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It all started in 2013, ten years ago! – with an idea, a website, and the name Contemporary And (C&) – focusing on artistic productions which are contemporary “&” connected in the most various ways to Africa and the global Diaspora. A strong urge existed to create a digital platform to facilitate, reflect, and instigate discourses and questions around visual art production from Africa and its Diaspora – a platform that would link creative practices all over the world. Making all content accessible and moving beyond the idea of centers, beyond singular histories and presents, were key concerns and still are.

To mention this very first print issue in 2014, that focused on the Dakar Biennale, we were so proud! Finally holding the first C& physical manifestation in our hands and distributing it among the visitors of our legendary party at the beach with so much conviction and joy.

More print issues followed with foci on other major art events like Kampala’s art festival, Bamako Encounters, and documenta 14. By then, we printed already 10.000 copies – we never forget these huge bulks in Kassel at the press office waiting to be with you all, and on the cover Flavio Cerqueira’ s I told you…(2016). What an irony – a person buried under hundreds of books…

Another big step was the print issue launched in 2016 in São Paulo during the Biennial, which led to the kick-off of C& América Latina Magazine two years later, focusing on Afro- and Indigenous perspectives that connect Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa. Since 5 years, C&AL is becoming one of the most important zines discussing contemporary arts in these regions.

And in between there was always the wish to create Special Issues that allow us to break out of our own editorial routine and invited other cooperation partners to the process of creating and distributing a new print issue. For example, the one from September 2017, written and edited by the participants of one of our first C& Critical Writing Workshop (CWW) facilitated in Nairobi. This issue was exclusively authored, designed and printed in the Kenyan art capital, where it was distributed all over the city beyond the usual art hubs and institutions – some of them guerilla-like on rollerblades. Another one, that you would also find in this box, is a print issue with a selection of texts produced by the C& CWW and Mentoring Program participants since 2015. It was a game changer regarding one of the big challenges we are constantly facing: how to do justice to the various languages coming with the many perspectives from the C& network. For the first time we had five languages in the magazine, and not only the major colonial ones, but also Arabic. We took this step even further, last year, when we produced our first C& and C&AL collaborative print issue with texts in 7 languages, among them two indigenous ones – what a gem!

With our small, powerful team, we’ve created a platform like no other: a space of constellations, of intimacies, of connections – an expanded universe, a locus of wisdom, a cultural beacon.

Thank you to our board members for their constant input! Thank you to our funders, supporters, hosts, and many, many collaborators who have accompanied us throughout these last ten years.

Thank you most of all to the C& contributors – the writers, artists, and cultural producers – who define the magazines and the spirit and heart of C&.

As we look out toward the dazzling horizon of another decade, we are energized by the future and getting there together. C& will keep changing its shape, formulated and formed by the many voices that carry and manifest it.

The content of this box reflects a journey through the past decade: a collection of all C& América Latina Magazine and C& Magazine print issues. It’s a treasure trove of tales and theses – read, enjoy, repeat, and pass them on and around…

The C& team.

For 10 years, C& has been co-creating a bright cosmos of brilliant stars.
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