“The intervention of the doual’art association in public space is in response to a vow, unwritten but sealed in stone, between Didier Schaub and Marilyn Douala Manga Bell: never to renounce the utopias that appeared in the wake of the post’68 movements. Chiefly, the humanist idea of political generosity participates in the emancipation of people and in their freedom.”

Public Art in Africa examines the role and the impact of art on urban transformation through the introduction of a wide range of contemporary artworks created since 1991 in the Cameroonian city of Douala. These artworks were produced as part of the activities of doual’art, which holds the Salon Urbain Douala (SUD) every three years and is at the very core of the experience of public art in the city.
A catalogue raisonné introduces the reader to a variety of works including monumental and architectural artworks, urban design installations, sculptures, graffiti, murals, happenings, performances and other artistic projects closely tied to the local communities and the urban fabric of Douala. This volume also gives privileged access to the committed point of view of Cameroonian and international artists, as well as museum directors, curators and art critics who are heavily involved in the city’s artistic scene.
Public Art in Africa thus invites the reader on a journey within a global socio-political discourse on the role of art in contemporary society.

An enriched digital version of the volume (available from september 2017) contains an additional series of academic essays, which aim to lay the theoretical foundations of public art in Africa. A historiographical and iconographic glossary adds to the understanding of contemporary artistic practices in the continent.

With Marta Pucciarelli, Fiona Siegenthaler, Marilyn Douala Bell, Kamel Verschuren, Xandra Nibbeling, Lucas Grandin, Asta Adukaite, Maud de la Chapelle
I participated to the publication with an introduction to the SUD2017, the 5-10th of December 2017.

Art et transformations urbaines à Douala /// Art and Urban Transformations in Douala
Éditeur(s) scientifique(s): Iolanda Pensa
Collection: vuesDensemble
ISBN: 978-2-94-0563-16-6
Date de publication: 14.03.2017 / Livre numérique disponible dès septembre 2017
Nombre de pages: 240