So far so close

"Abidjan is zo": stroll in the city of contemporary arts

Audio 48:30

The “Unique Piece” gallery is located in Cocody, in Riviera 3. It opened its doors in September 2021. © Vladimir Cagnolari/RFI

By: Céline Develay Mazurelle Follow

2 mins

In terms of contemporary art, the Ivorian economic capital has long been fertile ground.

After going through the years of crisis and conflict, the city is getting a makeover, and more and more contemporary art galleries and foundations are springing up on the shores of the Ebrié lagoon.

Places that share and encourage contemporary African and Ivorian creation, while seeking to open it up to as many people as possible, starting with the MuCAT, Museum of Contemporary Cultures Adama Toungara, inaugurated in 2020 in the popular district of Abobo, located north of Abidjan.

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Painters, sculptors, performers and visual artists, many of whom came from the School of Fine Arts in Abidjan, then found spaces to exhibit, sell their works and live from their art, following in the footsteps of their illustrious elders Ouattara Watts, Ernest Dükü or Jems Koko Bi... Because in Abidjan, there is money and fortunes capable of acquiring paintings and sculptures, of collecting, in an international market that is increasingly eyeing Africa.

From the business district of the Plateau, to Abobo, passing through the chic and green district of Cocody, let's follow 

who has  gone to take the pulse of Abidjan Arty.

From workshops to street-art exhibitions, from vernissages to gallery inaugurations, Abidjan is zo! 

Learn more:

- On 

 located in Abobo

- On the work of 

- On the 

opened in 2008 in Cocody 

- On

 another essential address in Abidjan, directed by Yacouba Konaté, a figure in the arts in Côte d'Ivoire

- On the 

recently inaugurated. 

Painter Obou, an Ivorian visual artist, asserts his African culture with this Dan mask that he wears and paints in most of his paintings.

© Vladimir Cagnolari

Show originally aired on October 17, 2021.

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