Africa Remix

Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent
touring exhibition of African art
Country	Germany, United Kingdom, France, Japan, South Africa
Opened	Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf (2004)
Via	Hayward Gallery, London (2005) Centre Pompidou, Paris (2005) Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2006)
Closed	Johannesburg Art Gallery (2007)
Exhibited	Over 80 artists from 25 countries
Curator	Simon Njami (chief curator) Jean-Hubert Martin Marie-Laure Bernadac David Elliott Roger Malbert
Follows	Magiciens de la Terre

Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent was an international touring exhibition of contemporary African art produced between 1994 and 2004. Initiated by Jean-Hubert Martin as a successor to his 1989 exhibition Magiciens de la Terre and directed by chief curator Simon Njami, it presented 137 works by 88 artists from 25 countries, including those in the African diaspora, to challenge the divide between North and sub-Saharan Africa and to offer a broad overview of modern "Africanity". Opening in 2004 at the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, the exhibition toured the Hayward Gallery in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo before concluding in 2007 at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. Works were grouped into three themes, "Identity and History", "Body and Soul", and "City and Land", with a recurring emphasis on remixing and recycling materials, exemplified by artists such as El Anatsui, Gonçalo Mabunda, and Romuald Hazoumè. It was recognised as the largest exhibition of contemporary African art staged in Europe and the first major survey of its kind in Japan and Africa, receiving both praise for subverting Western expectations of "primitive" art and criticism for its curatorial framework, with some reviewers arguing that the "remix" metaphor and thematic divisions were arbitrary and risked presenting "Africa the logo" for the global art market.

Background

Africa Remix surveyed contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora over a ten-year period. It was the largest exhibition of contemporary African art staged in Europe. The project was initiated by Jean-Hubert Martin, Director of the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, who had previously curated Magiciens de la Terre. While Martin oversaw administration, the curatorial team was led by chief curator Simon Njami, editor of the Paris-based Revue Noire.

The team included Marie-Laure Bernadac (Centre Pompidou), David Elliott (Mori Art Museum), Roger Malbert (Hayward Gallery), and Els van der Plas (Prince Claus Fund). The exhibition sought to present "Africanity" rather than a fixed definition of Africa, including artists from Cairo to Cape Town, and countering the division between North and sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately 88 artists participated, including those living in Europe and North America.

Themes and structure

The exhibition was organised into three sections: "Identity and History", "Body and Soul", and "City and Land".

The "Identity and History" section focused on heterogeneous concepts of identity and aimed to deconstruct stereotypes. It addressed issues of race, colonialism, and political violence. Notable works included Samuel Fosso's performative photographs and Hassan Musa's Great American Nude (2002), which depicted Osama bin Laden in an eroticised pose against a background suggestive of the United States flag.

The "Body and Soul" section explored the performance of the body and issues of representation. It featured collages by Wangechi Mutu, self-portraits by Hicham Benohoud, and video installations like Loulou Chérinet's Bleeding Men (2003). This section also included works by Frédéric Bruly Bouabré and Georges Lilanga Di Nyama. Critics noted that this section often impacted ideas already covered in "Identity and History" and sometimes leaned more on older artistic traditions.

The "City and Land" section featured artists engaging with the environment and the city as a "constructed setting". It included the futuristic city models of Bodys Isek Kingelez, black-and-white photographs by Jellel Gasteli, and the "tapestries" of El Anatsui made from flattened bottle tops. In the Düsseldorf installation, this section was designed with scaffolds and chipboards to simulate an urban space under construction.

Venues and tour

The exhibition opened at the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf in 2004 before travelling to the Hayward Gallery in London (10 February – 17 April 2005), the Centre Pompidou in Paris (25 May – 15 August 2005), and the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo (2006).

In 2007, the exhibition moved to the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) in South Africa. This was the first major survey of contemporary African art to be presented on the continent. During its three-month run at the JAG, the exhibition recorded 28,000 visitors. However, the venue faced logistical challenges, as the JAG was reportedly unable to easily house the 200 works.

Featured works

The signature image of the exhibition, featured on posters and catalogue covers, was Samuel Fosso's Le Chef (qui a vendu l'Afrique aux colons) from the Tati series. The image depicts a tribal chief adorned with leopard skin and gold jewelry, but holding plastic sunflowers and wearing sunglasses without lenses, subverting Western expectations of African "primitivism".

Recycled materials were a dominant aesthetic across the show. Gonçalo Mabunda used decommissioned weapons from the Mozambican Civil War to create an "Eiffel Tower" sculpture and chairs. Romuald Hazoumè constructed totemic masks and a tower titled Bidon armé (2004) from discarded plastic oil canisters. El Anatsui's Sasa (2004), a large shimmering "blanket" of bottle tops and wire, was eventually acquired by the British Museum.

Reception

Dermis Pérez León of ArtNexus argued that the exhibition's thematic divisions were "arbitrary" and created a "market-mall immediacy" that reordered the continent into identifiable consumer objects for Western audiences. He also critiqued the "remix" metaphor as a "hybrid culture" concept that potentially obscured specific political and economic tensions in Africa. Writing for Frieze, Roland Kapferer described the exhibition's ideological premise as "suffocating", suggesting it presented "'Africa' the logo" as part of a corporate rebranding for the global art market.

Jonathan Jones of The Guardian further questioned the "contemporary" label itself, suggesting it might be a "sterile and middle-class western idea" forced onto African art. Examining the exhibition's overarching scope, Jones further questioned the curatorial execution, noting that as a massive survey, it lacked "quality control", allowing works of "wildly varying merit" to be displayed side-by-side. Steven Nelson in African Arts argued that the exhibition's framing relied on romanticised and generalised conceptions of Africa, defined by curatorial rhetoric rather than sustained critical engagement.

John Russell Taylor of The Times wrote that the artists in the exhibition "conform to no easy stereotype". He also observed that nearly every artist in the exhibition showed "some intriguing and individual mix of Africa and the world at large". Beverly Andrews in New African wrote that the artists "are not afraid to work with new technologies" and to address "painful issues from the continent's past".

Robert Johnston of Studio International described Samuel Fosso's Le Chef as "mordantly subversive" of Western and African self-delusions, including European ideas of "native primitivism". Morgan Falconer of The Burlington Magazine described the exhibition as "a show of breadth and scale", and "the largest exhibition of contemporary African art ever seen in Europe".

Critics also focused heavily on how different venues altered the exhibition's impact. In Tokyo Art Beat, Ashley Rawlings compared the London and Tokyo presentations, noting that while Tokyo's lack of colonial history with Africa allowed for a clearer reading, the architecture of the Mori Art Museum "ruined" the impact of certain totemic works. Allison Moore of Artforum observed a similar loss of political focus in the Paris installation at the Centre Pompidou.

Julia Friedel of Contemporary And described the Johannesburg installation as a "chaotic market" because the JAG was unable to easily house the 200 works. Analysing this same Johannesburg installation in Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, Rory Bester argued that African art was regarded like "an immigrant, to be looked at from the other side of reinforced glass", while also noting that the local exhibition was cramped and disorganised.

In London, the show coincided with the G8 summit and the Live 8 concerts, leading Ashley Rawlings to suggest its message was "drowned out by the media hype" surrounding poverty campaigns.

References

Bibliography

• Andrews, Beverly (2005). "Africa Remix Confounds the Critics". New African (442). IC Publications: 56–57. ISSN 0142-9345.
• Bester, Rory (2008). "Africa Remix: An Immigrant, to Be Looked at from the other Side of Reinforced Glass". Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art (22/23). Duke University Press: 80–87. doi:10.1215/10757163-22-23-1-80. ISSN 2152-7792. Retrieved 16 April 2026 – via Project Muse.
• Falconer, Morgan (2005). "Africa Remix. London, Paris and Tokyo". The Burlington Magazine. 147 (1227). The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.: 422–423. ISSN 0007-6287. JSTOR 20074024.
• Friedel, Julia (30 January 2019). "Africa Remix". Contemporary And. ISSN 2701-3375. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
• Johnston, Robert (18 April 2005). "Africa Remix". Studio International. ISSN 0039-4114. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
• Jones, Jonathan (9 February 2005). "Africa Remix, Hayward Gallery, London". The Guardian. ISSN 1756-3224. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
• Kapferer, Roland (13 June 2005). "Africa Remix". Frieze. ISSN 0962-0672. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
• León, Dermis Pérez (2005). "Africa Remix". ArtNexus. Vol. 5, no. 58. ISSN 0121-5639. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
• Moore, Allison (1 December 2005). ""Africa Remix"". Artforum. ISSN 0004-3532. Retrieved 11 April 2026.
• Nelson, Steven (2008). "Africa Remix Remix". African Arts. 41 (3). UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center. ISSN 0001-9933. Retrieved 30 April 2026.
• Rawlings, Ashley (1 July 2007). "Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent". Tokyo Art Beat. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
• Taylor, John Russell (9 February 2005). "The Colours of a Continent; Africa Remix". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460.

Further reading

• Arnold, Marion (2005). "Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent". The Art Book. 12 (3): 19–21. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8357.2005.562_5.x. ISSN 1368-6267. Retrieved 16 April 2026.