©MALICK SIDIBE/COURTESY GALERIE MAGNIN-A, PARIS
Today the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair announced the exhibitions and special projects that will accompany its fourth London edition, which will be held at Somerset House from October 6 to 9.
A particular highlight this year will be a solo exhibition of the late Malian photographer Malick Sidibé, who died in April. Presented in collaboration with Paris’s MAGNIN-A Gallery, the exhibition will feature 45 original black-and-white Sidibé prints that captured post-independence life in Bamako, Mali, in the 1960s and ’70s.
Other highlights from the program will include:
– Masque of Blackness, a sculpture installation by Zak Ové (presented by Vigo Gallery) of a “Nubian army of masked men” in the Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court at Somerset House.
– “PIE: Photography in Ethiopia,” an exhibition of work by artists participating in the Addis Foto Fest, the biannual photography festival directed by photographer Aida Muluneh to be held in Ethiopia in December.
– PASSAGE, a site-specific installation by Alexandra Karakashian (SMAC Gallery) dealing with “Karakashian’s ongoing exploration of her family’s escape from the Armenian Genocide of 1915.”
– A three-day live broadcast hosted by radio host Gilles Peterson’s new global music-radio platform Worldwide FM, “featuring DJs and musicians from the African diaspora, artist interviews and discussion.”
– A mobile cafeteria organized by Bandjoun Station, a non-for-profit art center created by Cameroonian artist Barthelemy Toguo.
And no doubt there will be even more delights on offer at the fair.