This residency programme focuses on Afro-diasporic heritage, post-colonial dynamics, and transatlantic exchanges by bringing together artists: Gabriela de Matos (Brazil), Tiganá Santana (Brazil), Anne-Lise Agossa (Côte d’Ivoire), and Olufèmi Hinson Yovo (Benin), under the curatorial guidance of Cindy Sissokho (France).
Ltr: Tiganá Santana by José de Holanda; Gabriela de Matos by Amanda Bibiano; Anne-Lise Agossa (courtesy the artist); Olufèmi Hinson Yovo (courtesy the artist); Cindy Sissokho by Sofia Yala.
Atlantic Threads is a collaborative and interdisciplinary project that promotes artistic and cultural exchanges between contexts marked by colonial legacies and power imbalances.
Launched by Pivô in partnership with the African Artists’ Foundation (Dig Where You Stand) and the Cité Internationale des Arts, the project contributes to the creation and strengthening of cultural and social ties between Salvador da Bahia and African and European countries connected by the Atlantic coast.
Through the participation of invited artists, researchers, and cultural agents, collaborating in various stages for research and engagement in different territories, the project situates artistic practice as a tool for investigation and speculative reimagination, addressing themes such as memory, Afro-Atlantic movements, and Afro-diasporic thought.
The first edition, as a prologue to the project, will take place from January to April 2025 at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, gathering in residence Gabriela de Matos (Minas Gerais/Brazil), Tiganá Santana (Bahia/Brazil), Anne-Lise Agossa (Abidjan/Ivory Coast), and Olufèmi Hinson Yovo (Cotonou/Benin).
As curator of this prologue program, Cindy Sissokho (Montreuil/France) brings her expertise in contemporary art and post-colonial discourse to the project. Over three months, participants will develop public dialogues and a podcast. The podcast, with the collaboration of Olivier Marboeuf (Guadeloupe/France), head of the online radio station R22, amplifies the circulation of ideas and exchanges that take place during the residency, inviting a rethinking of historical interconnections from an artistic perspective.
The project is supported by the Institut Français, with the backing of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the French Embassy in Brazil, and the French Commissariat, as part of the France-Brazil Season 2025 in its first year of development, with long-term continuity and further developments in subsequent stages.
More than just a project that organizes exhibitions or residencies, Atlantic Threads is a proposition – a pulsating and dynamic network that critically questions the past while collaborating with the collective imagination of possible futures.
Find out more about the laureates and curator here.
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