Paper short abstract:

This paper will explore the state of art of the African Contemporary Arts in the last 15 years, from an institutional and political point of view – relating it with the global dynamic of the artistic field and social and cultural policies regarding the artistic sector.

Paper long abstract:

There is an increasing presence of diasporic, inter- and transnational positioning of African arts, artists, and their cultural and creative practices among different events and institutions across the world. I called it the re-emergency because this process is no longer about the recognition of an aesthetic, but rather its refusal! This is due to the multiplication of media and contents produced and (re)distributed in global terms. The emergency was to specify the place of Africa in the artistic scene - considering its own elements of distinction/legitimation, markets and technological artefacts.

Does the label "Africa" represents an emergent process of marketing of global sales and attracts audiences? Does the "post-colonial" plays an active role on the creation of this platform of distribution and legitimisation?

I will explore different events/institutions from Documenta 11 to the Tate Modern (especially looking at the development of the new working area focusing specifically in Africa, November 2012). These different elements will help us to understand the recent development in terms of cultural policies within Europe and trace the dynamics of the global field of arts. I will also consider the projects not fully achieved as the intention of creation of the Africa.cont in Lisbon - project that was dismissed in its ambitions of a major centre of contemporary African arts to assume exclusively a role of platform of events production.

This presentation is the result of some early analysis from on-going doctoral research about cultural policies in Europe regarding African contemporary arts.