Paris, October 31, 2018. Coming out of the symposium Zoë Strother and I organized on Biennale Cultures in Africa at Columbia University in 2015, one student wondered: “So, France and the European Union financially support biennales in Africa. What's wrong with that?” At the time, the question nagged me, as it captured the contradictions of the debate in one straightforward question. The present dialogue will give me the opportunity to tackle an issue so central to the understanding of the diffusion of biennales in Africa, often accused of representing a mere showcase for the West disconnected from local realities and even local artists (Senegalese artists have often complained that they felt dispossessed from a biennale they had contributed to create). If relying on foreign funding does not necessarily mean a loss of artistic and cultural independence, a balance must be found to create an event that would both benefit the...

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