Tate and Guaranty Trust Bank team up for African art partnership

July 6, 2011 by africanartinlondon 6 Comments

Partners: Guaranty Trust Bank and Tate

Tate and Guaranty Trust Bank have announced a new partnership which will enhance Tate’s engagement with modern and contemporary art from Africa. The Nigerian bank’s sponsorship will create a new curatorial post, fund acquisitions, and support an annual project, providing a massive boost to the presence of art from Africa at Tate Modern.

The announcement follows the recent passing of the bank’s CEO Tayo Aderinokun, a noted supporter and patron of the arts in Nigeria and overseas. Guaranty have already supported two highly successful arts projects in London: Chris Ofili’s exhibition at Tate Britain in 2010, and Yinka Shonibare’s ‘Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle’, on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. Continuing the bank’s commitment to the arts, the Tate partnership extends their support in new directions.

The new curator will develop collaborations with artists, institutions and networks in Africa, sharing expertise and developing new platforms for artists both on the continent and in the UK. One of these platforms will be a new annual project, the first of which, Contested Terrains, opens in Tate Modern’s Level 2 Gallery at the end of this month, before travelling to CCA Lagos early in 2012. Guaranty will also fund the acquisition of new works for Tate’s collection, focusing in particular on work from sub-Saharan Africa, to add to the 100 or so works by African artists already held by the gallery (which are mostly from South and North Africa).

You can find out more here and here.