Paris, September 6, 2022 – Neuvième Toit, a collective of French-speaking artists, and AKAA, a contemporary art fair in Paris dedicated to the artistic scenes of Africa and its diasporas, will exhibit for the first time in France works of African art in “NFT” (non-fungible token) format.
This project is part of the artistic program of AKAA 2022, around the movement – a polysemous notion with a Spatio-temporal, artistic, and socio-political dimension. It will take the form of an immersive artistic proposal, with physical (wooden tablets, wool carpet) and digital (NFT, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR)) supports.
Supported by Neuvième Toit, this exhibition will welcome its first visitors from October 20 to 23, at the Carreau du Temple (Paris), during Also Known As Africa (AKAA), the first French contemporary art and design fair focused on Africa – also a partner of the project.
For this first edition, Neuvième Toit will exhibit the works of the Franco-Ivorian artist Willow Evann, in collaboration with the gallery 31 Project Paris as well as the agencies NFT4All and Makom, with an immersive artistic proposal combining both the perception of the real world and its virtual mirror.
Three physical works will be proposed by Willow Evann (Google Noir, Tiraillés, and Zaouli) in a space that will also house their virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) versions. Visitors will be able to access these works using a VR headset or a tablet with an AR application.
Willow Evann, artist, said: “Our artistic proposal is part of a reflexivity process on what is the “black and African world”, the perceptions that gravitate around these concepts and the construction of symbolism and stereotypes that these concepts arouse, often despite themselves. It is in the service of this idea that we have mobilized different technological solutions (NFT, VR, AR), in order to push our visitors to question their own biases and representations.”
As part of its efforts to democratize African art and contribute to the autonomy of artists from the continent and its diaspora, Neuvième Toit will offer a collection of 500 NFTs based on the works Google Noir, Tiraillés, and Zaouli by artist Willow Evann. Goudet Abalé, President of Neuvième Toit said: “In a context marked by the increased valorization of African art, which contrasts with the persistent difficulties of its creators to make a sustainable living from it; we want to show the enormous potential that the technology of non-fungible tokens represents for the artists of the continent. It is a real pride to be able to present our project at the AKAA fair and we obviously thank our partners for their trust and support.” Neuvième Toit and AKAA will organize on Friday, October 21, as part of the AKAA Meetings, a roundtable discussion with the artist Willow Evann and Frédéric Jonchet (Founding Partner of NFT4ALL and Associate Director of Makom) on the following topic: “Between promises and concrete achievements: how can African art capitalize on the innovation of NFT?”
A press conference will also be held on September 22 to present the latest developments in this groundbreaking project. Interested journalists can obtain information and register by writing to the following address: contact@neuviemetoit.fr.
