On April 8, 2022, as part of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in Paris, the artwork Memory of today, Memory of the future, created by the collective N.E.T was officially unveiled. The work will adorn the cap of the Ariane 5 rocket that will reach space in December 2022 with the new generation weather observation satellite dedicated to the African continent.
N.E.T, Memory of today, Memory of the future. African Space Art Project, Paris. © Frédérique Toulet
The African Space Art Project (ASAP), conceived by the French NGO African Artists for Development (AAD-fund), in partnership with EUMETSAT, the European meteorological satellite agency, and in collaboration with Arianespace, was born out of an observation: Africa is the continent emits the least CO2 while suffering and will suffer the most from global warming.
On the launch of the new EUMETSAT MGT-I1 geostationary satellite by Ariane 5 over Africa, which will make it possible to observe the climate and meteorological changes of the African continent, AAD-fund, EUMETSAT and Arianespace offered an artistic platform for this highly symbolic launch for the continent. Three African artists under 40, Cameroonian Jean David Nkot, and Congolese Michel Ekéba and Géraldine Tobé, have created a collective work, Memory of today, Memory of tommorrow, whose reproduction will adorn the cap of the Ariane 5 rocket that will carry this new satellite that will be launched into orbit in December 2022.
African Space Art Project, Paris. © Frédérique Toulet
African Space Art Project, Paris. © Frédérique Toulet
After a call for applications from more than a hundred artists across the continent, 59 dossiers were examined by the ASAP artistic committee composed of Jean-Philippe Aka (specialist in African contemporary art), Gaël Faye (artist and writer), Melissa Goba (artist, writer and curator) and Keziah Jones (songwriter). The 3 selected winners presented their project to the ASAP jury on November 27, 2021.
Rather than nominating a single winner, the jury invited the three selected artists – Jean David Nkot, Michel Ekéba, and Géraldine Tobé – to work together to create a unique work that symbolizes collective commitment that is at the heart of African cultures. This is how the N.E.T collective was born. After a one-month residency in Benin, at the invitation of Jean-Michel Abimbola, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Arts of the Republic of Benin and member of the ASAP jury, this pan-African collective created the work Memory of today, Memory of the future.
The unveiling took place in the presence of the artists and partners on the 8th of April 2022 in Paris at the Pavillon Élysée (10 Avenue des Champs Élysées), as part of the 10th anniversary of the first 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair. This unveiling was preceded by a roundtable, moderated by Touria El Glaoui (founder of 1-54), on the theme “Space, a new frontier for African creation?”. Before the launch of the Ariane 5 launcher in December 2022 from Kourou in Guyana, the original work will be presented in several African countries, then it will be given to the African Union.
