We are happy to share a virtual event, organised by our current residents Billy Fowo and Naima Hassan!

Mapping Pan-African Cultural Festivals: Along the borders of FESMAN and FESTAC’77

Today there will be the opportunity to join #TheMuseumsLab 2022 Alumni Billy Fowo and Naima Hassan for their concluding presentation, which will include a visual exploration of archives and sites associated with the festivals in Lagos, Ibadan, Dakar and Goree Island. The presentation will conclude with a dialogue featuring respondents Maryam Kazeem (iranti press), Rufus Nwoko (New Culture Studio), Dr Olatunde Barber (University of Lagos) and a Q&A.

Wed, 15th November | 6.30 - 8.30 PM CET
Registration link

“Between September - October 2023, the duo undertook a joint residency at G.A.S. Foundation in Lagos and subsequently Dakar to develop their multimedia inventory and publication project focused on the archives of FESMAN and FESTAC’77.

The inventory aims to trace the often neglected history of contemporary African cultural heritage restitution through an archival engagement with cultural festivals and literary clubs in the post-colonial period. It departs from the period described by Okwui Enwezor as the ‘Short Century’ (1945-1994). Representing a momentous period in Africa’s history, the period will act as a conceptual trigger to address the tensions of locating dispersed collections and ephemera associated with Pan-African cultural festivals realised during the struggle for Africa’s independence.

In Lagos, the project was activated through a hybrid reading group session which brought together local artists, curators and researchers to explore a multilingual convergence point between FESTAC’77 and FESMAN, reading materials chosen for the session included Robinson, Alma. 1977, “African Art in Foreign Hands,” in the official FESTAC ‚77 publication, and response essay Le Cameroun au Festival Mondial des Arts Negres (FESMAN) published in Abbia Journal, No 12-13, March-June 1966.”