Paris noir at Centre Pompidou

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Paris noir
Artistic circulations and anti-colonial resistance, 1950 – 2000

Centre Pompidou is announcing Paris noir, an exhibition retracing the presence and influence of Black artists in France from the 1950s to 2000.

Curated by Alicia Knock, Paris noir (Black Paris) celebrates 150 artists coming from Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean, whose works have mostly never been showcased in France before.

Paris noir offers a vibrant immersion into cosmopolitan Paris – a place of resistance and creation that gave rise to a wide variety of practices, new thinking on identity, and the search for transcultural artistic languages. From international to Afro-Atlantic abstractions, via Surrealism and free figuration, this historical journey reveals the importance of artists of African descent in the redefinition of Modernisms and Post-modernisms.

In addition to the exhibition an opening conversation and a three-day conference are organised by Centre Pompidou and musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac. Discussions will address the institutional framework in which Paris noir is embedded, Black artists’ public and private networks, crucial questions about these artists underrepresentation, and the tools available today, in a French context, to pursue sustainable policies of acquisition, facilitate the circulation of research and artworks, scientific emulation, and fill historical gaps.

Speakers include: Audrey Célestine, Adrienne Childs, Marie Campbell, Diagne Chanel, Cheryl Finley, Sarah Fila-Bakabadio, Amadou Gaye, Laëtitia Guédon, Pamela Joyner, Benetta Jules Rosette, Trica Keaton, Yala Kisukidi, Anne Lafont, Robert O’Meally, Barbara Prézeau-Stephenson, Ming Smith, Cédric Vincent, Elvan Zabunyan, Amzat Boukari-Yabara, Manuelà Dikoumé, Florence Alexis, Kévi Donat and Christine Eyene.

Paris noir
Artistic circulations and anti-colonial resistance, 1950 – 2000
19 March – 30 June 2025
Centre Pompidou
Information and booking: www.centrepompidou.fr

Le Mensuel n°36 : Opening evening around Paris noir
Wednesday 19 March, 19h00 – 21h00
Centre Pompidou
Cinema 1, level 1
More information

Paris noir – Symposium
20 – 22 March 2025

20 March 2025, 9h – 17h30, Centre Pompidou
21 March 2025, 9h15 – 18h30, Musée du quai Branly
22 March 2025, 14h – 15h30, Campus Condorcet

Free admission subject to availability of seats
See here for more information.

Centre Pompidou
Place Georges-Pompidou
75004 Paris
www.centrepompidou.fr