AFRIQUES CAPITALES LE MOIS DE LA PHOTO DU GRAND PARIS 2017

AFRIQUES CAPITALES

LE MOIS DE LA PHOTO DU GRAND PARIS 2017

29 MAR – 3 SEP 2017

African Contemporary Art Meets La Villette

In the framework of the second edition of the multidisciplinary festival "100%", dedicated to the African continent, the cultural park La Villette will show the exhibition Afriques Capitales in the historic building La Grande Halle, showcasing the metropolises of Africa.

Directed by curator Simon Njami, Afriques Capitales offers a unique opportunity to discover the urban African contemporary art scene via different types of media: paintings, photographs, installations, videos, sculptures, sound design etc.

Afriques Capitales brings together more than ten works including several monumental ones especially made for the exhibition, featuring about 60 artists from incomparable generations: Pascale Marthine Tayou, Akinbode Akinbiyi, James Webb, Leïla Alaoui etc. Numerous artists will be exhibiting for the first time in France.

The extensive exhibition continues outdoors, with about 30 works that are freely available in the gardens of the park. The framework will be provided by the event Mois de la Photo du Grand Paris.

With Afriques Capitales, La Villette confirms its programming policy of major exhibitions that started in the last year with 100% Expo James Bond 007 and the Grande Galerie Foot. It will be continued this summer with Imagine Van Gogh.

From the 6 April to the 3 September 2017, the second capital of Afriques Capitales will follow in the Gare Saint-Sauveur in Lille: the exhibition Afriques Capitales-Vers le Cap de Bonne Espérance is an invitation to a journey through the world of art, presenting works of over 40 artists.

Both exhibitions are more than a simple panorama of the African art scene: its intention rather is to "work with artists, whose works speak for themselves and convey that their history concerns each of us."