The inaugural edition is organized around the central theme "Shifting the Center: From Fragility to Resilience," reclaiming African architecture's place as a site of spatial intelligence and cultural memory.
A commemorative bronze head, from around 1850, is a representation of the ancestor of a chief and would have been placed in the king's ancestral shrine.
After a long stay away from this land, it is returning to its own people and it is an honour for us and a relief to welcome it. This is the missing piece of the puzzle that is returning today. Receiving this sacred instrument is a relief, but it is also another form of connection with our ancestors who were very close to this instrument.
The Arctic World Archive (AWA) is a data storage unit where organisations and individuals can deposit records kept on specialist digitised film called Piql that lasts up to 2,000 years. On 27 February, Nigeria became the first African country to place archives at the facility 300 metres beneath a mountain where the cold, dark, dry conditions are perfect for preservation.
Oumy is a leading figure in contemporary Senegalese music. Her style, which blends hip-hop, African R&B and global pop, makes her one of the most exciting artists on the country's urban scene. Beyond her music career, she has also been involved in social projects within her community, participating in cultural festivals and campaigns related to the environment and equality.
The Aubusson Tapestry Museum is situated in an exceptional context shaped by a rich history and a powerful natural environment. The Creuse capital of tapestry has been marked by its history since the royal manufactory of the 14th century.
In 2011, the Colombian government ordered the creation of a national museum "to achieve the strengthening of the collective memory" around the decades-long armed conflict. That same year, it passed the Victims and Land Restitution Law aimed at providing victims with reparations and justice. More than just a curated collection of objects or artworks, the museum, scheduled to be inaugurated in 2018, was conceived as an archive of the violent civil war.
The traditional museum experience, pausing in front of an object, and absorbing its history visually or by reading its description, has long shaped how collectors and others relate to cultural treasures. Yet, over the last few decades, digital technology has quietly rewritten many of those rules, changing not only how collections are exhibited but also how they are documented, preserved, and even inherited.
Redolent of African basketry, hairstyles, headwear, and pottery, Donté K. Hayes ' abstract ceramic sculptures may be interpreted as poetic vessels, even though they lack traditional openings. While we easily associate clay pots and round woven forms with ideas related to storage, protection, and even spiritual significance, they also nod to the human head as a holder-a kind of receptacle for culture, language, personal expression, and dreams.
