Auction to Support Contemporary Artists from Africa

More than fifty works of art by thirty contemporary African artists including Soly Cissé, Joana Choumali, Mohamed El Baz, William Kentridge, Siriki Ky, Abdoulaye Konaté, Mohamed Melehi, Ilias Selfati, Barthélémy Toguo, Safaa Erruas or Mahi Binebine will be auctioned off during a closed session between Paris and Casablanca, by the two auction houses Cornette de Saint Cyr and La Marocaine des Arts on 7 July 2020 at 6 pm. This auction entitled “Africa Unite” will be broadcast on the Drouot Online website.

This auction, organized by the Foundation for the Development of Contemporary African Culture and the African Culture Fund, created a real surge of solidarity among African artists, who donated their works to help the two foundations overcome the challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The two auction houses (Cornette de Saint Cyr and La Marocaine des Arts) will conduct the auction on a voluntary basis and will not receive commissions on the sales. The transport of the works sold shall be borne by the buyer.

In recent years, we have witnessed an unprecedented enthusiasm for contemporary African culture. But although this enthusiasm for African artists has continued to grow internationally, to the point of arousing the interest of the general public, it is still limited to a handful of art aficionados and collectors on the continent.

Mindful of the need for Africans to (re)claim their culture and art, and of the importance for artists on the continent to find their local audience, the Foundation for the Development of Contemporary African Culture wishes to increase the visibility of contemporary art in its homeland. It does so by striving to enhance the value of the works of art among an African public, whether aficionados or connoisseurs, but also by contributing to boosting the intra-African art market.

The African Culture Fund is an initiative that defends a continent's desire to write new stories and give its unique culture a legitimate place on the world stage. In Africa, the sources of funding for culture are volatile, unpredictable and dispersed despite the efforts of African governments and financial partners in the industry.

This situation makes it very complex to finance culture, both for the financial partners and for project sponsors. Creating a continental instrument for financing art and culture is therefore becoming a priority for Africa. In the context of this health crisis, the African Culture Fund (ACF) has decided to launch the SOFACO project, whose objective is to strengthen the resilience of artists and cultural organizations through support for the creation and reconstruction of the social fabric of the arts industry in Africa in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.

Sale on 7 July 2020 at 6pm on the Drouot Online website: drouotonline.com