Experience

BRUSSELS | Brussels Airlines brings ‘AfriConnections’ exhibition to Gare Maritime, Tour & Taxis

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After stops in Kinshasa, Abidjan, Yaoundé and Dakar, the 2026 tour concludes in the Belgian capital

After travelling across the African continent with stops in Kinshasa, Abidjan, Yaoundé, and Dakar, Brussels Airlines’ travelling contemporary African art exhibition ‘AfriConnections‘ has arrived in Brussels for the fifth and final stop of its 2026 journey. The exhibition brings together works by fifteen artists from across Africa and celebrates the richness and diversity of contemporary African art.

The exhibition runs to 30 October 2026 at the Gare Maritime at Tour & Taxis.

Launched in April this year, ‘AfriConnections’ was created as a cultural journey connecting artistic scenes and audiences across Africa and Europe. Brussels Airlines first took the works to four African capitals: Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Abidjan in Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire), Yaoundé in Cameroon, and Dakar in Senegal. The arrival in Brussels now marks the conclusion of that journey.

“This traveling exhibition deeply reflects our identity: connecting continents and building bridges between cultures. After travelling through several countries on the African continent, we are delighted to now share these works in Brussels. ‘AfriConnections’ has been a unique opportunity to enable contemporary African art to circulate between different countries and audiences, and to create new connections along the way”, Michel Moriaux, Head of Marketing at Brussels Airlines, says.

A final stop celebrating contemporary African art

​The ‘AfriConnections’ exhibition brings together fifteen artists from various African art scenes, including several major figures recognized internationally. Together, their works testify to the richness and diversity of contemporary art across the continent. The works on display come from the collection of the Ifitry artist residency.

“Africa has given birth to great artists, but their works often leave the continent very early on. It is essential that collections be built in Africa, so that the works can be preserved and exhibited there. This is how an artistic memory is built, and how African audiences can fully access their own contemporary art”, Mostapha Romli, Director, Ifitry Artist Residency, says.

From Kinshasa to Brussels, via Abidjan, Yaoundé and Dakar

​Beyond its artistic dimension, ‘AfriConnections’ was built around a strong ambition: to encourage the circulation of contemporary African art within the African continent itself, before bringing the works to Europe for its final chapter.

Conceived as a project centered around sharing and encounters, the exhibition is offered with free admission, making the works accessible to a broad audience.

“AfriConnections is based on a simple yet essential idea: strengthening connections between artistic scenes and audiences. While African artists are now enjoying growing international recognition, their works still circulate very little among African countries themselves. Allowing these works to travel between several capitals across the continent before reaching Europe is a particularly valuable and still all too rare initiative”, Michèle Desmottes, ‘AfriConnections’ curator, says.

​Through ‘AfriConnections’, Brussels Airlines underlines that the connections it creates between Belgium and the African continent go beyond air travel. They bring people together and contribute to economic, human and cultural exchanges, while also enabling ideas, stories and works of art to circulate.

For a century – more precisely since 1925, the date of the very first air link between Belgium and DRC – the Belgian airline has placed Africa at the heart of its history and strategy. ‘AfriConnections’ builds on these longstanding connections by creating a cultural journey along some of the cities linked by the airline.

Alongside the travelling exhibition, Brussels Airlines also launched Art&Design, a digital campaign featuring a series of videos dedicated to African artists.

​About the Ifitry Artists’ Residency

​Founded in 2000 by artist Mostapha Romli, the Ifitry artist residency has established itself as a fully-fledged laboratory for experimentation, research, and creation.

Located on the Atlantic Coast, a few kilometers from Essaouira, it offers leading artists from Morocco, Africa, and beyond a space for work, reflection, and dialogue conducive to the most open forms of expression. For over twenty years, Ifitry has hosted more than 700 artists from 82 countries, across a wide range of disciplines, with a particular focus on African art scenes and the circulation of works, ideas, and perspectives.

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