HAKANTO CONTEMPORARY, Antananarivo, Madagascar is pleased to present The Spirit of Revue Noire: A Founding Collection, a survey of works from the collection of African publication Revue Noire. Running from November 25, 2022, to March 31, 2023, the exhibition features over 140 photographs by nearly 30 international photographers, bringing the important international collection to Madagascan audiences for the first time. Revisiting the quarterly publication, it reflects on Revue Noire’s inspirational and influential vision as an exploration and commemoration of a distinct African cultural aesthetic.
Curators Pascal Martin Saint Léon and Jean Loup Pivin (both architects and artistic directors) co-founded Revue Noire alongside writer and curator Simon Njami and publisher and writer Bruno Tilliette. A magazine of investigation into contemporary African expressions from 1990 – 2000, Revue Noire offered a newly discovered image of modernity, celebrating the vitality of creation and the effusion of arts and artists from Africa and its diaspora. Distributed throughout the world, the international bilingual magazine (published in French and English), played an essential role in the history of contemporary African art inspiring a diverse range of artists. Whilst the magazine closed its doors in 2001, Revue Noire continue to publish art books including volumes of short stories and excerpts from often unpublished novels, theatre scripts and poems.
The exhibition highlights the vital role that photography plays in deciphering and accentuating the diversity of contemporary practices across the continent. This was the central concern of the landmark show L’Afrique par elle-même (Africa by Itself), organised by Revue Noire in 1998. This ambitious exhibition presented Africa through an African lens, travelling to renowned institutions such as The Smithsonian (Washington D.C.), The New Museum (New York) and The Barbican (London). The associated award-winning publication Anthologie de la Photographie africaine, de l’Océan Indien et de la Diaspora (1998) acted as a reflection on each issue of Revue Noire, adding to the varied histories of African photography.
The Spirit of Revue Noire builds on this legacy, responding to the perceived singularity of the African canon and presenting works by: Bob Bobson, Drum, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Joseph Moïse Agbojelou, Samuel Fosso, Antoine Freitas, Jean Depara, Ambroise Ngaimoko Studio 3 Z, Alain Nzuzi Polo, Daniel Attoumou Amicchia, Cornélius Augustt Azaglo, Dorris Haron Kasco , Joseph Razaka, Guillaume Razafitrimo, Ramiliaona, J. Randria, Studio Rill, BTEM-SGM-FTM, Anta, Seydou Keïta, Abdourahmane Sakaly, Malick Sidibé, Yves Pitchen, Rotimi Fani-Kayode,Philippe Koudjina, Mama Casset and an anonymous artist from Saint Louis, Senegal. Video artists include: Bouna Médoune Seye, Gahité Fofana and Dorris Haron Kasco.
Marking HAKANTO CONTEMPORARY’s first international artist showcase, the exhibition plays an essential role in the cataloguing of the history of contemporary African art. As much as an information tool, Revue Noire can also be seen as an artistic object demonstrating an ineffable African aesthetic that was united in its resistance to tradition, and its development of a new cultural milieu marked by diversity and difference. Joël Andrianomeariso 1998’s front cover of the Madagascar issue of Revue Noire, is a symbol renewed in 2022 at the HAKANTO CONTEMPORARY space, in Antananarivo, more than twenty years later.
