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Exhibition Opening

Recy: Art – Waste as a Resource

Earth Day

Wednesday, 22 April 2026 at 7 PM

Curator and catalogue author: Ivana Vojt, Senior Curator

The Museum of African Art presents its new thematic exhibition Recy: Art - Waste as a Resource, which foregrounds one of the most pressing global challenges: the consequences of the growing amount of waste and the possibilities of its transformation into a valuable resource.

Against the backdrop of accelerated urbanization, population growth, and shifting consumer habits that have dramatically increased waste across the African continent, the exhibition showcases creative responses by individuals, associations, and companies who turn this challenge into opportunity. At its core are utilitarian objects, jewellery, and souvenirs fashioned from industrial solid waste in Sub-Saharan Africa, bearing witness to innovative approaches to sustainability and economic ingenuity.

Rooted in the Museum’s collection - enriched since 1977 with works made from recycled materials—the exhibition has been significantly expanded with new acquisitions and donations from across Africa. Particularly noteworthy are objects gathered during field research in Tanzania in 2024, facilitated by touristic agency Disco Travel, alongside works from private collections and gifts from collaborators and friends of the Museum. On this occasion, the collection has grown by one hundred new pieces.

Lecture

Contemporary Visual Art of the African Continent – A New Cultural Phenomenon

El Anatsui, Rain Has No Father? (2008),
flattened bottle tops

Saturday, 25 April 2026, at 3 p.m.

Aneta Pawłowska (University of Łódź, Poland)

Organized with the support of the Polish Institute in Belgrade

Over the past three decades contemporary visual art from the African continent has become increasingly visible within the global art world. Artists working in Africa and within the African diaspora now regularly participate in major international exhibitions, biennials and museum collections. This growing visibility is closely connected with the processes of globalization, the expansion of the international art market and what some scholars describe as the curatorial turn, which has brought new voices - often of African origin - into the field of exhibition-making and art historical interpretation. The lecture will discuss selected artistic practices that illustrate the diversity of contemporary African art. Particular attention will be devoted to the role of photography as a powerful medium of social reflection and political commentary. The works of photographers such as Santu Mofokeng, who explored the complex visual memory of apartheid South Africa, and Zanele Muholi, whose photographic activism focuses on the visibility and dignity of the Black LGBTQ+ community, demonstrate how contemporary African photography engages with issues of identity, memory, and social justice.

The lecture will be held in English.

Entrance: free

MAU Recommendation

Invitation to participate in the workshop “Heritage on Stage” in Pula

May 21–22, 2026

ICOM SEE, with the support of the ICOM Special Project Grant of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Paris, the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, the Archaeological Museum of Istria in Pula, and project partners ICOM Croatia, INTERCOM, ICOM Hungary, ICOM Bosnia and Herzegovina, ICOM Slovenia, and ICOM Latvia, is pleased to announce the first workshop of the project “Heritage on Stage – Events in Museum Venues.”

The workshop will take place on 21–22 May 2026 at the Archaeological Museum of Istria in Pula (Croatia).

The workshop is open to museum professionals, interpretation centre leaders, as well as municipality and tourist board representatives interested in the use of museums and heritage sites as event venues. Participation is free of charge, but registration is mandatory. Please fill in and submit the online registration form to secure your place.

Virtual Tour

MAU DIGITAL IMPRINT

The project of digitally recording the permanent display and whole Museum of African Art (MAU) building was conducted in several stages over the course of 2015, 2021 and 2022, with the aim of creating a so-called digital imprint as form of cultural heritage preservation. In light of the announced reconstruction of the Museum, by mapping all relevant data, we wanted to create lasting documentation of the initial architecture, as well as the concept of the first permanent display of the MAU. Recording the space and exhibition setting of the Museum using the most current technology and translating the data into a digital impression will make them permanently accessible to all future researchers and other interested parties, even when they cease to exist in their current state.

We invite you to actively explore our new online presentation www.otisak.mau.rs. Enjoy panoramic virtual walks through the museum, encounter the permanent display, museum garden or murals painted onto the façade, and investigate the many contents regarding exhibited pieces and collecting trajectories. Go back to 1977 and read about some of the impressions at the time of the opening of this lasting symbol of Non-Aligned times – a museum created on the grounds of friendship and sincere support of the peoples of Africa, and admiration for the power of their artistic expression.