Global tour asks what pan-Africanism looks like in 2026
A summer of events at the Barbican in London built on a series of global events that have brought pan-Africanism back into prominence.
In 2026, a global tour titled "Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica" will be visiting Brussels, the latest stop in a journey that began in Chicago in December 2024 and passed through Barcelona and London. The exhibition, organized by Antawan Byrd, Matthew Witkovsky, Adom Getachew and Elvira Dyangani Ose, brings together nearly 500 works by around 100 artists from 1920 to the present day, across Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, North America and Western Europe.
Pan-Africanism, a utopian movement, has always been a complex and evolving concept. It has encompassed political movements, intellectual traditions and cultural identities, bringing together people with different relationships to Africa and to one another. The term first emerged at the 1900 Pan-African Conference in London, organized by Henry Sylvester Williams to challenge racial discrimination and colonial rule. However, there has never been a single version of pan-Africanism.
Cocurators Byrd and Getachew explained that the exhibition's title aims to provoke thinking about how these ideas are transforming on a planetary scale, not on the scale of one community or one place. The project, which spans various art forms such as music, film, print and political thought, has evolved differently in each location, reflecting the diverse perspectives and experiences of the artists and audiences.
In Chicago, the exhibition connected pan-Africanism to the city's own black artistic history, showcasing works by Hale Woodruff, Kerry James Marshall and Ebony Patterson, alongside posters, album covers and other everyday objects. In Barcelona, the emphasis shifted to connections between pan-Africanism, anti-fascism and Spain's history, including Trinidadian CLR James' involvement in the International Brigades during the Spanish civil war in the 1930s.
London's iteration added new artists such as Ronald Moody, William Kentridge, Mohamed Melehi, Farid Belkahia, Lubaina Himid and Claudette Johnson, alongside works by David Hammons and Chris Ofili. The Barbican also featured a programme of more than fifty events, showcasing film, music, performance and discussion.
As the exhibition moves to Brussels, it will adapt to the European capital's own colonial history and its own unique perspective on pan-Africanism. The tour demonstrates how the ideas and representations of pan-Africanism are constantly evolving and being reinterpreted in different contexts, ultimately reflecting the ongoing global dialogue around black identity, solidarity and cooperation.
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