Simon Njami

Simon Njami is an independent lecturer, curator, and art critic. He was the Curator of the 12th Edition of the Dak’Art Biennale (2016), and a visual-arts consultant for Cultures France, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ cultural branch. He received an M.A. in art history and philosophy and a Ph.D. in law and modern literature. Njami has curated numerous exhibitions of African art and photography, including Die Andere Reise/The Other Journey: Africa and the Diaspora, Kunsthalle Krems, Vienna (1996), Les Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie, Bamako Photography Biennial, Mali (2001 and 2009), Up and Coming, ARCO, Madrid (2003), Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent, Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf (2004–07, traveling to London, Paris, Tokyo, and Johannesburg), and As You Like It, the first African contemporary art fair in Johannesburg (2008), and was also co-curator with Angolese artist Fernando Alvim of the first African Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007). His latest shows are A Collective Diary (Tel-Aviv, 2010), a solo show of Cameroonian artist Bili Bidjocka (Paris, 2010) and A Useful dream (Brussels 2010). Njami is also co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Paris based cultural magazine Revue Noire, and has contributed essays to the catalogue for the Sydney Biennial and other exhibitions. His latest book a biography of President Leopold Sedar Senghor was published in 2007 (Fayard, Paris).