Comment | a bouyant art scene—and an exciting new generation of artists—mean this could be the African century – The Art Newspaper

Despite the setback of Covid-19, the number of art fairs worldwide grew to a staggering 377 in 2024. The 1-54 fair, which was founded in 2013, with three editions per year—in London, New York and Marrakech—is probably the best-known fair dedicated to African art. (The fair’s name refers to the 54 countries on the African continent). Back in 2008, the first Joburg Art Fair took place with only 22 galleries in Johannesburg. A curated exhibition by Simon Njami gave an overview of African artistic energy at the fair. Njami was also the curator of the first African Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007. Now, almost 20 years later, the curator for the 2026 Venice Biennale is Cameroon-born Koyo Kouoh, the director of Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MoCAA) in Cape Town.

Cape Town is also home to the Investec art fair, which has grown since 2013 to become Africa’s largest art fair, with 120 exhibitors and around 40,000 visitors from Africa and beyond. Cape Town is now easily accessed by American collectors, with direct flights from New York, Washington, DC and Atlanta. Europeans already found their way to the Cape, escaping the harsh winter: the South African summer is at its best in February. Unlike art enthusiasts from neighbouring African countries, most travellers from the West do not need visas. And since Cape Town was voted the best city in the world for food by readers of Condé Nast Traveller magazine in 2024, there is no reason not to go—which is exactly what I did.

An African curator for the Venice Biennale

With the announcement of Koyo Kouoh as the curator of the forthcoming Venice Biennale, the atmosphere at the 2025 Investec fair (21-23 February) was filled with expectation. At the festive Zeitz Mocaa Gala, Kouoh described this year’s Cape Town Art Week, which ran concurrently with the fair, as a beacon of hope.

Over several days Cape Town is studded with events, talks, parties and studio visits. I was in the great company of an enthusiastic group of international curators, collectors, artists and patrons driving around to see the latest and the best, discovering new names, young artists and start-up galleries from Cape Town and elsewhere in Africa, as well as established dealers like Goodman Gallery.

With locations in Cape Town, Johannesburg, London and New York, Goodman is the venue for top-tier artists like William Kentridge and Yinka Shonibare. While the interest in African art is steadily growing, so far price tags at Investec are never more than $1m. This is still a relatively young market with enormous potential. Taste is always personal, and like former editions I found the quality this year good and sometimes excellent. Most first-time visitors are surprised by the low prices, and overall, African art has still not developed as an investment asset.

That said, at Investec, there were private collectors and a growing number of museum representatives, from Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, Princeton University Art Museum, the Smithsonian and Stockholm’s Moderna Museet. Awa Konaté, a curator at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi shared my sense of positivity and hope, prompting me to think about a statement by International Monetary Fund (IMF) that we are entering “the African century”. There are several signals that suggest this is the case.

The city in the world with the most French speakers is now not Paris, but Kinshasa, Congo, according to an article in the New York Times. European museums are finally making serious efforts in repatriating looted objects from the colonial past to their countries of origin. Where African American artists recover their roots, a reverse cultural diaspora is taking shape. Successful artists such as US-based Kehinde Wiley and UK-based Yinka Shonibare invest in studio space and cultural hubs for local artists in Africa. Performers Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys have amassed their Dean Collection, a visionary mix of different generations bridging Black artists from the African diaspora.

Amplifying emerging voices

To highlight the next generation, the Italian curator Mariella Franzoni has organised the Tomorrows/Today Prize, a curated section of the Investec fair dedicated to the leading names of the future. According to Franzoni, Tomorrows/Today is a platform for amplifying the voices, ideas and themes already emerging among up-and-coming artists. “Looking at what emerging artists are doing today offers us a glimpse into the practices, themes and modes of working that will define the future art scene,” she says.

With Azu Nwagbogu (the curator of the 2024 Venice Biennale Benin Pavilion) and curator Gabriel Virgilio Luciani, I was invited to be on this year’s international jury. The 12 artists invited to exhibit in this year’s Tomorrows/Today section represent a diverse range of contemporary practices that reflect current global art trends rooted in identity, socio-political commentary and cultural exchange. They were Joy Adeboye (Nigeria, born 1998), Asma Ben Aissa (Tunisia, born 1992), Soukaina Joual (Morocco, born 1990), Mareli Lal (South Africa, born 1985), Warren Maroon (South Africa, born 1985), Georgina Maxim (Zimbabwe, born 1980), Mulambö (Brazil, born 1995), Anthony Ngoya (born France, 1995), Thando Phenyane (South Africa, born 1997), Mankebe Seakgoe (South Africa, born 1998), Zhenlin Zhang (China, born 1998) and Agnes Essonti Luque (Spain, born 1996).

Barcelona-based Essonti Luque was awarded the Tomorrows/Today Prize celebrating her promising artistic journey. It honours the captivating nature of her current body of work and its potential to make a lasting impact in the future. Through photography, video, assemblage and performance, Essonti Luque delves into the domestic sphere, exploring the kitchen and the rituals surrounding the preparation and consumption of food.

I experienced the Cape Town Art Week not as an event for the usual suspects—rather the opposite. It was a week full of new artistic adventures. Africa is no longer an impoverished sideshow but a hotbed for inspiring culture for the world. And I learned that hope is a verb.

• Wim Pijbes is the former director of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam