Africa

Green energy company powers Madagascar's first contemporary art non-profit

Hakanto Contemporary, sponsored by the eco-friendly Filatex group, is directed by the artist Joël Andrianomearisoa

Marrakesh loses title of first African Capital of Culture after Moroccan government steps in

Rabat is given the accolade just a just a week before celebration events were scheduled to take place

Art marketanalysis

'You have the right to culture with a capital C': Africa's growing collecting class shifts focus to home

From Marrakech to Cape Town, the continent's growing fairs and auctions scene is catering to a burgeoning domestic buying base

Luanda Leaks: Isabel dos Santos—who owns vast African art collection—accused of making her $2.2bn fortune by exploiting Angola

Dos Santos and her husband Sindika Dokolo own around 3,000 works by artists including William Kentridge and Zanele Muholi

Africacomment

Why Africa’s future museums should forget Western models

The time is ripe for artists and curators to reconfigure what can actually be done within the walls of a museum

Mali's reputation for insecurity challenged by the 25th Bamako Encounters

This year's edition of the photography festival showed "there are many Africas", as 85 artists portrayed a multifaceted, self-aware continent

Angola freezes assets of billionaire and her art collector husband

Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman, is married to Sindika Dokolo who has been working for years on repatriating works to the African continent

How medical experts helped curators discover the hidden secrets of a Senufo helmet mask

Spectral CT scans enabled the Dallas Museum of Art to identify unknown elements in the West African piece

France promises to return 26 looted Benin artefacts by 2021 and opens talks on 'wider set of works'

But restitution depends on the adoption of a law covering these specific items, while Benin secures a location to house them

Togo opens ground-breaking arts centre in former colonial palace

Palais de Lomé is the west African country's first major contemporary art centre and is unique on the continent for being financed by the state

France returns a historic sword to Senegal

The gesture is intended as a symbol of France’s commitment to repatriating African heritage

Alfredo Jaar revisits Rwandan genocide 25 years after the atrocity

The Chilean artist’s harrowing project goes on show in the UK for the first time

One year after the Sarr-Savoy report, France has lost its momentum in the restitution debate

The report made international headlines, recommending the restitution of African artefacts in French museums, but the country has not returned a single item to Africa

Yoruba prince donates more than 1,000 works of art to establish university museum in Nigeria

Yemisi Shyllon hopes other Nigerian collectors will follow his example and help found teaching museums that promote art education

Why African women artists are bucking the market trend

The growing success of female African artists marks an exciting shift in the market

The travel books of Eugène Delacroix have now been translated into English

These notebooks reveal how the artist discovered the "real" Orient in North Africa and southern Spain and adjusted his paintings accordingly

Benin gets €20m loan for new museum to show restituted heritage

France’s president pledged to return 26 items seized in the 19th century by the French military

South African art fair gets reboot under a new owner

Johannesburg-based FNB Joburg fair has been bought by its former director Mandla Sibeko

Museums in the changing world order: Restitution to Africa reaches tipping point

In the second part of a new series, Adrian Ellis examines the issue of post-colonial restitution

David Adjaye to design Ghana’s first ever pavilion at the Venice Biennale

Artists on show will include John Akomfrah, El Anatsui and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

This is African art's Golden Age, but can 1-54 Marrakech help build a sustainable domestic clientele?

Western interest in contemporary works from the continent is at a high, but that can be a double-edged sword

Economic growth spurs Africa’s art market—but slowly

Fledgling local client base and rising international interest fuel Cape Town and Marrakech shows

Africanews

Zimbabwe makes Venice Biennale selections amid political turmoil

Cosmos Shiridzinomwa and Georgina Maxim are the first artists to be confirmed

Nigeria calls for return of Lander Stool from the British Museum

Woodcarving was taken from the African country in 1830 by the UK explorer Richard Lander

When Saharan sands glittered with gold: how the world's largest desert was a major medieval trade route

New exhibition at the Block Museum of Art looks at the artefacts that flowed through the region assisted by the spread of Islam

Podcastspodcast

Should looted colonial art be returned?

We weigh up the arguments for and against the restitution of African art taken during the colonial period with Vicky Ngari-Wilson, Nicholas Thomas and Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

Senegal and Ivory Coast will ask for return of objects in French museums

Statements come just days after the release of a controversial French report on the restitution of African artefacts

'Give Africa its art back', Macron's report says

A new report on the status of African objects in French museums will urge the president to return works taken “without consent” in the colonial period

Mexican exhibitions of southern African art bring death to life

Shows in Oaxaca de Juárez forge cross-cultural connections