At the Louis Vuitton Foundation, African art crosses borders

Exhibitions at the Louis Vuitton Foundation are always events not to be missed. This also applies to his vernissages where one is certain to meet influential personalities from the creative spheres; art of course, but also figures from fashion, the press and cinema. Many artists were present at the inauguration of “Art Africa. The New Workshop”, the new set of exhibitions proposed by the Foundation to highlight the relevance of contemporary African art from the 1980s to today. Let us quote Chéri Samba, flamboyant in his uniform, who lends one of his works to the poster of the exhibition, then the young artist Buhlebezwe Siwani or Rigobert Nimi. We also met Haider Ackermann, and actress Léa Seydoux, friend and muse of the house Louis Vuitton, without forgetting the specialists of African art André Magnin and Jean Pigozzi. It is around a selection of works from the collection of the latter that the first exhibition of the route, “The Initiates” is articulated. One finds there the works of fifteen artists among which the impossible to circumvent Seydou Keïta and Chéri Samba. The second exhibition, “Être là”, highlights the contemporary South African scene with reference figures such as Jane Alexander and Sue Williamson, put in contact with a young generation of artists. The tour is completed by a selection of African works from the Foundation’s collection. After a rich visit, sometimes commented on by the artists themselves, everyone gathered to share a refreshment under the emblematic Daniel Buren windows of the Foundation, before a handful of privileged people were invited to join the auditorium for an original concert by Blick Bassy.