On April 8, 2022, as part of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in Paris, the artwork Memory of today, Memory of the future, created by the collective N.E.T was officially unveiled. The work will adorn the cap of the Ariane 5 rocket that will reach space in December 2022 with the new generation weather observation satellite dedicated to the African continent.
The African Space Art Project (ASAP) was conceived by the French NGO African Artists for Development (AAD-fund), in partnership with the European meteorological satellite agency and Arianespace. The project was born out of an observation: Africa is the continent emits the least CO2 while suffering and will suffer the most from global warming.
On the launch of the new EUMETSAT MGT-I1 geostationary satellite by Ariane 5 over Africa, which will make it possible to observe the climate and meteorological changes of the African continent, AAD-fund, EUMETSAT and Arianespace offered an artistic platform for this highly symbolic launch for the continent. Three African artists under 40, Cameroonian Jean David Nkot, and Congolese Michel Ekéba and Géraldine Tobé, have created a collective work, Memory of today, Memory of tommorrow, whose reproduction will adorn the cap of the Ariane 5 rocket that will carry this new satellite that will be launched into orbit in December 2022.
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The unveiling took place in the presence of the artists and partners on the 8th of April 2022 in Paris at the Pavillon Élysée (10 Avenue des Champs Élysées), as part of the 10th anniversary of the first 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair. This unveiling was preceded by a roundtable, moderated by Touria El Glaoui (founder of 1-54), on the theme “Space, a new frontier for African creation?”. Before the launch of the Ariane 5 launcher in December 2022 from Kourou in Guyana, the original work will be presented in several African countries, then it will be given to the African Union.
