The Incubator is a year-long task force consisting of Gabi Ngcobo, of the Center for Historical Reenactments (CHR) Johannesburg ; Mia Jankowicz, of CIC Cairo; Jimmy Ogonga, of the Center for Contemporary Art of East Africa (CCAEA) Nairobi; and Khadija El Bennaoui, Art Moves Africa (AMA).

It is formed in response to a proposal by two of Manifesta 8’s curators, Bassam El Baroni and Jeremy Beaudry of Alexandria Contemporary Art Forum (ACAF), as an extension to the political issues raised and intellectual territories covered in their general curatorial contribution to Manifesta 8 entitled ‘Overscore’.

The Incubator exists to facilitate the articulation of critical positions regarding the notion of a Pan-African Roaming Biennial.

It will avoid assumptions or simple assessments of what a biennial looks like, what context it is ‘for’, what effect it has, and whether it can be done. Instead, it will identify and bring together perspectives from curators, artists, cultural producers, and dialogically active funders, whose current activities evidence an attempt to find room for autonomy and progressive experimentation within their respective contexts.

The Incubator exists of a symposium at the opening of Manifesta 8 ; development of a website; a workshop in April 2011 in an African city; the appointment of key voices as planners; the production of a publication in September 2011.

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Both the Incubator and its platforms will register positions as an (uneven) landscape upon which others may imagine a biennial, a roaming biennial, an alternative structure, or a model responding to different priorities entirely.<br >
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www.panafricannial.org