CHICAGO, IL.- The Art Institute of Chicago opened Project A Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica on view from December 15, 2024 through March 30, 2025. This is the first major exhibition to survey Pan-Africanism’s widespread influence on art and culture. The exhibition gathers more than 350 objects, spanning from the 1920s to the present by artists on four continents: Africa, North America, South America, and Europe.

Pan-Africanism, first named and theorized around 1900, is commonly regarded as an umbrella term for political movements that have advanced the call for individual self-determination and global unity among peoples of African descent. The objects in Project a Black Planet vary across medium and time, and span genres of fine art and popular culture, from paintings and speeches to video art, record albums, and sculptural installations. The exhibition is organized around three key Pan-Africanist movements—Garveyism, Négritude, and Quilombismo.

“Many visitors to the exhibition will be familiar with some aspects of Pan-Africanism, like the red, green, and black colors of the Pan-African flag, which has become a powerful symbol of liberation and solidarity worldwide,” said Antawan I. Byrd, associate curator of Photography and Media at the Art Institute of Chicago and assistant professor of Art History at Northwestern University. “Yet some visitors may be surprised to learn the extent to which the ideas behind that flag have inspired artists and communities for more than a century, across both Africa and the diaspora. This has yielded a complex cultural history that has not been fully examined through an exhibition until now.”

Project a Black Planet is part of a constellation of exhibitions and events at the Art Institute and across Chicago with participation from nearly a dozen organizations. At the Art Institute, this exploration began with two installations exploring African history and cinema. For the third installment, the museum is presenting After the End of the World: Pictures from Panafrica, on view through April 21, 2025. This photography show gathers works from the museum’s permanent collection by 17 different artists that show how we can all learn from the earth, gain spiritual as well as physical sustenance from it, and find our paths to freedom.

“It has been such a privilege to work with other insightful and knowledgeable curators to develop this ambitious project,” said Matthew S. Witkovsky, vice president for strategic art initiatives and Sandor Chair of Photography and Media, Art Institute of Chicago. “Pan-Africanism is multifaceted, and is best explored through collaboration and interdependence, which is why the various installations at the Art Institute will hold something new for everyone who comes to see these overlapping shows.”

Project a Black Planet:The Art and Culture of Panafrica will be accompanied by a major catalog published by the Art Institute of Chicago and designed by Polymode Studio. With contributions by the four curators and a dozen external authors, as well as a comprehensive visual timeline of Pan-Africanism, this expansive and richly illustrated publication is a major contribution to histories of African and African diasporic art and politics.

“The publication offers an unprecedented analysis of Pan-Africanism’s cultural reach, covering central themes and raising new questions,” said Adom Getachew, Professor of Political Science and Race, Diaspora and Indigeneity, University of Chicago. “We hope the catalog will inspire further exploration and conversation across fields on the significance of Pan-Africanism cultural practices.”

Project a Black Planet:The Art and Culture of Panafrica is curated by Antawan I. Byrd, associate curator of Photography and Media, Art Institute of Chicago, and assistant professor of Art History, Northwestern University; Elvira Dyangani Ose, director, Museu d’art contemporani de Barcelona; Adom Getachew, Professor of Political Science and Race, Diaspora and Indigeneity, University of Chicago; and Matthew S. Witkovsky, vice president for strategic art initiatives and Sandor Chair of Photography and Media, Art Institute of Chicago.

After the End of the World: Pictures from Panafrica is curated by Matthew Witkovsky, Richard and Ellen Sandor Chair and Curator, Photography and Media, and vice president for strategic art initiatives.