKAA’s galleries and artists’ selection has always been special, but this year it was top-notch. As they decided that this edition would highlight the curatorial practice in the context of a fair and its market, their ability to create a dialogue among the different art pieces as to valorize them, they also wanted for the curators to play a big role in shaping the show. That is why they not only extended several invitations to curators and artists for projects — such as the VIP lounge, where the artist and founder of the artHARARE Contemporary platform Richard Mudariki exhibited the work of five women artists from Zimbabwe — installations and written contributions, but they also encouraged each gallery to take a hybrid approach in their propositions.
Thinking carefully about the number of artists they want to expose in the space they have at their disposal. This effort to balance market goals and artistic exhibition led to a fair that is enticing for the professional as well as the public. It also resulted in a hanging overall more sober than last year, which marked the big and enthusiastic come back after the pandemic, and in a more discerning and keen selection. Apart from a few exceptions, most of the galleries presented the works of one to three artists, with a preference for medium format paintings, pictures and sculptures. But even those who featured more, like the Luanda and Lisbon based Movart, who displayed some fascinating works by Fidel Évora, Keyezua, the recent James Barnor Award’s winner Mário Macilau and Kwame Sousa, paid attention to not overcharge their booth creating an interesting dialogue among the pieces.
The solo shows on the rise
“I think it’s a choice in tune with the times. Art fairs are evolving”, points out Mary-Lou Ngwe-Secke, head of the curation department at 193 Gallery. If last year they brought to AKAA a small selection of powerful visual artists, this time the Parisian gallery dedicated their booth entirely to April Bey’s works. The Bahamas born and raised interdisciplinary artist has personally chosen all the details of the booth design, enhancing the Afro-futuristic, Afro-surrealist, post-colonist and feminist message of her pieces. “The demand has changed. Preparing solo shows and conceiving it like exhibition projects is becoming a trend. As gallerists, we can see that a solo show has more impact on the visitors. It keeps the message readable and helps them better discover and understand an artist work, making it more approachable. And it also has several perks for us when it comes down to present the artist message and talk business.”
“I think today it’s actually hard to exhibit more than three artists at the time,” ponders Kristian Khachatourian, founder of the Dubai and Venice based AKKA Project. “We live and work in a world where the attention shifts constantly, and we need to present each message and be able to sell their pieces in a short time. Everything must be to the point. The selection can’t be too broad, or it could be confusing and counterproductive.” In light of her success, during the precedent edition, he brought back the richly layered works of the Ugandan Pamela Enyonu, who explores narratives on gender, identity, empowerment, and self-awareness. Next to her, major artist Alexandre Kyungo’s rubber black canvas merges urban cartography and body scarification. Creating a captivating blend of imagination and culture deeply linked to the reality and colonial history of his native Congo. To complete the selection, AKKA Project showcase for the first time the latest series by Mozambican Filipe Branquinho: B(l)ack. A heartfelt tribute to black heritage, depicted in his particular style, focusing on the beauty of natural hair.
Betting it all on a few names, if not just one, is actually a risky approach for an art merchant. But that also shows the trust the participants have in AKAA’s success. In 193 Gallery’s case the bet paid off: several punchy collage-tapestries of April Bey’s work in progress “Atlantica”, about a futuristic and optimistic world where there is no discrimination nor racism, were sold for more than €20,000 each. It’s interesting to note that while she appeals to wealthy collectors, April Bey also promotes an Equity in Collecting Program that provides a discount to potential collectors from marginalized backgrounds, creating access and inclusion in the art market.
Gallery Soview, a contemporary art gallery that opened in Accra in 2019, also got positive responses to its solo show of self-taught artist Apollinaire Guidimbaye alias DOFF, from Chad. Its recent pieces made of bituminous foil waste, a black membrane used for insulation, caught the eye of several African and French collectors, and some were sold on the spot.
As for the Marrakech based MCC Gallery, who came to AKAA for the first time to present Amine El Gotaibi’s artworks, the fair allowed them to bring to a close a deal with a foundation and create new connections in the art world. For the director and founder Fatima-Zohra Bennani Bennis, collector turned gallerist, it has been the perfect occasion to “let El Gotaibi’s universe and process be better known in the art community, but also gaining recognition as a gallery who works for the renewal of contemporary art in Morocco.” Incorporating a variety of disciplines into his projects, like drawings, videos, photography, painting or installations, and working with natural and raw materials like wool or hearth, El Gotaibi tackles social, geopolitical and philosophic issues in a poetic and delicate yet powerful way.
“All the booths made an amazing work”, smiles brightly AKAA’s director Victoria Mann who is quite fond of El Gotaibi’s work, but has words of praise and admiration for everyone. Including the eight talented young Cameroonian artists invited to Paris as part of one of the partnership projects of the fair. They had the opportunity to feature some selected works in an exhibition (curated by Carine Djuidje) called Talents237. It’s the first joint participation at AKAA of the Institut Français du Cameroun and Bandjoun Station, two institutions who work closely together to promote young talents and encourage them to meet collectors, and it has been very well received by the public.
Next stop: Los Angeles
“Since the beginning, it has always been important for us at AKAA to have a great diversity of artists”, points out director Mann. “Whether they are from the continent, the diasporas or they have some kind of heritage, they are all linked to the continent. We try not to corner them by their nationality and keep the invitations as diverse as possible. For the monumental installation, for instance, last year we invited Abdoulaye Konaté from Mali, the year prior it was an artist from South Africa and the year before an artist from Cuba. This year we are back to the Americas.” For the first time, a guest curator has been involved in the landmark, monumental installation that stands in the middle of the fair. Dr. Fahamu Pecou, Artist and Founder of ADAMA (African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta), presented a work by Cosmo Whyte, an artist born and raised in Jamaica, who lives and works in Los Angeles.
Especially conceived for AKAA, the installation is inscribed in his work in progress series “Limin/en” which he started in 2019. The project seeks to reconstruct and reclaim the fragmented histories and identities that have been torn apart by colonialism and white supremacy. Through his installation, he aims to bring together the scattered pieces of Black subjectivity and invites viewers to critically examine the relationship between architecture, power, and the Black experience. As Dr. Fahamu Pecou points out, his artistic process “aligns with Kenyan philosopher Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s concept of “re-membering”. On a structure that has been inspired by his late father’s uncompleted architectural designs, mixing Jamaican and Yoruba influences and private and public spaces, he recreates a few selected black and white photographs on hand-painted beaded curtains. “The pictures I chose have already been published – you know you have seen them somewhere – but they are never clear”, acknowledge Cosmo Whyte. “Here, I pick a photo of the protests after George Floyd’s death: there are people lying on the street, and it is raining, but it’s hard to figure out what is happening. I want the viewers to keep questioning what they are seeing. To reconstruct the image with their imagination. But they can also pass through the curtain and cross over the structure, disrupting the picture and their understanding of it on multiple levels.”
Artistic director Armelle Dakouo and Victoria Mann have been paying more and more attention to the afro-descendant scene in the US recently. And one of the reasons why this year’s monumental installation was signed by two North American guests has to do with the future of the AKAA fair: “In a few months, we ourselves are going to the US,” the duo proudly announced opening the fair in Paris. They had been working on this new project for months, but it is now official: “The first international AKAA edition will take place in Los Angeles from May 2 to 12, next year. AKAA LA will present a large-scale exhibition and public program in South LA and across the city. It will be a commercial exhibition, more than a fair, properly speaking.
This hybrid exhibit will focus on the diverse art scenes from Africa and its diaspora, offering a new interpretation of the contemporary art map that places a multi-faceted Africa at its center and creates a space where awareness and dialogue can deconstruct preconceptions,” promised the directors. The duo feels drawn towards the United States not only because of the rich and innovative practices developed by Latinos and afro-descendant artists, but also because the debate on how to improve the visibility of African, Caribbean and black art on the global market is especially fierce and passionate overseas. “We were really surprised to see the level of the conversation, and it resonated clearly with our vision,” explains Victoria Mann. “To make a change, we can’t only talk about artistic practice.
We need to address the issue, acting at all levels of the art system. That is also why we think that the curatorial practice is so important and can really make a difference. Artists are also engaging with these curatorial notions to push back the limits of their fields and the discourse they carry beyond their work. Curatorial practice broadens the visibility of an artist, a scene and an artistic community.”
The theme has also been explored through the third AKAA Art Book and Les Rencontres cultural program, one of the highlights of the fair that allows the visitors to meet and exchange freely with artists, curators, art critics and other art lovers whose work and initiatives support the development of contemporary art from Africa and beyond. They were both titled Others Shall Come, sounding like an invitation to transform the art world in a future that is already being shaped under our eyes.
Images by Luisa Nannipieri
