Also Known As Africa (AKAA) returns to Paris’s Carreau du Temple for its 11th edition from 23–25 October 2026, spotlighting works on paper and a major installation by Senegalese photographer Gabriel Dia.
The Carreau du Temple in Paris will once again feel like a meeting point—this time for the 11th edition of Also Known As Africa (AKAA). The fair returns from 23–25 October 2026, with a clear creative pivot: after AKAA’s 2025 emphasis on ceramics, the 2026 programme centres on works on paper.
For AKAA, that isn’t a simple change of medium. The emphasis is meant to be felt in how the work behaves—close to the hand. but expansive in what it can hold. Artistic Director Sitor Senghor frames it as a space where “a field of remarkable creative freedom” opens up. In her view. works on paper allow archival traces. personal narratives. symbolism. and contemporary imaginaries to coexist. even as artists push at form through experimentation and critical reflection.
The edition’s most eye-catching statement comes in the shape of a monumental installation by Senegalese photographer Gabriel Dia. Drawn from the series Mother’s Heritage, it will be staged as an immersive environment. Large-scale photographs printed on fabric will be suspended throughout the space. turning the gallery floor into something closer to a living archive than a backdrop for viewing.
AKAA’s reach will extend beyond Paris, with exhibitors coming from across the world. The fair will include galleries such as Arte de Gema from Maputo. LOFT3 Gallery from Harare. Umoja Art Gallery from Kampala. ARTBASE from Wiesbaden and Berlin. and BACKLASH in Paris—proof. by its lineup. of the transcontinental scope the fair has continued to build.
From the medium choice to the scale of Dia’s installation. the signal of AKAA 2026 is that contemporary African and diasporic art won’t be pinned down to a single kind of object or a single mode of display. It will keep shifting—material by material. and idea by idea—until the space itself starts to feel like part of the artwork.
Also Known As Africa AKAA Carreau du Temple Paris October 2026 works on paper Sitor Senghor Gabriel Dia Mother’s Heritage contemporary African art diasporic art African design art fair Arte de Gema Maputo LOFT3 Gallery Harare Umoja Art Gallery Kampala ARTBASE Wiesbaden Berlin BACKLASH Paris
So it’s like an African art fair again? Cool I guess.
Works on paper sounds kinda boring not gonna lie. Like why not just do paintings or photos? Also “living archive” is just marketing talk.
Wait Gabriel Dia is the one with those giant fabric prints hanging everywhere? That sounds like it would take up the whole place. I saw something similar on TikTok about “Mother’s Heritage” but I thought it was already in the US?? Guess Paris gets it first.
Carreau du Temple… isn’t that where they always do concerts too? I don’t really get the difference between works on paper and ceramics, like isn’t paper just thin ceramics? Either way, Senegalese photographer, big installation, whatever, sounds like a lot of money went into printing. Hopefully it’s not just Europeans “discovering” African art again.