Afro-futurism is still alive! Young artists are jumping into the abstract movement. We met an Afro-futurist of the new generation:  Antonio Jose Guzman, one of the participants in the exhibition 'Modernity & Aesthetics of the New Black Atlantic', a journey between Amsterdam, Recife and Dakar.

"Afro-futurism was created in the 1970s by Pan-African writers who wished to connect African culture with the universe and his planets. According to the Afro-futurists, Africans are from another planet and not from Africa."

"Many people consider Afro-futurism to be some kind of a mystic cultural movement. Others have taken it literally, as a fantasy. The movement inspired musicians such as George Clinton and his bands Parliament and Funkadelic."

Spaceship

In the middle of the exhibition in Amsterdam, the Afro-Panamanian Dutchman Antonio Jose Guzman built a big ship, symbol of a spaceship and symbol of Africa.

"We are in the heart of the installation named 'Modernity & Aesthetics of the New Black Atlantic'. The ship is part of our continuity, of our Pan-African traditions. The boat represents the idea of the transatlantic journey from Africa to the Americas to Europe. It represents the idea of immigration from Europe to the Americas in the past century."

"But above all, this ship is a symbol of the Jamaican hero Marcus Garvey, who wanted to take his people back to Africa. Also it represents the black militant Do Patricinio from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in the beginning of the 20th century. He wanted to return to Africa in a zeppelin."

Three continents

Amsterdam-Recife-Dakar: Europe, South America and Africa. Three continents unite in modern art. The artists shape their common future. This is the goal of Abdoulaye Armin Kane in Dakar, one of the participating artists:

"I created a white boat, a red boat, a black and red boat, and a black and white boat. Further there are three paintings, they're hanging next to it."

"Just after slavery, Africans were tragically separated. People stayed in Africa and people left for Europe and the US."

"I made this installation and I made a video about social life in Africa. The video should relate Africans in Africa, Europe and the Americas. I wanted to show everything we have in common until today, despite time and space which are dividing us."