Paper short abstract:

Since the 2000s, a new movement of artists defining themselves as contemporary artists have created new categories in the fine arts in Mozambique. How are global aesthetic standards and what is considered art intertwined with the search for new individual and collective ways of art production?

Paper long abstract:

Since the 2000s profound changes have begun to emerge in the visual arts in Mozambique. A new movement of artists, is implementing new visual strategies for artistic production. They are creating new categories in Mozambican fine arts defining themselves as contemporary artist. As one of the strategies for implementing their ideas, MUVART created a Biennale of Contemporary Art that has taken place since 2004. For the participation in this Biennale they encourage artists to deeply reflect on questions of art production and presentation. The introduction of this new approach to art in Mozambique is raising questions and dilemmas about local artistic productions, theories and curatorial practices both within the circle of MUVART as in other local artistic circles. In a country where art was strongly influenced by historical and political processes, and its output forged a connection to the search for national identity, these questions generate new notions of self-perception and identity.

I explore the interactions of contemporary Mozambican artists inside and outside of Mozambique at the level of aesthetic standards, the art market and their notions of self and world that underlie their art production. What are the existing aesthetic categories in Mozambique that define contemporary art? How are these categories manifested in artistic and curatorial work? How does the awareness of global aesthetic standards and the question of what counts as art, especially African art—both inside and outside of Africa—intertwine with the search for possible new ways of individual and collective art production?