Vasari Art Codex

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 11, 2026 visibility 4 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

‘We refuse_d’: rehearsing refusal as method, memory, and possibility.

Marking the fifteenth anniversary of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, the traveling exhibition ‘we refuse_d’ has opened at M HKA in Antwerp. Curated by Nadia Radwan and Vasif Kortun, the project draws on the intellectual lineage of Hannah Arendt’s reflections on displacement and the historical precedent of the Salon des Refusés. The exhibition features a constellation of works by artists including Khalil Rabah, Barış Doğrusöz, and Nour Shantout, exploring refusal not as a simple negation, but as a complex strategy for survival, dignity, and the preservation of memory.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

rate_review review schedule Apr 4, 2026 visibility 4 link 5 artists, 3 galleries

Post-Mortemism: An Autopsy of “Nigerian Modernism: Art and Independence” at Tate Modern.

A critical essay by Ayọ̀ Akínwándé performs a forensic 'autopsy' of the Tate Modern exhibition 'Nigerian Modernism: Art and Independence.' The review dissects the show's structure, arguing it fails in its curatorial framework by isolating Nigerian artists within a regional category, using ethnographic display methods, relying on incomplete research, and excluding key artists and historical context.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 14, 2026 visibility 1 link 1 artist

Derrick Adams: Glimpses of Black Leisure

The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, is hosting 'Derrick Adams: View Master,' the first mid-career survey dedicated to the multidisciplinary artist. Featuring over 100 works spanning two decades, the exhibition includes painting, collage, sculpture, video, and performance that highlight Adams's unique visual language of pattern and color.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 14, 2026 visibility 2 link 8 artists

The Music Is Black: Frequencies of Belonging in Britain

V&A East Museum is launching its inaugural exhibition, 'The Music is Black: A British Story,' a comprehensive exploration of Black British music spanning over a century. Curated by Jacqueline Springer, the show features more than 200 objects—including instruments, fashion, and personal artifacts—alongside significant artworks by figures such as Sonia Boyce and Frank Bowling. The exhibition traces the evolution of genres from early 20th-century compositions to contemporary grime and drill, framing them as vital expressions of migration, resistance, and cultural identity.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 9, 2026 visibility 3 link 2 artists

The Sky Lives in Us Still, Resistance and Imagination Take Flight.

Vanessa German has unveiled a major new installation at the Speed Art Museum titled '…do you remember when you were the sky?', marking the inaugural project of the Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program. The exhibition features German’s signature assemblage sculptures, which utilize diverse materials like cowrie shells, quilts, and skateboards to create hybrid figures representing young girls in states of transformation. The body of work is the result of months of community engagement and research into local histories, specifically focusing on the narratives of the Colored Girls Dormitory in Louisville.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 11, 2026 visibility 3 link 3 artists, 3 galleries

‘House of Galleries (Volume 11)’: Niquu Eyeta and Ghizlane Sahli in a Shared Field of Care, Memory, and Material Becoming.

Artists Niquu Eyeta and Ghizlane Sahli are featured in a dual presentation titled ‘House of Galleries (Volume 11),’ showcased by the gallery Sakhile&Me. The exhibition creates a dialogue between Eyeta’s organic compositions, which utilize plant pigments and clay, and Sahli’s intricate 'alveoli' structures made from silk and repurposed plastic. Both artists emphasize the concept of material as a living archive, focusing on themes of ecological consciousness, ritualistic repetition, and the reanimation of discarded matter.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 4, 2026 visibility 4 link 2 artists

Rewiring the System: Jean Katambayi Mukendi.

Congolese artist Jean Katambayi Mukendi presents his first solo exhibition in Germany, 'Ratio,' at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin. The exhibition features drawings, sculptural installations, and works made from recycled materials that examine technological systems, energy infrastructures, and mineral extraction.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 9, 2026 visibility 10 link 12 artists, 2 galleries

What Faces Do Not Say: Reimagining Portraiture Beyond Recognition.

Curator Yasmin Sarnefors challenges the traditional boundaries of portraiture in the exhibition 'What Faces Do Not Say,' which features artists from Africa and its diaspora. Moving away from the expectation of physical resemblance, the show explores identity through ambiguity, memory, and the use of archives, landscapes, and abstract gestures. By presenting works that obscure or transform the human face, the exhibition highlights the psychological and political dimensions of how individuals are perceived and represented.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 4, 2026 visibility 5 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

‘We Are Here’: Queer Presence and Memory in African Art

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art has opened 'Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art,' an exhibition curated by Kevin D. Dumouchelle and Serubiri Moses. Developed through years of direct dialogue with LGBTQ+ artists across Africa and its diaspora, the show foregrounds self-representation and community, ensuring artists defined the terms of their inclusion. It features contemporary works alongside historical precedents, creating a continuum of queer presence in African art history.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 9, 2026 visibility 2 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

Sunkissed and the Poetics of Repetition.

Jeddah-based artist Ahaad Alamoudi presents 'Sunkissed' at the Sharjah Art Foundation, a solo exhibition curated by Amal Al Ali that explores the rapidly shifting cultural landscape of the Gulf. Through a series of newly commissioned and recent works, including looping videos and mechanical installations, Alamoudi utilizes repetition and pop-culture symbols like falcons and fly traps to examine how collective identity is negotiated amidst accelerated urban development and technological change.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 4, 2026 visibility 4 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

Statues Also Breathe: A Chorus of Clay and Memory, Where the Missing Return as Form.

The exhibition 'Statues Also Breathe' has opened at the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL) in Marrakech. Curated by Meriem Berrada, the installation features 108 terracotta heads created by artist Prune Nourry in collaboration with artisans and students. The work draws inspiration from the historic sculptural tradition of Ife in Nigeria while directly addressing the ongoing trauma of the 2014 kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls, using portraiture to represent the missing.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 9, 2026 visibility 3 link 6 artists

Sortilégios de desvio and the Politics of Image-Making

The Museu de Arte do Rio has launched 'Sortilégios de desvio,' the first solo institutional exhibition by Brazilian artist No Martins. Produced in collaboration with Galeria Almeida & Dale and curated by a five-person team led by Marcelo Campos, the show features a significant selection of Martins’ recent works that explore the intersections of urban experience and Afro-Brazilian cultural imaginaries. Through a variety of media, the exhibition highlights the artist's focus on gesture, memory, and the reconfiguration of traditional visual narratives.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 9, 2026 visibility 3 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

The West as Witness: Langston Hughes Reimagined

The California African American Museum (CAAM) has launched 'A New Song: Langston Hughes in the West,' an exhibition that reframes the legendary Harlem Renaissance poet through his travels and political work in California and Nevada during the 1930s. By blending archival materials with contemporary artistic responses, the show moves beyond the traditional East Coast narrative to highlight Hughes as a diasporic thinker shaped by movement, labor, and the diverse landscapes of the American West.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 9, 2026 visibility 2 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

Free and Queer: Black Californian Roots of Gay Liberation

The California African American Museum has launched 'Free and Queer: Black Californian Roots of Gay Liberation,' an exhibition dedicated to the often-overlooked history of Black LGBTQ resistance and culture in California. Curated by Susan D. Anderson in collaboration with ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, the show utilizes a vast array of archival materials, photographs, and film to trace a lineage of activism and artistic expression that predates the Stonewall riots. It specifically highlights how Black queer Californians navigated McCarthy-era repression, the civil rights movement, and the AIDS crisis.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 15, 2026 visibility 1 link 1 artist

‘Out of Place’ : The Afterlives of Landscape.

The major retrospective ‘Out of Place’ at ART AFRICA showcases over 200 images by South African photographer Jo Ractliff, spanning four decades of her career. The exhibition traces Ractliff’s evolution from her early 1980s street photography to her mature, atmospheric landscapes that examine the scars of colonialism, apartheid, and regional conflicts in Southern Africa. By focusing on the 'afterlife' of violence rather than the events themselves, the collection highlights her unique ability to capture how history sediments within the physical terrain.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 14, 2026 visibility 2 link 1 artist

The Practice of Liberation and Sanctuaries of Becoming.

Michaela Yearwood-Dan has unveiled her first major UK institutional exhibition, 'The Practice of Liberation,' at the Whitworth. The immersive installation integrates fourteen new paintings with ceramic vessels and soundscapes, reimagining traditional religious motifs through a contemporary, secular lens. By deconstructing elements like stained glass and the Stations of the Cross into abstract forms, the artist creates a sanctuary that explores themes of ritual, memory, and personal identity.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 14, 2026 visibility 1 link 1 artist

Consequences of Being and the Process of Becoming.

Deborah Roberts’s solo exhibition, 'Consequences of Being,' at The FLAG Art Foundation showcases a significant evolution in her practice, featuring new large-scale paintings, works on paper, and her debut in ceramic sculpture. Her signature collage-based figures are presented as fragmented, composite bodies that challenge fixed notions of Black identity and subjecthood. By blending archival imagery with vernacular signage, Roberts explores how colonial legacies and historical narratives continue to influence the perception of Black bodies across the globe.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 14, 2026 visibility 1 link 1 artist

The Order of Symbolism, Signs and Sensibility

The Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio) is hosting a major retrospective titled 'Rubem Valentim: a ordem do sensível,' featuring approximately 180 works spanning four decades. Curated by Raquel Barreto and Phelipe Rezende, the exhibition showcases Valentim’s unique fusion of modernist abstraction with the spiritual symbols of Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous cosmologies. The presentation includes paintings, reliefs, and sculptures, culminating in monumental works like 'Templo de Oxalá.'

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 9, 2026 visibility 1 link 1 artist

Who Gets to Save the World?

Franco-Malian artist Ladji Diaby presents 'Who’s gonna save the world?' at Lafayette Anticipations, a solo exhibition featuring sculptural installations crafted from found furniture and discarded objects. By repurposing second-hand furnishings through the lens of his mother’s domestic and spiritual rituals, Diaby transforms marginal items into talismanic vitrines of memory. The works challenge Western hierarchies of cultural value, positioning the act of salvaging as both an aesthetic and political gesture.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 9, 2026 visibility 2 link 10 artists

In Dim Light, New Histories Emerge

Museo Afro Casa Silvana in Humacao, Puerto Rico, is hosting 'Dim Light: Afro-Puerto Rican Photography,' the first collective exhibition dedicated exclusively to Afro-Puerto Rican photographers. Featuring ten artists from the island and its diaspora, the show explores themes of spirituality, family, and resistance through a lens of self-representation. The works were previously debuted at the 3rd Black Brazil Art Biennial before returning to Puerto Rico for this landmark presentation.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 9, 2026 visibility 1 link 3 artists

MAFOLOFOLO: Sonic Cartographies of Return

The South African artist collective MADEYOULOOK has unveiled 'Mafolofolo' at Hangar – Centro de Investigação Artística in Lisbon. Curated by Margarida Mendes, the installation utilizes sound, oral histories, and liberation songs to map the complex relationships between land, memory, and dispossession in northern South Africa. The work, which originally debuted at documenta fifteen, has been reconfigured for this specific research-driven setting to explore themes of extraction and survival.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

person people schedule Apr 3, 2026 visibility 5 link 2 artists

Diane Victor at Académie des Beaux-Arts.

South African artist Diane Victor has been awarded the 10th Mario Avati Engraving Prize 2025 by the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris. Her work is currently the subject of an exhibition at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, which runs until May 31, 2026.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 9, 2026 visibility 2

FLESH, FREQUENCY, FLIGHT: Acra’s Angels descend on the ICA

The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London is hosting 'Angels', a new exhibition of paintings by the multidisciplinary Venezuelan artist Arca. Returning to the venue where she gave her first live vocal performance over a decade ago, Arca presents a series of works created with paint, marker, and mixed media. These pieces explore themes of instability and transformation, featuring fluid forms that hover between figuration and abstraction.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 4, 2026 visibility 6 link 1 gallery

Nigeria At Venice: Speaking on Our Own Terms.

Nigeria is preparing for its return to the Venice Biennale in 2028 with a fundamentally different approach, framing its participation as a structural intervention rather than mere inclusion. Curator Richard Vedelago, in conversation with Suzette Bell-Roberts, outlines a strategy focused on ownership, authorship, and building a self-sustaining cultural ecosystem, moving beyond seeking validation from global art structures.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Apr 3, 2026 visibility 5 link 1 gallery

OPEN CALL – CIMAM Travel GRANTApply for a CIMAM Travel Grant: International Open CallOPEN CALL – CIMAM Travel GRANT

CIMAM (International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art) has launched an open call for its 2026 Travel Grant Programme. The grants will fund museum professionals, curators, and researchers from emerging and developing economies to attend the organization's 58th Annual Conference in Harare, Zimbabwe, under the theme 'Museums Beyond Limits: Imagining Repair Across Cultures, Ecologies and Knowledges.'

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 14, 2026 visibility 1 link 1 artist

There Is a Fountain Even If Pale That Flows Beneath Us All.

Hajra Waheed’s upcoming solo exhibition at Kunstinstituut Melly, titled 'There Is a Fountain Even If Pale That Flows Beneath Us All', explores the intersection of sound, politics, and collective resistance. Curated by Hera Chan as part of the Call & Response series, the show features a multidisciplinary array of new commissions and recent works, including the central multichannel sound installation 'HUM' (2020), which amplifies the voices of political prisoners.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 14, 2026 visibility 1 link 1 artist

ICA Live Art Festival at UCT Announces Open Call

The Institute for Creative Arts (ICA) at the University of Cape Town has announced an open call for its 2026 Live Art Festival. Scheduled for October 14–17, 2026, in Cape Town, the festival seeks proposals for experimental and interdisciplinary live artworks from both South African and international practitioners. The selection process will prioritize conceptual strength and works that challenge conventional artistic forms within a non-commercial, research-driven environment.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 4, 2026 visibility 4 link 1 gallery

Tide of Returns: Reclaiming Memory Through Oceanic Ritual

Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21) Academy has opened its 2026 program at Ocean Space in Venice with the exhibition 'Tide of Returns'. Developed by the Repatriates Collective, the show features artists, filmmakers, and Indigenous communities from across the globe, transforming the former Church of San Lorenzo into an immersive environment. It moves beyond conventional restitution debates by presenting repatriation as a living, tidal process expressed through ritual, memory, and community care, using materials like sand from Anindilyakwa Country and returned shell dolls.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Apr 3, 2026 visibility 4 link 1 gallery

Fundación Botín Opens 2026–2027 Art Grants for International Artists

The Fundación Botín has opened applications for its 2026–2027 Art Grants program, offering six grants of €23,000 each to support individual artistic projects. The nine-month grants fund research, training, or production, with selected artists' work to be featured in the Itinerarios exhibition at Centro Botín. Applications close on 8 May 2026.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 14, 2026 visibility 1

Fragments of Belonging in ‘Black Bricolage’.

Photographer and writer Johny Pitts presents 'Black Bricolage' at MEP Studio, a visual essay spanning two decades of work documenting Black life across European cities like Paris, Lisbon, and Berlin. The exhibition utilizes a mix of photography, personal notes, and lived encounters to map the 'Afropean' experience, focusing on the quiet textures of daily life rather than grand spectacles.

newspaper ART AFRICA open_in_new Read original