MARINA ALMEIDA
Words

JP MIKA - Sentiments confidentiels - 2018

THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE still has the lingering scent of wet paint. Located on Rua da Emenda, in Lisbon’s Chiado neighbourhood, this contemporary art gallery first opened its doors (and windows) in May this year, where visitors could see “In Memory We Trust”, a solo exhibition by the São Tomé and Príncipe artist, René Tavares. According to curator and technical director, Graça Rodrigues, “Tavares is an artist who encapsulates all the issues of identity, cultural memory, and ethnic mixes, working on that body of themes, mirroring what the gallery is.” The curator of the Angolan gallery, which now has a branch in Lisbon, is engaged in a constant search for opportunities to present African art at a particular time. “There’s great upheaval in Africa. All kinds of things are happening, and we’re bringing that discussion centre stage.” In the Graça district, we find the Hangar artistic research centre. Operating for the last six years, it takes advantage of Lisbon often being a stop-off for artists and curators. “The city is hugely diverse, but this is often not reflected in the art scene. We wanted to focus on that”, says Mónica de Miranda, founder of Hangar, eschewing the term African art. “We work on racial, identity and gender issues. That’s our core mission.”

This is a heated discussion that is gaining traction. The Africa of colonisation and emotional scars takes its place alongside the Africa of beauty and an unparalleled power of discourse. “I think African art offers great freedom, which is fascinating. It also means that the continent is attracting a lot of Western attention,” says André Magnin. The French curator admits that there’s a “collectors’ appetite” for contemporary African art, not only because it is still affordable, but also because the pieces have real content. “Today, the work of well-known African artists is visually strong, with a strong story, strong on immigration, on gender and homosexuality, with a strong colonial history. And they’re not scared to be figurative.”

On the walls of the Chiado gallery, René Tavares’ canvases combine materials, various examples of mundane stories, layers of history. Graça Rodrigues reminds us of the name of the exhibition and points to “Product for Export Only”. Created with coffee sacks from São Tomé and Príncipe, with strong graphics representing “words used to designate people of colour”, the piece highlights the fact that the best quality coffee is all exported, leaving local people with second grade beans. “There is an activism, a voice that won’t be silenced,” says Rodrigues, acknowledging that there is still a long way to go. “It’s important that the gallery establishes itself here, but the focus of the debate is elsewhere. There’s hope for it to be here because many of those involved are in Portugal. Many artists who have gained an international reputation have made the journey from Portuguese-speaking Africa to Paris, getting major exposure globally. They are the front line, where the debate is.” In London, 1-54, which is a contemporary art fair dedicated to Africa and its diaspora, has been key event since 2013.

Discussing African art is not without its controversies. This is because it involves talking about artists keen to avoid being “ghettoised” (a term coined by Paula Nascimento, curator of Africa in Focus at ARCOlisboa). It also means talking about a world. “Africa is not just one place, it is many. Art from the Congo is very different to that of Mozambique, South Africa or Benin. There are many creative people on the African continent who work in a particular context, who create works denoting great freedom. They demonstrate great knowledge of their social, political and ethnographic context, as well as travelling extensively. Everything happens very fast. Africa is enriched by its relations with the West, the West is enriched by its relations with Africans, the Chinese, Americans...”, says Magnin.

RENÉ TAVARES - Product for export only - 2020

For around 35 years, this French curator has scoured Africa in search of its artists. It all started in 1989 with the “Magiciens de la Terre” international exhibition in Paris, when he did all the research for the African section. “When we did this exhibition, there were collectors who had never seen these artists at international fairs. One of them, Jean Pigozzi, invited me to create his personal collection. He funded all my research in Africa for 20 years. I bought 12,000 pieces between 1989 and 2009, making it the world’s most important collection of contemporary African art”, Magnin declares proudly. “What really moves me is that these artists, despite not having a place to exhibit or a market, make art. It’s proof of its need to exist. And all the pieces created with a profound, inner need, in a particular context, are almost always very powerful.” In his quest, Magnin highlighted artists who are now international names, such as Bodys Isek Kingelez, Chéri Samba, J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, Ana Silva and Filipe Branquinho — all of whom are represented by his gallery, MAGNIN-A, which was founded in 2009.

In three decades, much has changed. “Initially, there were 12 galleries throughout Europe. Little by little, important collectors emerged, specialising in Africa. Nowadays, it’s different. The collectors are fashion designers, architects, musicians, writers and thinkers. A very creative Africa has been revealed”.

Contemporary African art also continues to gain ground in Lisbon. Some artists have chosen to work in the city and ARCOlisboa dedicated a section of the international contemporary art fair to Africa in 2019. That said, when Angolan curator Paula Nascimento was asked to launch Africa in Focus, she was rather surprised. “I thought that having African artists at a Portuguese fair wasn’t anything new. Only later did I realise that it was something relatively rare, even though Portugal is an important destination for Portuguese-speaking artists. Apart from these, everything was very new for the gallery owners who came, for the public and for the fair itself.”

Artist, producer and researcher Mónica de Miranda makes a similar observation. In 2015, Hangar became a place for residencies and exhibitions, as well as research. “We’re very interested in concepts that can represent Africa in another place, such as the African diasporas in Lisbon, or in Europe. We’re interested in those places, not a self-contained culture, but a culture that communicates, questions and relates.” The Hangar operates as a hub for up-and-coming African artists and curators. “We have the research part, where we’ve produced a series of publications that have filled a gap. There was nothing on contemporary art practices from these regions and our publications have been important to launching artists.”

Graça Rodrigues believes that, in Portugal, “certain traumas meant art wasn’t afforded the status it deserved”. The colonisation of foreign countries during the Salazar regime and Colonial War (1961-1974) left their mark on Portuguese society and contemporary art. “We saw more intense international movement happening when the Angola Pavilion won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2013. This constituted a turning point. There was a change in the way African art was positioned, not only in institutions, but also in international art spheres and the demand generated globally. We’ve always had a special relationship with Africa. Why weren’t we able to do that?”

Born in Angola, the son of Portuguese parents, Pedro Pires is a “product of colonisation”. As such, his work is replete with reflections on identity, often related to feeling like a foreigner in his own country. “I’m different because of my colour and accent — I never realised accent was so important.” One of the 25 artists represented by THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE, Pires lives and works in Portugal, although he often travels to different countries in Africa, permanently questioning certain things (“I rarely think about the weight of history, but it’s always there...”). He talks of the power of human scale, barriers that separate rich from poor, using everyday objects, wanting to reach everyone. He makes paper sculpture, forging a tension between the delicacy of the material employed and the brutality of the soldering iron. Perhaps it’s a way of dealing with “unspoken themes”, like decolonisation, or how the Discoveries are taught. “There is a facet that was violent, and we need to know about that part of history. And it’s that part which artists can depict in a more forceful way.”

Magnin reminds us that Europe decolonised approximately 60 years ago, and that those countries that currently lead the world circuit of African art, such as England, Belgium and France, have a colonial past. His tireless approach saw him organise almost a hundred exhibitions worldwide with the Pigozzi collection, mostly with private foundations (Louis Vuitton, Cartier and the Guggenheim). “They are very powerful financially, more so than public institutions.” Three years ago, he curated an exhibition at the Duques do Cadaval Palace, in Évora, and is keen to show African art in Lisbon. Even so, he admits that the issue of money affects Portugal’s “timid” relationship with the contemporary art scene.

Poor investment is also an issue. Graça Rodrigues highlights three important areas in Europe: the Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking), Francophone (French-speaking) and Anglo-Saxon (English-speaking). “African artists with the greatest market value are not from former Portuguese colonies and this is a result of the cultural and academic development of those countries. There is also a lack of investment in Portugal. Market dependency is also evident: if the museums, the art history institutes are short of funds, there’s no investment, no research, and that has repercussions across the board.”

Paula Nascimento, architect and one of the curators of “Luanda, Encyclopaedic City”, the pavilion that received the Golden Lion in Venice, mentions something else that has seen increased demand for African art. In the wake of movements like Black Lives Matter, a growing number of institutional collections, from major museums and private foundations, have more African pieces. “In recent years, MOMA [Museum of Modern Art in New York] has expanded its collection to include other modernisms, which until then were focussed more on Paris and America. It has acquired important pieces and organised various events that expand those narratives. MOMA is a key institution, and when it changes direction, it makes others rethink what kind of discourse and stories they want to communicate. This creates opportunity and interest in other contexts, not only in Africa, but also in South America, Asia, India. All those previously considered peripheral.”

Due to the pandemic, ARCOlisboa has yet to return to a traditional format. According to Nascimento, the first digital edition of the event went very well. “I would say we’re in a good place. There’s a lot of interest and demand, but there also seems to be a certain consolidation. We need that stability of a market where production is constant and there is interest over time. Something that isn’t a fad. I believe we’re moving towards that.”

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