Curated by Elvira Dyangani Ose, Antawan Byrd, Adom Getachew, and Matthew S. Witkovsky, this groundbreaking exhibition examines the visual, sonic, and political legacies of Pan-Africanism from the 1920s to today, uniting 100 artists across four major international institutions.
Simone Leigh, Dunham, 2017. The Art Institute of Chicago, purchased with funds provided by Marilyn and Larry Fields; Claire and Gordon Prussian Fund for Contemporary Art. © 2017 Simone Leigh. Photo: Jonathan Mathias
Opening at MACBA (Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona) on 6 November 2025, ‘Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica’ is the first major exhibition to trace the cultural manifestations of Pan-Africanism across a century of art and activism. Curated by MACBA director Elvira Dyangani Ose, alongside Antawan Byrd, Adom Getachew, and Matthew S. Witkovsky, the exhibition is a joint project between the Art Institute of Chicago, the Barbican Centre in London, and KANAL–Centre Pompidou in Brussels. With nearly 350 works by 100 artists, the exhibition will travel across all four venues until 2027.
While Pan-Africanism has long been recognised as a defining intellectual and political force of the twentieth century, its aesthetic, philosophical, and cultural dimensions have rarely been presented on this scale. ‘Project a Black Planet’ revisits the movement as a generative network of artistic exchange and imagination, beginning with the first Pan-African Congress of 1919. It reflects on how the idea of a unified Black world became a radical site for envisioning freedom, collective identity, and self-determination beyond national boundaries.
The exhibition presents Pan-Africanism as an ongoing dialogue between the African continent and its diasporas in the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe. Through works in painting, sculpture, photography, video, music, and literature, artists respond to shared histories of displacement, resistance, and transformation. Together, these voices map a visual and sonic cartography of liberation, where memory, spirituality, and protest converge.
At MACBA, the curatorial narrative unfolds across interconnected themes that trace the foundations of Pan-African thought, the aesthetics of Negritude, religious and animist traditions, anti-colonial protest, and contemporary Black futurisms. The exhibition integrates fine art with popular culture, music, and printed ephemera, revealing how Pan-African ideas were disseminated through posters, magazines, and manifestos as much as through art objects.
Archival research plays a central role, with a significant focus on the printed word as a revolutionary tool. Newspapers, pamphlets, and community publications illustrate the importance of grassroots networks in shaping a transnational consciousness. This historical material is presented alongside artworks by both renowned and emerging artists, establishing a dialogue between past struggles and present articulations of solidarity.
The accompanying publication, also titled ‘Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica’, is conceived as both a catalogue and a scholarly resource. It includes essays, biographical entries, and contextual texts that trace the evolution of Pan-African aesthetics from the 1920s to the present. The catalogue will serve as a foundational reference for researchers and artists engaging with postcolonial and diasporic histories.
MACBA’s public programme expands the exhibition’s reach through seminars, talks, and collaborations with local Black and Afro-descendant communities. These events will explore Pan-Africanism’s resonance within Catalonia and broader European contexts, connecting historical liberation movements with ongoing conversations on race, identity, and belonging.
‘Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica’ is on view at MACBA from 6 November 2025 to 6 April 2026, co-produced with the Art Institute of Chicago, KANAL–Centre Pompidou, and the Barbican Centre. Visit macba.cat for more information.
