The art journal AFRIKADAA, in partnership with the Dakar Biennale, is proud to announce the third edition of the African Art Book Fair (AABF). This event will be held between the 4th and the 6th of May as part of the 13th annual Dakar International Contemporary Art Biennale at the Douta Seck Cultural Center. It’s the first time that the Dakar biennale will feature a publication-focused space dedicated to the presentation of critical production and art publications.

L’AABF : an innovative artistic proposition
The African Art Book Fair is an artistic project that was conceived as an independent publishing event accompanied by an exposition and a forum for discussion centered around specific themes – publica- tions in art, photography, design, experimental music, open culture, and militancy.

In recognition and support of rigorous and singular publication practices, this meeting of the disci- plines is an essential aspect of a process whose objective is the bring attention to the most contempo- rary and most innovative editorial practices with a focus on the physical medium of the book.

This 3rd edition will showcase the most current exchange of new editorial practice on a North/south axis and will permit independent publishers and partners a platform to meet and exchange with pro- fessionals from the art world as well as the public, all of which will contribute to the fostering of dia- logue and the circulation of knowledge that permit African artworks and artists their proper contextu- alization. We will inquire into publishing as a curatorial and artistic practice, as well reflect on the current state of criticism itself.

During this event, the AABF will expose the figure of the publisher, the most independent and also most polyvalent actor in the arena of contemporary art. Numerous international independent edi- tions, selected for the quality of their propositions, will be featured in a specially designed presentation during this 3rd edition.

The AABF platform positions itself as an itinerant and polymorphous entity that invites itself into the heart of these fairs, salons, and biennales. The lack of critical production threatens the transmission between the contemporary art of Africa and its diaspora in terms of critical content, analysis anesthetics. The AABF will cross over the frontiers with the aim of confirming the necessity of inscribing living

Thus, the AABF connects international artists with the public by means of affordable publications, all the while offering an alternative art space alongside active biennales, galleries and museums.
The AABF platform positions itself as an itinerant and polymorphous entity that invites itself into the heart of these fairs, salons, and biennales. The lack of critical production threatens the transmission between the contemporary art of Africa and its diaspora in terms of critical content, analysis anesthetics. The AABF will cross over the frontiers with the aim of confirming the necessity of inscribing living memory through the written word, in order to archive the impact of contemporary forms. From May 3 to May 6 at Dakar, the AABF will welcome participants coming from a variety of destinations, a reflection of the diversity of contemporary editorial practice.

Independent publishers:
 AFRIKADAA, Bandjoun Station Editions, Les Éditions Clémentine De La Ferronnière, CCA Lagos, Teham Éditions, Chimurenga, Editions Malika Slaoui, Duta Editions, Les éditions Ifrikiya, Galerie Imane Farès Editions, Market FiftyFour, Mosaïques, Nka Journal, of African Contemporary Art, Pathways to Free Education, Revue Noire, Something we Africans got, Vus d’Afrique Editions, Zâman Editions, Africalia, Edition, Sugarcane magazine……

Special projects include:

Exhibition: Make it Yourself


Curators: Pascale Obolo, Yves Chatap

Artists: Rita Alaoui, Dimitri Fagbohoun, Marco Godinho, Katia Kameli, Mischek Masamvu, Raffaella della Olga, Nadia Valentine, Ekatarina Vasilyeva, Guy Woueté, Pape Tegne diouf

The Gallery of Small Things (GoST)

Curator: Bisi Silva

An exhibition featuring over 40 established and emerging artists from Africa and the Diaspora presenting 75 works not more than 20 x 20 inches (50cm) in size in a variety of media. The conceptual and curatorial premise behind this itinerant pop up initiative is to create intimacy in an art world saturated with very large works that need us to move back in order to experience them. With GoST, the idea is for the viewer to move forward, to move closer to the works in order to engage them. For this second edition the Brooklyn based apartment gallery and project space Medium Tings founded by Stephanie Baptist has been invited as a collaborator. As an « incubator » for emerging contemporary artists Medium Tings embodies the same objectives of GoST.

GoST is an intitative of Bisi Silva Projects

A rich program of discussion panels including:

Open Talk: a space of expression dedicated to the presentation of a featured publication. Each independent publisher will be allowed to sign up for the opportunity to present their organization.

Aperitif performative reading with a selection of artists every day at 5pm

Workshop: workshop on the creation of the artist book by artist Nadia Valentine

Contact: Pascale Obolo: zugas.pascale@gmail.com / T +33 (0)6 09 55 26 57

Venue : Douta Seck Cultural Center – Avenue Blaise Diagne X Rue 25 BP 7559, Médina – Dakar.
Opening hours: from 10 am to 7pm from the 3rd to the 6th of May 2018

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