Art Moves Africa – Retracing Roots and Tracing New Routes: Mobility and Touring in North Africa

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Country-Specific Information
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YARA MEKAWEI
ELHAM KATTAB
CONTEMPORARY
IMAGE COLLECTIVE
Examples of mobility projects:
Sound and video artist Yara Mekawei attended
the Lagos and Dakar biennales. She has since
founded a pan-African radio station named
Radio Submarine, which broadcasts one hour of
sound art and alternative music (historical and
contemporary) from a different African country
every week.
Digital artist Elham Kattab has been collaborating
with curators across North Africa on a new
platform named Digi-MENA. The first phase was a
mapping research of digital artists in the region,
produced in collaboration with Moroccan curator
Nouha Ben Yebdri and Algerian curator Taoufiq
Douib. She is also co-organizing a Digital Arts
Festival with Douib, which is set to take place
in Algeria later this year.
The Contemporary Image Collective in Cairo is
part of the Centres of Learning for Photography
in Africa Network, which links organizations
across the continent to develop critical thinking
on photography. They have met in different
countries across the continent, including Uganda,
South Africa, Lesotho, Rwanda and RDC.
LAILA SOLIMAN
Egypt’s visa policy is one of the most restrictive
in the region. Visas are required for citizens of
all North African countries above the age of 14,
with the exception of Libyan women who may
enter visa-free. Nationals of all African countries,
with the exception of South Sudan, must apply
for a visa.
Egypt has good flight connections to
North Africa via EgyptAir as well as AirAlgérie,
Tunisair and Royal Air Maroc, which all fly
to Cairo. Egyptair has developed its connections
southward, with connections to several
East African countries, as well as South Africa,
Zimbabwe and Zambia in Southern Africa and
Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa.
Other destinations may be reached via Addis
Ababa.
Playwright and theatre director Laila Soliman
has been pursuing projects in Senegal and South
Africa. In 2017, she attended a residency at
RAW Material Company in Dakar and in 2018,
directed a theatre production titled “Museum
of Lungs,” featuring South African composer/
multi-instrumentalist Neo Muyanga and writer/
performer Stacy Hardy.