AKAA — Also Known As Africa — Foire d’art contemporain et de design — Carreau du Temple — Fair — Slash Paris

Past: December 3 → 6, 2016

All the Akaa team informs you of the decision to postpone the dates of the Fair following the events.

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Also Known As Africa shines a light on a universal Africa that includes all those who identify with it, all those who are inspired by it, and all those who are drawn to it. AKAA is a unifying platform that values the richness and diversity of the art and design emanating from this idea of Africa.

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With 30 exhibitors and more than 100 artists from 25 different countries, the first edition of AKAA invites you to discover a plural Africa, self-defined by the vision of the individual artists whose work has been assembled here in Paris for these four days in December.

Romuald Hazoumè, Pied à terre from the series Kpayoland, ed. 16 , 2004 — Baryte print — 80 x 120 cm Courtesy of October Gallery

AKAA establishes a link with Africa that is not defined by origin. The focus of AKAA is not on contemporary African art, but on the work of individual artists. It is crucial to create an event that addresses the global without erasing artistic singularities. The specificity of each artist’s work shows that they belong to the contemporary world.

Diasporas and migrations led us to a multiplicity that is the foundation of our times. This plurality is the core strength of gatherings such as AKAA, making Africa their formal common denominator.

This creative dynamic portrays an Africa made of multiple variations, as seen through the melancholy of Richard Butler Bowdon, the humour of Juergen Teller, the humanism of Julien Sinzogan and the functionnality of Cheick Diallo.

AKAA actively participates in this new outlook on African contemporary creative expression. It is a necessary contribution that adds to the work and efforts carried out over many years by exhibition curators, art critics, publishers, collectors, patrons and institutions, who have helped artists increase their visibility and establish themselves in the global contemporary art and design scene.

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The design space

Les suspects (in)habituels

Two curators for design exhibition : Hicham Lahlou and Aaron Kohn.

Perhaps it was once unusual for an African designer to work on the global stage ; not anymore. Collectors are integrating their canonical works from Milan, Paris, New York, Tokyo, with works from African designers. What once represented the periphery — only seen as craft or tradition — has developed into a full-fledged equal. African designers are not following global trends anymore; these designers are setting them.

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" The pace at which African design is inserting itself into the global design landscape is bullish and exciting, but it is long overdue, and features some of the continent’s most important visionaries. "

Hicham Lahlou & Aaron Kohn

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Kossi Aguessy, Idoll 2 — The Sun Courtesy of Galerie Valois

In the last decade, African designers have been behind some of the world’s most iconic installations, products, and new ideas. Ghanaian designer David Ajaye renovated the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo. Nigerian-born Yinka Shonibare’s HMS Victory stood in Trafalgar Square. The first survey exhibitions of African design took place in New York (2010) and Bilbao (2015), featuring masters who have sustained traditional techniques like Aboubakar Fofana’s indigo dying in Mali, and signature aesthetics as in architect Cheick Diallo’s furniture.

The pace at which African design is inserting itself into the global design landscape is bullish and exciting, but it is long overdue, and features some of the continent’s most important visionaries.

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Eiffage espace non-profit

Particularly linked to the African continent for major projects, Eiffage Group history is an history of passion and share. Eiffage uses both of them in lots of infrastructure realizations in Africa making possible the economic development even in remote areas. The Dakar-Diamniadio highway in Senegal, the high voltage unities and lines in Zagtouli (Burkina Faso), the Anguille oil rig or the extension of the National Assembly in Gabon… are some examples.

Eric Pina Esquises, Gestes, Regards, Extérieurs, 2015 — Resin — Variable dimensions, 40 x 200 cm © Eric Pina

Eiffage commitment is devoted to people with a social and societal involvement. Africa has lot of to give, to show in many fields, so that Eiffage supports the Akaa first edition. Together we will increase the standing of the African art, and more specifically by this Gabonese and Senegalese art partnership.

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LagosPhoto Festival

Launched in 2010, LagosPhoto is the first and only international arts festival dedicated to photography in Nigeria. For the first edition of AKAA, LagosPhoto presents : Shifting Identity : Designing An African Image through Music.

Afrobeat as we know it today is quite different from the Afrobeat genre pioneered by musical legend Fela ( 1938-1997 ), whose legacy transcends music and fashion, identity, politics, and post-colonial ideologies. Today, young creatives are collaborating in unique and experimental ways, increasingly developing a musical and photographic style that enhances the listener’s experience.

LagosPhoto — August Udoh

These album covers serve as unique introspections into the identities and artistic processes behind the music : they are mixes of performance personas and reality, a rich ground for those interested in the semiotic of images. Displaying mostly portraits, they attempt to give a window into the soul of their subjects, featuring statuesque musicians as the Kings of Afrobeat. Looking at these images, we find a plurality of creative expressions with a common parentage : they present a microcosm of diversity in the visual representation of Africa.

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Forum