Free admission
Вход свободный
Daily from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM
| Free admission
Inverted Safari. Contemporary African Art. Kazan
October 21, 2023 — February 4, 2024
State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan — Gallery of Contemporary Art, Central Exhibition Hall "Manege" (Saint Petersburg), Béton Center for Visual Culture, and Triumph Gallery (Moscow)
State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan — Gallery of Contemporary Art, Central Exhibition Hall "Manege" (Saint Petersburg), Béton Center for Visual Culture, and Triumph Gallery (Moscow)
Anticolonial in its essence, the project examines contemporary African art as a complex constellation of local art scenes and artistic movements, tracing its development following the independence of countries across the continent.
The State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan — Gallery of Contemporary Art, the Central Exhibition Hall "Manege" (Saint Petersburg), the Béton Center for Visual Culture, and Triumph Gallery (Moscow) present the project Inverted Safari. Contemporary African Art.
The first large-scale exhibition of contemporary African art in Russia brings together more than 300 works by 33 African and 12 Russian artists, including installations created specifically for the project. The exhibition also features artifacts from the collection of the V. D. Polenov State Memorial Museum-Reserve, as well as archival materials. In the summer of 2023, the exhibition was successfully presented at the Central Exhibition Hall "Manege" in Saint Petersburg.
The first large-scale exhibition of contemporary African art in Russia brings together more than 300 works by 33 African and 12 Russian artists, including installations created specifically for the project. The exhibition also features artifacts from the collection of the V. D. Polenov State Memorial Museum-Reserve, as well as archival materials. In the summer of 2023, the exhibition was successfully presented at the Central Exhibition Hall "Manege" in Saint Petersburg.
The State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan — Gallery of Contemporary Art, the Central Exhibition Hall "Manege" (Saint Petersburg), the Béton Center for Visual Culture, and Triumph Gallery (Moscow) present the project Inverted Safari. Contemporary African Art.
The first large-scale exhibition of contemporary African art in Russia brings together more than 300 works by 33 African and 12 Russian artists, including installations created specifically for the project. The exhibition also features artifacts from the collection of the V. D. Polenov State Memorial Museum-Reserve, as well as archival materials. In the summer of 2023, the exhibition was successfully presented at the Central Exhibition Hall "Manege" in Saint Petersburg.
The first large-scale exhibition of contemporary African art in Russia brings together more than 300 works by 33 African and 12 Russian artists, including installations created specifically for the project. The exhibition also features artifacts from the collection of the V. D. Polenov State Memorial Museum-Reserve, as well as archival materials. In the summer of 2023, the exhibition was successfully presented at the Central Exhibition Hall "Manege" in Saint Petersburg.
Anticolonial in its essence, the project examines contemporary African art as a complex constellation of local art scenes and artistic movements, tracing its development following the independence of countries across the continent. The exhibition’s title points to the need to reconsider the entrenched one-dimensional view of African art and to acknowledge its many facets, as well as the diversity of its themes and visual approaches.
Until the mid-20th century, African art was often perceived as an ethnographic or anthropological element devoid of aesthetic value, while in recent years it has at times been viewed primarily as a way of communicating the experiences of other cultures to Western audiences. Such perspectives reinforce stereotypes about Africa and frame artists through the lens of their ethnic identity. By "inverted," we refer to our working method: we have given artists the freedom of self-representation.
— Alessandro Romanini, curator of the project
Until the mid-20th century, African art was often perceived as an ethnographic or anthropological element devoid of aesthetic value, while in recent years it has at times been viewed primarily as a way of communicating the experiences of other cultures to Western audiences. Such perspectives reinforce stereotypes about Africa and frame artists through the lens of their ethnic identity. By "inverted," we refer to our working method: we have given artists the freedom of self-representation.
— Alessandro Romanini, curator of the project
Anticolonial in its essence, the project examines contemporary African art as a complex constellation of local art scenes and artistic movements, tracing its development following the independence of countries across the continent. The exhibition’s title points to the need to reconsider the entrenched one-dimensional view of African art and to acknowledge its many facets, as well as the diversity of its themes and visual approaches.
Until the mid-20th century, African art was often perceived as an ethnographic or anthropological element devoid of aesthetic value, while in recent years it has at times been viewed primarily as a way of communicating the experiences of other cultures to Western audiences. Such perspectives reinforce stereotypes about Africa and frame artists through the lens of their ethnic identity. By "inverted," we refer to our working method: we have given artists the freedom of self-representation.
— Alessandro Romanini, curator of the project
Until the mid-20th century, African art was often perceived as an ethnographic or anthropological element devoid of aesthetic value, while in recent years it has at times been viewed primarily as a way of communicating the experiences of other cultures to Western audiences. Such perspectives reinforce stereotypes about Africa and frame artists through the lens of their ethnic identity. By "inverted," we refer to our working method: we have given artists the freedom of self-representation.
— Alessandro Romanini, curator of the project
While from a distance Africa has often been mistakenly perceived as a single cultural landscape, it is more accurately understood through the prism of regional formations or cultural groups that share historical ties, linguistic affinities, as well as economic and political integration. The central motif of this exhibition is the search for—and the attempt to assert—a new African identity. At the same time, works by contemporary Russian artists illustrate the evolving perception of Africa in our country.
The tradition of engaging with other cultures, borrowing from them, and aesthetically reworking the languages and codes of different civilizations has always been characteristic of Russian art, which seeks its own within the чужом, and often perceives the foreign as a powerful resource for developing strategies of self-definition.
— Yulia Aksenova, curator of the project
The tradition of engaging with other cultures, borrowing from them, and aesthetically reworking the languages and codes of different civilizations has always been characteristic of Russian art, which seeks its own within the чужом, and often perceives the foreign as a powerful resource for developing strategies of self-definition.
— Yulia Aksenova, curator of the project
While from a distance Africa has often been mistakenly perceived as a single cultural landscape, it is more accurately understood through the prism of regional formations or cultural groups that share historical ties, linguistic affinities, as well as economic and political integration. The central motif of this exhibition is the search for—and the attempt to assert—a new African identity. At the same time, works by contemporary Russian artists illustrate the evolving perception of Africa in our country.
The tradition of engaging with other cultures, borrowing from them, and aesthetically reworking the languages and codes of different civilizations has always been characteristic of Russian art, which seeks its own within the чужом, and often perceives the foreign as a powerful resource for developing strategies of self-definition.
— Yulia Aksenova, curator of the project
The tradition of engaging with other cultures, borrowing from them, and aesthetically reworking the languages and codes of different civilizations has always been characteristic of Russian art, which seeks its own within the чужом, and often perceives the foreign as a powerful resource for developing strategies of self-definition.
— Yulia Aksenova, curator of the project
The project seeks to develop a new approach to African art. The exhibition creates a situation in which artworks are placed within a new context and, as a result, acquire new layers of meaning. The aim of Inverted Safari is to reveal similarities—and at times intersections—between cultural zones that have often been excluded from the processes of knowledge production, to avoid any form of predetermination, and to find, in the reflection of African artistic practices, a sense of self and one’s own experience.
The project seeks to develop a new approach to African art. The exhibition creates a situation in which artworks are placed within a new context and, as a result, acquire new layers of meaning. The aim of Inverted Safari is to reveal similarities—and at times intersections—between cultural zones that have often been excluded from the processes of knowledge production, to avoid any form of predetermination, and to find, in the reflection of African artistic practices, a sense of self and one’s own experience.
List of artists:
Aboudia (Côte d’Ivoire), Owusu Ankomah (Ghana), Gayane Avetisyan (Armenia), Joseph Awuah-Darko (Ghana), Maria Arendt (Russia), Natasha Arendt (Russia), Belinda Assenga, Adjarb Bernard Ategwa (Cameroon), Adeoti Aziz Afiz (Nigeria), Oladele Bello (Nigeria), Amani Bodo (DRC), Armand Boua (Côte d’Ivoire), Haneiso Bui (South Africa), Vasily Vlasov (Russia), Medina Dugger (USA), Abdul-Ganiyu Dermani, Katya Emelyanova (Russia), Ekaterina Zorkaya (Russia), Edwin Paul Kazoka, Seni Awa Camara (Senegal), Laetitia Ky (Côte d’Ivoire), Joseph Kitone (Nigeria), Serge Attukwei Clottey (Ghana), Désiré Mounou Koffi (Côte d’Ivoire), Henri Kouakou (Côte d’Ivoire), Anton Kuznetsov (Russia), Lyubov Kulik (Russia), Namsa Leuba (Switzerland / Guinea), Gonçalo Mabunda (Mozambique), Esther Mahlangu (South Africa), Mário Macilau (Mozambique), Olga Michi (Russia), Michel Okpare (Nigeria), Sadikou Oukpedjo (Togo), Ulyana Podkorytova (Russia), Essoh Sess (Côte d’Ivoire), Antonio Sidibé (Italy), Soly Cissé (Senegal), Moffat Takadiwa (Zimbabwe), David Ter-Oganyan (Russia), Médéric Turay (Côte d’Ivoire), Varya Cheltsova (Russia), Kelechi, Chinwendu Kelechi (Nigeria), Brice Esso (Côte d’Ivoire), Saint-Étienne Yanzi (Côte d’Ivoire).
Aboudia (Côte d’Ivoire), Owusu Ankomah (Ghana), Gayane Avetisyan (Armenia), Joseph Awuah-Darko (Ghana), Maria Arendt (Russia), Natasha Arendt (Russia), Belinda Assenga, Adjarb Bernard Ategwa (Cameroon), Adeoti Aziz Afiz (Nigeria), Oladele Bello (Nigeria), Amani Bodo (DRC), Armand Boua (Côte d’Ivoire), Haneiso Bui (South Africa), Vasily Vlasov (Russia), Medina Dugger (USA), Abdul-Ganiyu Dermani, Katya Emelyanova (Russia), Ekaterina Zorkaya (Russia), Edwin Paul Kazoka, Seni Awa Camara (Senegal), Laetitia Ky (Côte d’Ivoire), Joseph Kitone (Nigeria), Serge Attukwei Clottey (Ghana), Désiré Mounou Koffi (Côte d’Ivoire), Henri Kouakou (Côte d’Ivoire), Anton Kuznetsov (Russia), Lyubov Kulik (Russia), Namsa Leuba (Switzerland / Guinea), Gonçalo Mabunda (Mozambique), Esther Mahlangu (South Africa), Mário Macilau (Mozambique), Olga Michi (Russia), Michel Okpare (Nigeria), Sadikou Oukpedjo (Togo), Ulyana Podkorytova (Russia), Essoh Sess (Côte d’Ivoire), Antonio Sidibé (Italy), Soly Cissé (Senegal), Moffat Takadiwa (Zimbabwe), David Ter-Oganyan (Russia), Médéric Turay (Côte d’Ivoire), Varya Cheltsova (Russia), Kelechi, Chinwendu Kelechi (Nigeria), Brice Esso (Côte d’Ivoire), Saint-Étienne Yanzi (Côte d’Ivoire).
List of artists:
Aboudia (Côte d’Ivoire), Owusu Ankomah (Ghana), Gayane Avetisyan (Armenia), Joseph Awuah-Darko (Ghana), Maria Arendt (Russia), Natasha Arendt (Russia), Belinda Assenga, Adjarb Bernard Ategwa (Cameroon), Adeoti Aziz Afiz (Nigeria), Oladele Bello (Nigeria), Amani Bodo (DRC), Armand Boua (Côte d’Ivoire), Haneiso Bui (South Africa), Vasily Vlasov (Russia), Medina Dugger (USA), Abdul-Ganiyu Dermani, Katya Emelyanova (Russia), Ekaterina Zorkaya (Russia), Edwin Paul Kazoka, Seni Awa Camara (Senegal), Laetitia Ky (Côte d’Ivoire), Joseph Kitone (Nigeria), Serge Attukwei Clottey (Ghana), Désiré Mounou Koffi (Côte d’Ivoire), Henri Kouakou (Côte d’Ivoire), Anton Kuznetsov (Russia), Lyubov Kulik (Russia), Namsa Leuba (Switzerland / Guinea), Gonçalo Mabunda (Mozambique), Esther Mahlangu (South Africa), Mário Macilau (Mozambique), Olga Michi (Russia), Michel Okpare (Nigeria), Sadikou Oukpedjo (Togo), Ulyana Podkorytova (Russia), Essoh Sess (Côte d’Ivoire), Antonio Sidibé (Italy), Soly Cissé (Senegal), Moffat Takadiwa (Zimbabwe), David Ter-Oganyan (Russia), Médéric Turay (Côte d’Ivoire), Varya Cheltsova (Russia), Kelechi, Chinwendu Kelechi (Nigeria), Brice Esso (Côte d’Ivoire), Saint-Étienne Yanzi (Côte d’Ivoire).
Aboudia (Côte d’Ivoire), Owusu Ankomah (Ghana), Gayane Avetisyan (Armenia), Joseph Awuah-Darko (Ghana), Maria Arendt (Russia), Natasha Arendt (Russia), Belinda Assenga, Adjarb Bernard Ategwa (Cameroon), Adeoti Aziz Afiz (Nigeria), Oladele Bello (Nigeria), Amani Bodo (DRC), Armand Boua (Côte d’Ivoire), Haneiso Bui (South Africa), Vasily Vlasov (Russia), Medina Dugger (USA), Abdul-Ganiyu Dermani, Katya Emelyanova (Russia), Ekaterina Zorkaya (Russia), Edwin Paul Kazoka, Seni Awa Camara (Senegal), Laetitia Ky (Côte d’Ivoire), Joseph Kitone (Nigeria), Serge Attukwei Clottey (Ghana), Désiré Mounou Koffi (Côte d’Ivoire), Henri Kouakou (Côte d’Ivoire), Anton Kuznetsov (Russia), Lyubov Kulik (Russia), Namsa Leuba (Switzerland / Guinea), Gonçalo Mabunda (Mozambique), Esther Mahlangu (South Africa), Mário Macilau (Mozambique), Olga Michi (Russia), Michel Okpare (Nigeria), Sadikou Oukpedjo (Togo), Ulyana Podkorytova (Russia), Essoh Sess (Côte d’Ivoire), Antonio Sidibé (Italy), Soly Cissé (Senegal), Moffat Takadiwa (Zimbabwe), David Ter-Oganyan (Russia), Médéric Turay (Côte d’Ivoire), Varya Cheltsova (Russia), Kelechi, Chinwendu Kelechi (Nigeria), Brice Esso (Côte d’Ivoire), Saint-Étienne Yanzi (Côte d’Ivoire).
© All rights reserved.
Free admission
Daily from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM
WE ARE OPEN
Contacts
MENU
