With five exhibitors, a solo show, live art and a talks programme, it will offer a platform for artists through galleries, collectors, curators, critics and journalists in Luanda to structure, add value and create connections at the forefront of contemporary art.
Palácio de Ferro.
With an intimate experience at the Palácio de Ferro of one of Africa’s most unique capitals, Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair hopes to prove itself as the place where a growing national art market and the pan-African and international art worlds can meet. Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair is proud to host its 1st edition between 19th-21st April 2024.
From idea to production?
The first edition of an art fair in Luanda is an excellent testament to the brilliant art produced in Angola. Dominick Maia Tanner feels “confident that the Africell Luanda Art Fair / Luanda Art Fair will be a great success”. In its first year, he believes that “the fair will start at a very high level and grow from there”. The Africell Luanda Art Fair / Luanda Art Fair 2024, which takes place from Friday, the 19th of April, to Sunday, the 21st of April, and is the newest art fair on the African continent, “is on right way to impress the Kaluandas.” Of the nine commercial galleries that Luanda is home to, the following five galleries will participate: The Art Affair, ELA-Espaço Luanda Arte, Sky Gallery Espaço D’Arte, Tamar Golan and This Is Not A White Cube. The Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair is a platform for artists through galleries, collectors, curators, critics and journalists. “They are all waiting to create meaningful connections at the forefront of contemporary art in Angola”.
Maia Tanner, founder of the Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair, explains that only some events in Angola celebrate art and culture like this one will, and believes there is potential for the African continent and the world to take notice. The fair’s theme is ‘From Angola to the World’. The art fair was produced by Maia Tanner, who lived and worked in Angola for over 15 years and produced over 160 projects. The idea was created and registered at the end of 2023 and will be born less than six months later. Africell is the generous naming sponsor of the art fair, and together with the Africell Impact Foundation, both have made this first edition possible. The idea is for the Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fairs to become a popular yearly weekend for Luandans amid a busy pan-African art and global art calendar and looking to help promote cultural tourism throughout Angola. “There are 5 galleries exhibiting, directly representing and showing great art on behalf of more than 30 Angolan artists”.
The passion behind the fair?
Maia Tanner has been involved with art events since 2009, creating and developing various pioneering art projects and platforms in Angola and beyond. As an active art fair participant between 2015 and 2020, Maia Tanner brings that experience to Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair. He creates an identity that will hopefully draw exhibitors and visitors back every year. Maia Tanner says, “ArtArt has been a passion of mine since I was young. I was even a painter for a while between 2002/3. Now living in Angola for over 15 years, artart represents for me Angolan identity and I was drawn to the communities around artart and how people in Angola may find a sense of community and self-esteem because of it. I believe the Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair can create even more communities and a stronger structure, understanding, appreciation, and, ultimately, collection of Art in Angola. We are showing that artart is available to everyone by offering as wide a variety of artart and related experiences as possible”. Maia Tanner adds that “important support from Africell, the Africell Impact Foundation, the Governo Provincial de Luanda and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism make us all understand that promoting artart develops the Angolan identity and a stronger image of itself, locally and abroad. In this way, artart brings immense soft power”.
The Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair will happen at the emblematic Palácio de Ferro in downtown Luanda in Rua Major Kanhangulo. This region holds somewhat of a ‘Downtown Cultural Movement’, seeing as 4 out of the nine art spaces in Luanda are based very nearby. João Vigário Silva, the Director who has been at the forefront of a very dynamic programme at the Palácio, is “proud that an art fair like this one is here at the Palácio, helping to put Angolan art on the local and international map” and adds “we wish the organisers every success for this edition of the art fair.”.
What can one expect at the art fair?
Beyond the artworks on display and rotating by the five galleries, there will be a solo show by Angolan Artist Maria Belmira – a homage to this singular Angolan Female Artist, one of the most significant of her generation. A two-day talk programme also brings together empirical testimonies from leading collectors, curators, critics, and journalists. There will also be live art being produced on location. For the first time, more than 100 art activists will show and discuss important art-related subjects under one roof. On the 19th of April, there will be a private preview, but on the 20th and 21st of April, between 14h and 21h, the Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair is free entrance for all. All are welcome.
Why should people visit the fair?
“The art world can feel exclusive and intimidating. This is widely accepted across the world. However the Africell Luanda Art Fair / Luanda Art Fair was developed to be an inclusive platform for anyone and everyone. You can speak to galleries and artists in a very easy way, or merely visit the space, and you can ask any question without judgement. Of course, you will also be able to buy art. I am very excited about the Africell Luanda Art Fair / Luanda Art Fair, which is a simple way to discover and enter the world of art”, says Maia Tanner.
The Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair 1st Edition 2024 will be open to the public from 20th to 21st April at the Palácio de Ferro, Rua Major Kanhangulo, between 14h and 21h on both days. Entrance is free. All are welcome.
Visit and follow www.instagram.com/africell.ao/ and www.instagram.com/maia__tanner/ or contact Maia Tanner via WhatsApp on: +244 957 58 33 17
