1-54 Presents: Coalescent Lights

EVENT DESCRIPTION

1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, the pioneering international fair dedicated to contemporary art by African and African diaspora artists, is thrilled to announce details of 1-54 Presents: Coalescent Lights at Christie’s Hong Kong (26 – 30 March 2024). Marking the fair’s first-ever presentation in Asia, the exhibition is a continuation of 1-54 Presents program, a series of exhibitions by 1-54 which brings together an array of artists under a curated thematic, which made its debut at 1-54 London last October.

Coalescent Lights at Christie’s Hong Kong draws on conceptual threads from across multiple generations of artists and highlights 1-54’s unwavering commitment to expanding discourses on contemporary African art and contributing to the institutional and market recognition of African artists. Curated by Kami Gahiga, the exhibition is a poetic exploration of the rich tapestry of approaches and aesthetic philosophies embedded within contemporary African art. It spotlights distinct luminaries who have exhibited their works at previous global editions of the fair, many of whom have not shown in Asia before.

Artists include Omar Ba, Virginia Chihota, Sanaa Gateja, Abdoulaye Konaté, Ibrahim Mahama, Zanele Muholi, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Moffat Takadiwa, Ouattara Watts, among other notable artists.

The exhibition draws on the observations of French-Cameroonian curator Simon Njami who advocates for a more nuanced approach to contemporary African art and recognises its transdisciplinary nature. Njami describes the contemporary as multi-dimensional and constantly in motion, refusing confinement and categorisation.