Thank you for coming to 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair New York 2016!

1:54 New York 2016 has officially come to a close. With over 6,500 visitors and strong gallery sales reported, this year’s edition has been an overwhelming success.
 
Amongst our highlights, we’re especially pleased with FORUM, curated by Koyo Kouoh (RAW Material Company), where conversation flowed around the rise of digital platforms and new circuits of contemporary culture. Meanwhile, Transmissions – a partnership with the 12th Dakar Biennale – realized its own circuit of cultural exchange with a new film for each day of the fair beamed in from Dakar, along with exclusive interviews with artists and curators.
 
As always, the 1:54 Lounge, this year designed by Stephen Burks Man Made, was an energetic space for exchange and conversation. Burks’s original designs from his Ahnda lounge seating collection for DEDON appeared alongside a new work by Zimbabwean artist Misheck Masamvu, presented by Goodman Gallery ahead of the opening of his show at the Johannesburg gallery tomorrow.
 
We were also delighted to initiate our first performance at the fair through 1:54 PERFORMS, a new section for this edition co-presented with Performa and curated by Adrienne Edwards (Performa and Walker Art Center). Dave McKenzie’s This ship would set sail, even anchored as it was (2016), unfolded across two days in the 1:54 Lounge with McKenzie using an alphabet of prototyped sneakers to imprint text onto an unfurling scroll of paper.
 
Encouraged by Sunday’s sunshine, dancing ensued in the garden for Osei Korankye’s dazzling sounds and infectious rhythms courtesy of Guinean Afro-jazz troupe, Mandingo Ambassadors, who took to the stage for Pioneer Works’ Second Sundays. The Garden Café provided sustenance with a delicious Senegalese-inspired menu by chef Pierre Thiam.
 
With this edition our strongest yet in New York, we’ve been motivated by all the support and interest in the fair and enriched by the level of engagement with our galleries and artists. Thank you to all those who attended, contributed, and engaged in this edition, we’ll be back next year!