L'heure Rouge / The Red Hour

13th Biennial of African Contemporary Art, 2018 

Biennal of Dakar, Dakar

3 May - 2 June 2018

Curator: Simon Njami

 

The Biennial of Contemporary African Art, DAK'ART, will be held from May 3rd to June 2nd, 2018 in Dakar, under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Senegal. Placed under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and organized by the General Secretariat of the Biennial, this international event will celebrate this year its 26th anniversary.

The Dakar Biennial has finally established itself as the essential rendez-vous of contemporary African Art and beyond.

The Dakar Biennial is 75% funded by the philanthropy of Republic of Senegal. For this new edition, the Head of State, His Excellency Mr. Macky Sall, has donated 500 million CFA francs.

After the theme "The city in the blue daylight " which referred to a poem by Léopold Sédar Senghor, 2918 Biennial bears the seal of another father of Negritude, Aimé Césaire whom was borrowed the expression " the Red Hour ". Extracted from his play "And the dogs were silent", "The Red Hour" speaks of emancipation, freedom and responsibility.

To ensure a certain coherence in the line of the Biennial, Mr. Simon Njami, Artistic Director of the 2016 edition, has been reconducted this year.

The International Exhibition entitled "A New Humanity" will house the works of seventy-five (75) artists from thirty-three (33) countries of the world. The 2018 edition will renew the invitation of five (5) international curators: Alya Sebti (Morocco), Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (Cameroon), Marisol Rodriguez (Mexico City), Cosmin Costinas (Hong Kong), Marianne Hultman (Sweden).

The Rencontres et Echanges program, namely "Meetings and Exchanges" which gather lecturers and panel will focus on: "Contemporary African Art and transformations of intellectual and normative frameworks".

The Biennial devotes, as in every edition, the "Leopold Sédar Senghor Grand Prize" which is a prime distinction in the field of visual arts.

The 2018 edition wants to consolidate the achievements of previous editions, particularly on issues that affect the territorial network, public / private partnership, communication and animation.

This thirteenth edition will include a major innovation with the opening of the Pavilion of Senegal which will offer a showcase of choice of national creativity. It is placed under the curatorial of Mr. Viyé Diba, major visual artist who will make a rigorous selection from Senegal creative potential landscape.

To give a festive and popular dimension to the event, and to promote its appropriation by the populations, especially children, young people and women, a "Barak" will be installed in each commune of Dakar, in which residents will be invited to show what they define themselves as art.

Within the International Exhibition and in several other official venue sites, spaces of awakening will be created for the children to introduce them to the contemporary art of the continent.

Through the Partnership and Economic Valuation Commission, the General Secretariat of the Biennale and the National Agency for Statistics and Demography will set up a data collection system. The existence of reliable statistics is necessary for the development of cultural policies;

Intellectual property issues will be considered, with the introduction in the themes of "Meetings and Exchanges", of topics dealing with literary and artistic property rights attached to works of the visual arts and their exploitation. In addition, the proceedings of the "Meetings and Exchanges" will feed the first contents of the magazine "AFRIK'ARTS" that we wish to relaunch from the second half of 2018.

Rwanda and Tunisia will be honored at the Thirteenth edition for a demonstration of their contemporary artistic creativity.