African modern art comes to Tate Modern


Released on: June 17, 2013, 11:42 am
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Industry: Travel

Two exhibitions showcase the best of African contemporary art in July.

-- /EPR NETWORK/ -- On 3rd July, the Tate Modern gallery on Bankside in London will launch two exhibitions looking at the work of two of Africa's most important contemporary artists. The gallery is devoted to exploring all aspects of modern art, but mainly focuses on American and European interpretations. This double exhibition is an attempt to rectify that and provide space in one of Europe's most important galleries to two great African artists. The Tate Modern is located on the Southbank, within easy reach of Gatwick airport and London's most trusted website for visitors, LondonTown.com, offers plenty of offers for tourists on hotels near Gatwick.

MeschacGaba's Museum of Contemporary African Art is the most adventurous of the two. It is a 12-room installation created by Benin's Meschac Benin that comments on the nature of the museum, blurring the boundaries between art and everyday life. The installation contains a wide array of made and found objects, including paintings, sculptures, drawings and videos as well as religious objects, musical instruments and banknotes that are carefully arranged to resemble a West African street market. The rooms attempt to reflect the main principles of the museum experience, including spaces labelled ‘Shop', ‘Library' and ‘Restaurant'. The exhibition was first displayed in 2002 but this is the first time it will be displayed in its entirety in the UK.

The Tate will also be exhibiting Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist , bringing together 100 works from the Sudanese artist's five-decade career. El-Salahi was born in Sudan and trained at the Slade in London before returning to Sudan where he began to integrate Islamic, African, Arab and Western artistic traditions. The exhibition at the Tate will show work from across his career showing how he has developed his distinctive style and highlighting the way he has mixed different culture in his pioneering work. For more details about both exhibitions, see LondonTown.com.

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