First edition of Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair opens its doors

20 April 2024 | Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair is Angola's first art fair. With five exhibitors, a solo show, live art and a talks programme, it will offer a platform for artists, galleries, collectors, curators, critics and journalists in Luanda to create connections in Angola’s contemporary art community. With an intimate experience at Luanda’s historic Palácio de Ferro, Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair hopes to prove itself as the place where a growing national art market and the pan-African and international art worlds can meet. Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair is proud to host its first edition between 19 -21 April 2024.

From idea to production?

The inauguration of a major new art fair in Luanda – the newest on the African continent -testifies to the growing volume of quality art produced in Angola. Dominick Maia Tanner, founder of the Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair, is confident that it will be a success. In its first year, he believes that “the fair will start at a very high level and grow from there”. Of the nine commercial galleries based in Luanda, five will participate: The Art Affair, ELA-Espaço Luanda Arte, Sky Gallery Espaço D´Arte, Tamar Golan and This Is Not A White Cube. The Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair will create opportunities for artists, galleries, collectors, curators, critics and journalists to interact. “They are all waiting to create meaningful connections", says Maia Tanner. “This is their chance”.

The fair´s theme is ´From Angola to the World´. The art fair is produced by Maia Tanner who has lived and worked in Angola for over 15 years and has produced more than 160 projects. The idea was hatched at the end of 2023 and is coming to fruition only six months later. Africell is naming sponsor of the art fair and, together with the Africell Impact Foundation, both have made this first edition possible. The goal is for the Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fairs to become a popular annual event for Luandans, in the midst of a busy pan-African art and global art calendar. It is also intended to promote promote cultural tourism to (and within) Angola. “The five galleries exhibiting represent more than 30 Angolan artists,” explains Maia Tanner. “These are some of the most talented practitioners working not only in Angola but anywhere in Africa. The fair will put Angolan contemporary art firmly on the map”.

Passion behind the fair?

Maia Tanner has been involved with art events since 2009, creating and developing pioneering art projects and platforms in Angola and beyond. As an active art fair participant himself between 2015 and 2020, Maia Tanner brings that experience to Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair. He aims to create an identity for the fair which willdraw exhibitors and visitors back every year. 

“Art has been a passion of mine since I was young, and I even had a spell as a painter,” says Maia Tanner. “Having now lived in Angola for over 15 years, art represents for me Angolan identity. I was drawn to the communities around art and am fascinated by how people in Angola find a sense of belonging through art. I believe the Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair can create even more communities, and a stronger structuring, understanding, appreciation and, ultimately, collection of art in Angola. We are showing that art is available to everyone by offering as wide a variety of art and related experiences as possible”. 

Maia Tanner adds that partners Africell, the Africell Impact Foundation, the Governo Provincial de Luanda and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism “all understand that promoting art develops the Angolan identity and a stronger image of itself, locally and abroad. In this way, art brings immense soft power”.  

The Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair will happen at the iconic Palácio de Ferro, situated in downtown Luanda in Rua Major Kanhangulo. This region is the informal home to a ´Downtown Cultural Movement´, with four of nine dedicated art spaces in Luanda based in the vicinity. João Vigário Silva, the Director of the Palacio who has overseen an increasingly dynamic arts programme, is “proud that an art fair like this one is here at the Palacio, helping to redefine and reposition Angolan art locally and internationally”.

What can visitors expect?

Beyond the artworks on display and rotating by the five galleries, there will be a solo show by Angolan Artist Maria Belmira - a homage to this singular Angolan female artist, one of the most significant of her generation. There is also a 2-day talks programme which brings together empirical testimonies by leading collectors, curators, critics and journalists. And there will also be live art being produced in loco. For the first time, more than a hundred art activists will show and discuss important art-related subjects under one roof. On 19 April there will be a private preview, but on 20 and 21 April, between 14h and 21h, the Africell Luanda Feira de Arte / Luanda Art Fair is free entrance for all. 

Why should you visit?

“The art world can feel exclusive and intimidating,” admits Maia Tanner. “This is an unfortunate fact about the industry worldwide. By contrast, the Africell Luanda Art Fair / Luanda Art Fair is being developed as an inclusive platform. You can speak to galleries and artists in a very easy way, or merely visit the space, and you can ask any question without judgement. Of course, you will also be able to buy art”. 

He concludes: “I am very excited about the Africell Luanda Art Fair / Luanda Art Fair, which is a simple way to discover and enter the world of art in Angola”.