Dak’Art

Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi completed his PhD at Emory University, USA. He is a Visual Artist, Art Historian and Curator. He works at the Cleveland Museum of Art, USA.Thomas Fillitz is Professor of Cultural and Social Anthropology at the University of Vienna, Austria. He is the editor of An Anthropology of Contemporary Art (2017).

What can an art biennale in Dakar, Senegal, tell us about current discourses surrounding the place of art in the world, and in the academic study of anthropology? This volume investigates the Dak'Art biennale, ranked among the world's top 20 biennials, drawing upon fieldwork, archival research, and the experiences of those involved.

Introduction ; Part 1: Historical Perspectives; 1. The Foundation and History of the Biennale of Dakar; 2. A Politico-Economic History of Modern and Contemporary Art in Senegal: From Négritude Current to the Logics of the Open Society; 3. The 'Distancing Children' from Senghor's Openness Take a Stance; Part 2: Dak'Art-The Biennale of Contemporary African Art; 4. Selection Committees, Selection Processes and Application Procedures; 5. Encounters and Exchanges: An Intellectual History of the Biennale of Dakar; 6. Dak'Art and the Production of its Public; 7. The Biennale of Dakar and the State of Senegal; 8. Reimagining the Biennal of Dakar; Part 3: Contemporary African Art at Dak'Art; 10. The Making of a Canon: Historicizing Contemporary African Art at Dak'Art; 11. All the City is an Exhibition: The Dak'Art-Off in the Biennale and in Dakar's Art World City; 12. Dak'Art's Ecosystem: In and Out of Senegal; 13. EPILOGUE: Global Biennial Discourses: A Critical View from Dak'Art