In late September, the world's most extensive cultural event, organized by UNTREF, an Argentine public university, will make its inaugural appearance on the African continent in Algeria and Tunisia, with a return to Cameroon, Morocco, and Senegal, after collaborating in the Dakar Biennial in 2022.
On September 29th and 30th, BIENALSUR will kick off its series of openings in Africa with three exhibitions in Senegal, marking its first visit to the country since its creation. The series surpasses those of its previous editions in the African continent.
Every two years from July to December since 2017, BIENALSUR's cartography extends an invitation to embark on a 18,370-kilometer journey of contemporary art between Buenos Aires and Tokyo. In its fourth edition, it returns once more to Africa with venues in Cameroon and Morocco, and for the first time in Algeria, Tunisia, and Senegal, where it collaborated with the Dakar Biennial in 2022.
Over 400 artists from around the world participate in different exhibitions, installations, performances, and special activities that BIENALSUR organizes in more than 70 cities in 28 countries. In Nigeria, Cameroon, Morocco, Senegal, and Tunisia, BIENALSUR 2023 will present pieces by local artists and others from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Mexico, and Peru.
A Tribute to María Remedios del Valle at the African Renaissance Monument
On Friday, September 29th at 5:30 pm., BIENALSUR 2023 will have its first opening in Africa. Curated by Diana Wechsler, Artistic Director of BIENALSUR, the work of Argentine artist Rodrigo Diaz Ahl will be exhibited at the African Renaissance Monument, in homage to Maria Remedios del Valle, known as the "Captain of the Homeland" of Argentina.
Like many other women of African descent who fought for Argentina during the transition from the colonial to the republican rule, a period that began with the wars of independence in 1810, Del Valle became a symbol of resistance and national power. Her legacy extends beyond her military achievements: through María Remedios del Valle, we not only recognize Argentina's black identity, but also acknowledge women's struggle for their rights.
Recovering her memory also serves to underscore the profound influence of Africans and Afro descendants on philosophy, literature, music, and language, and other forms of ancestral knowledge that have long been concealed in Argentina.
An Abandoned Museum at the Instituto Cervantes in Dakar
On Saturday, September 30th at 11 am, BIENALSUR will open at the Instituto Cervantes in Dakar the African edition of Abandoned Museum, the project of Argentine artist Diego Bianchi, created along with the community of Senegalese artists.
The Chilean edition of Abandoned Museum was held in the city of Valparaíso as part of BIENALSUR 2017 and in Córdoba, Argentina in the course of BIENALSUR 2019. In each case it featured the participation of artists from different regions, who jointly produced pieces in a workshop environment to be exhibited in public places without any kind of surveillance. The project seeks to reflect on the circumstances that modify the appreciation of objects, including works of art.
In Dakar, Bianchi worked together with the local community under the premise of using mainly the materials that the sea washes up on the shores of the city. The resulting works will be shown to the public without much separation. They could be vandalized, modified, supplemented, or even removed, all with the intention of making them a genuine object of debate and consideration.
An exhibition in association with BIENALSUR at the Institut Français
Also on Saturday, September 30th, at 6:30 p.m., the exhibition Eroding Memories, associated with BIENALSUR 2023, will open at the Galerie Le Manège - Institut Français du Sénégal à Dakar. Curated by Anne Bourrassé, the show features works by Senegalese artist Linda Dounia and Martina Echeverría from Argentina. It will be on display until November 5th.
The city of Dakar borders on two sides. On one side, the sea, succumbing to climate change, erases kilometers of land contours; on the other, concrete, an ally of demographic expansion, rises upwards. The rapid pace of urban development aggravates the fragility of Dakar's ecosystem and its dwindling coastline. Artists, whether born in the city or passing through, are witnesses to these transformations. They create and disseminate the memory of two changing cities through painting, video and photography, with the participation of the local communities.
The Musée National de la Photographie, the venue of BIENALSUR 2023 in Morocco
On Tuesday, October 3rd at 5 pm, BIENALSUR will inaugurate the exhibition Between Spaces and Times at the Musée National de la Photographie in the city of Rabat. Curated by Diana Wechsler, the show includes photographic installations by 17 photographers from seven countries in the Americas and Africa, addressing contemporary existence and environmental awareness through a poetic approach. Uncanniness is the driving force behind this proposal intended to instill uncertainty in the spectators and, as a result, their desire to explore and reflect on it creatively. "We flow between two dimensions: time and space. Today we move between them in different types of face-to-face or online experiences, displacing them and creating other ways of configuring the 'real'. Certain experiences resonate in others and disrupt the notion of 'reality,'" says Wechsler. Algeria, Cameroon and Tunisia, venues of BIENALSUR 2023 in NovemberIn November, BIENALSUR will make its debut in Tunisia, where it will be held from the 6th to the 10th at the City of Culture. In Algeria, a work by Argentine artist Gabriela Messina on Afro-Argentine roots will be exhibited at the National Museum of Fine Arts starting the 18th. This month will also see a new opening in the city of Yaounde, Cameroon, where, just like in the 2021 edition, BIENALSUR will be hosted at the Institut Français, this time with a proposal of crossed residencies with the participation of local artists along with Agustina Woodgate, from Argentina.
