Dominique Zinkpè, Untitled, 2018. Courtesy the artist and In Situo – Fabienne leclerc

1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair has announced the Gallery List for the second Marrakech edition, taking place at la Mamounia, a marvelous historical palace built during the XII° century nearby the medieval ramparts of the city. The fair will host eighteen galleries from all over the world, including some new partners, which were selected from Côte d’Ivoire, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The project is geographically heterogeneous and intensely ambitious and it certainly represents a unique occasion to enrich the cultural contents of the fair. During the second edition of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair there will be seven galleries from Africa: Galerie Cécile Fakhoury (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire / Dakar, Senegal), Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa), L’Atelier 21 (Casablanca, Morocco), Loft Art Gallery (Casablanca, Morocco), LouiSimone Guirandou Gallery (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire), Retro Africa (Abuja, Nigeria) and Siniya28 (Marrakech, Morocco).

This year Galleria Poggi of Paris, Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa), In Situ – Fabienne Leclerc (Paris, France) and Siniya28 (Marrakech, Morocco) will partecipate for the first time to the iniziative. At 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fari 2019 will be hosted 65 artists (emerging and not) from over 24 countries, such as Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Canada, Netherlands, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Trinidad, Tunisia, the United Kingdom and more others. The artists will present work concerning  different medium, contents and poetics. 

Collateral events such as talks and lectures with international curators, artists and intellectuals are organized within the fair. Many different other cultural institutions contribute to the event (Musée d’Art Contemporarin African and Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech among the others). 

Moreover, for the first time 1-54 Contemporary African Art fair will be curated by the art historian and curator Karima Boudou and  will concern the work of the African born artist, musician and poet Ted Joans (1928-2003). 

1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair was founded in 2014 by Touria El Glaoui – the leading director of the event – in order to support and  contemporary art from Africa and the African diaspora. The fair take place every year in London, New York  and Marrakech and sustains artists and galleries connected to Africa.

Karima Boudou (Ganges, 1987) is an art historian and curator based in Rotterdam. In 2011 Boudou founded the independent collective DIS/PARERE, while three years later in 2014 she curated the exhibition of Donelle Woolford at the Marrakech Biennale. In 2015 handled the Soufiane Ababri Solo exhibition What´s The Name Of This Nation and the publication of the first number of the Magazine WTNOTN. Nowadays she has been organizing exhibitions, talks and independent projects between Morocco and Europe with international artist such as  Jean Genet, Mohssin Harraki and David Hammons.

Partecipating Gallery List:

Galerie Cécile Fakhoury (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire / Dakar, Senegal) Galerie Mikael Andersen (Copenhagen, Denmark)

Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Paris, France / Brussels, Belgium) Galerie Poggi (Paris, France)

Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa) In Situ – fabienne leclerc (Paris, France)

Katharina Maria Raab (Berlin, Germany)

L’Atelier 21 (Casablanca, Morocco)

Loft Art Gallery (Casablanca, Morocco)

LouiSimone Guirandou Gallery (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire) MAGNIN-A (Paris, France)

Officine dell’Immagine (Milan, Italy)

Primo Marella Gallery (Milan, Italy)

Retro Africa (Abuja, Nigeria)

Siniya28 (Marrakech, Morocco)

Sulger Buel (London, United Kingdom)

Vigo Gallery (London, United Kingdom)

Yossi Milo Gallery (New York, United States)

For more information visit http://1-54.com

Text by: Valentina Bartalesi