IFITRY / CCA-Essaouira at Africa 2020
A new art commission created at IFITRY residency in January 2021, as part of Africa 2020 is currently exhibited in United States of Africa – 360° African Creation at Halle Tropisme, Montpellier (France).
United States of Africa features Wake Up Africa, a collaborative project developed by 4 independent African art centres which all have the particularity of being run by artists: Vitshois Mwilambwe Bondo (Kin art studio, Democratic Republic of Congo), Mansour Ciss Kanakassy (Villa Gottfried, Senegal), Mostapha Romli (Centre for Contemporary Art Essaouira, Morocco) and Barthélémy Toguo (Bandjoun Station, Cameroon). Together, they have imagined an exhibition aiming to raise awareness of several major issues shaking Africa today, such as the need to reclaim one's own wealth and to bring about a global panafrican identity. This exhibition is the starting point for a wider, music, dance, cinema and gastronomic programme featuring emerging and established African practitioners.
Some of the artworks in Wake Up Africa have been created at IFITRY Residency. These include the Afro Currency, a Moroccan and a Senegalese collaboration seeking to federate North and Sub-Saharan Africa. Artists Mansour Ciss Kanakassy and Mostapha Romli have developed a collective project in view of engaging with new reflections on the future of the African continent and its place in the world.
The Afro Currency expands Mansour Ciss Kanakassy’s Deberlinisation Laboratory, and is intended as a unique and imaginary currency celebrating panafricanism. At Hall Tropisme, the Afro serves as a currency. Afro tickets have been especially created for this event. They are signed, numbered and exchanged for Euros. The interactivity between the artists, the event organisers and the public, thus generates the materialisation of the Afro’s value. ‘Banking services’ also include information on African cultures.
The concept of art and sustainable development, with Toguo’s Bandjoun Station Café, acts as a meeting point for intercultural dialogues.
United States of Africa – 360° African Creation
Until 11 July 2021
Halle Tropisme
For more information visit www.tropisme.coop
