1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair will be taking place for the first time in the French capital. 1-54 Paris welcomes 19 international galleries presenting work by leading contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora at Christie’s Paris from 20-23 January 2021.

Following the postponement of the 2021 Marrakech edition due to Covid-related regulations, 1-54 has taken the opportunity to partner with Christie’s and hold a unique fair in Paris.

This will be a very special edition of the fair, an intimate event, with a myriad of great art and conversations. 1-54 is implementing, in collaboration with Christie’s and compliance with French national regulations, strict sanitary measures to ensure everyone’s health and security, including allocated VIP access (to be pre-booked online in January), a one-way circuit through the fair where face masks must be worn throughout, hand-sanitising stations and limited capacity control at all times.

1-54 Paris at Christie’s will take place at Avenue Matignon and online featuring 20 international exhibitors from around the world. 1-54 Online, powered by Christie’s will provide a virtual experience allowing visitors globally to encounter all works displayed by participating galleries. The partnership with Christie’s Paris follows the success of a collaboration for the 2020 London fair.

This edition will not only welcome galleries from across Africa and Europe, but also 1-54 Forum, the fair’s multi-disciplinary programme of talks, screenings, performances, workshops and readings. The all-digital programme will be curated by LE 18, a multi-disciplinary art space in the Marrakech medina, and will be held online during the fair and throughout February.

LE 18 is an independent platform for creation, dissemination and cultural and artistic exchanges. LE 18 was born with a double objective, on the one hand, that of supporting Moroccan artists by accompanying their research through residencies and by disseminating their projects within the space through exhibitions, presentations and talks with the public. On the other hand, LE 18 has become a bridge between the Marrakechis cultural scene with those of the rest of the country, as well as of a regional and transnational ones, through international residency programs and local collaborations. The approach is open and progressive so that each intervention allows to redefine the spirit of the place while continuing its commitment to its community.

For this edition, 1-54 has also collaborated with Convelio, a fine-art shipping company who will handle all of the fair’s shipping needs, and who have also developed an API tool to integrate onto the online platform. This will be used alongside 1-54 online powered by Christie’s to provide collectors with instant quotes for collection, crating, freight and customs, to front-door or white-glove delivery. This is a first in the industry and a unique service offer for 1-54’s global collector base.

Thanks to 1-54’s long-standing partnership with Artsy, visitors are also able to explore, connect with, and collect from all the galleries and artists online from 20 – 31 January at

artsy.net/1-54