The papers that comprise this publication were all delivered in the course of the three seminars that AICA organised in Africa between 2003 and 2007. These symposia shared the common aim, not only of stimulating debate about the various factors contributing to the aesthetic, historic and economic value of a work of art in an African context, but of trying to find out more about artistic practices in the region. They combined an examination of the contexts for art criticism in Africa with a look at the effects of, first, a colonial, then a post-colonial and, finally, a global economy on the development of art and writing about art in Africa.

Contents / Sommaire

 Preface / Préface : Questions of Criticism / Demandes de critique
Yacouba Konaté
 Introduction / Introduction : Crosscurrents / Contre courants
Henry Meyric Hughes, Ramon Tió Bellido

Cultures in Africa: Identities and Exhibitions
Cultures en Afrique : identités et expositions
 Qui peut critiquer l’art africain contemporain ?
Djadji Iba N’Diagne
 Modernity, Modernism and Africa’s Place in the History of Art of Our Age. Postcolonialism and the Dependency Syndrome
Rasheed Araeen
 L’Afrique et les grands événements artistiques en Europe
Yacouba Konaté
 Whose Door? Whose Alien?
Stephen Wright
 Remodeling required: Official Biennales in Egypt and International Biennale Culture
Bassam El-Baroni
 Mal-être occidental contre bien-être africain ?
Ramon Tió Bellido
 Je ne suis pas un artiste, c’est l’art qui fait l’artiste : l’art et la manière de Georges Adéagbo
Dominique Abensour
 Africa in Britain, Britain in Africa and Beyond
Sajid Rizvi
 Istanbul’s International Biennial: The City as Context – or Confinement?
Ahu Antmen

Museums, Galleries and Institutions
Musées, galeries et institutions
 Ethiopian Art in a Changing World
Elisabeth Wolde Giorgis
 Museums in Nigeria. Historical Antecedents and Current Practice
Kunle Filane
 Art in Botswana: The Role of Training Institutions in the Development of the Visual Arts
Neo Matome
 « Kundwe » Out Here !
William Miko
 Recuperating the Present
Carol Brown
 The Historical and Current Role of the National Gallery and Other Institutions in Zimbabwe: an Assessment of the Effects of Validation and Marketing of Contemporary African Art
Pip Curling

Artistic and Cultural Contexts
Contextes artistiques et culturels
 Emergence d’une nouvelle plastique congolaise
Célestin Badibanga ne Nwine
 Spécificités Algériennes
Nadira Laggoune Aklouche
 Past and Present Contemporary Art in Ethiopia
Meskerem Assegued
 Art Recentism, Art Currentism and the Physiognomy of Modern Nigerian Art from 1970 to 2003
Ola Oloidi
 A Look at Countries in Southern Africa with their Similar and Different Histories through Existing Structures and Institutions – A Namibian Example
Joseph Madisia
 The Fine Art in Mozambique: Aspects of Arts Education and Art Criticism that have Contributed to their Development
Harun Harun
 Art Criticism and Curatorial Practice : the Southern African Experience
Doreen Sibanda

Programmes of the Three Seminars
Programmes des trois séminaires

Authors’ Curricula Vitae / Curriculums vitae des auteurs
Thanks / Remerciements