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

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Conclusion & Recommendations
CON—
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SION &
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TIONS
The importance of supporting mobility
for artists and cultural actors in North
Africa cannot be stressed enough. Artists
young and older want to see new vistas, meet fellow
creatives, share perspectives, learn new techniques and
learn about themselves and one another. This desire for
exchange was shared by all 90 artists and cultural operators
interviewed.
It is a desire that is shared with artists all over the world –
travel, touring and circulation have repeatedly been underscored
as necessities for the creative vocation. However,
mobility takes on special characteristics, resonances and
stakes in the North African context. In the wake of the
2011 revolutions and the uprisings, conflicts, and peaceful
movements of dissent that followed, a strong push toward
discovery and solidarity has unfolded across the region.
Old barriers of authoritarianism, isolationism and restricted
freedoms have been lifted (albeit with uneven follow-through
and worrying trends emerging); neighbours have felt like
they can finally see each other and get to know one another.