Within spaces of conflict, past and present, these artists affirm equality and exchange as vital principles. Their artistic imaginaries are rooted in a world in which there are clearly no longer any centres, and indeed they help to multiply outwards the number of poles of attraction. But this fragmentation does not occlude history, quite the contrary: along with diasporas and creolization, narratives of liberation and emancipation as well as of violent stories of territorial dispossession and forced displacement emerge throughout the exhibitions, always more lucid and more audible. Beyond their singular forms of poetry, these artists mobilize and share imaginaries that are not national but rather continental, and whose tectonic shifts are irreversible.
In this issue:
a main section devoted to the exhibition
Ubuntu, a Lucid Dream, with the artists
Jonathas de Andrade, Joël Andrianomearisoa, Michael Armitage, Bili Bidjocka, Kudzanai Chiurai (in collaboration with Khanya Mashabela and with the participation of Kenzhero), Nolan Oswald Dennis, Lungiswa Gqunta, Frances Goodman, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, Richard Kennedy, Grada Kilomba, Turiya Magadlela, Ibrahim Mahama, Sabelo Mlangeni, Meleko Mokgosi, Serge Alain Nitegeka, Daniel Otero Torres; texts by Bernard Akoi-Jackson, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Thulile Gamedze, Grada Kilomba, Nadia Yala Kisukidi, Khanya Mashabela, Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson, Marie-Ann Yemsi; as well as a conversation between Michael Armitage and Meleko Mokgosi, and a poetry selection waxed together by
Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (with poems by Ama Ata Aidoo, Viola Allo, James Baldwin, Kwame Dawes, Birago Diop, Tsitsi Jaji, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Olu Oguibe, Warsan Shire, Derek Walcott).
And also essays by Cédric Fauq and François Piron on the work of filmmaker Sarah Maldoror,
Elvan Zabunyan on Jay Ramier's work, Marcelo Campos on Maxwell Alexandre's work, and Lucille Toth on Aïda Bruyère's project.
Published twice a year,
Palais magazine (
P L S since 2023) offers an in-depth perspective on the exhibitions and program of the
Palais de Tokyo.
Palais allows people to see contemporary art in a topical way, as often as possible from the point of view of the artists themselves. Each issue of the magazine includes dossiers, interviews, essays, special projects and inserts, all contributed by artists, art critics, historians or theorists, making
Palais magazine an essential tool for apprehending contemporary art.
