Brussels Airlines launches traveling exhibition to bring African art between Africa and Europe
An exceptional tour of Kinshasa, Abidjan, Yaoundé, Dakar, and Brussels in 2026
Brussels, April 22, 2026 - In 2026, Brussels Airlines is launching a major traveling exhibition dedicated to contemporary African art. Titled AfriConnections, this artistic tour will stop in Kinshasa, Abidjan, Yaoundé, and Dakar before arriving in Brussels, creating a cultural dialogue between several African capitals and Europe. The exhibition will be hosted by major museums and cultural venues, further enhancing the scope and ambition of this initiative.
Conceived as a cultural project of international scope, AfriConnections extends the company’s historic mission: to connect territories, audiences, and cultures.
“This traveling exhibition deeply reflects our identity: connecting continents and building bridges between cultures. We are delighted to contribute to the circulation of major works of contemporary African art between several countries on the continent and Brussels, and to enable these works to reach the public.”
- Dorothea von Boxberg, CEO, Brussels Airlines
Highlighting major artists in African creation
The AfriConnections exhibition brings together fifteen artists from various African scenes, including several major figures recognized on the international stage. Together, they bear witness to the richness and diversity of the continent’s contemporary art. 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
Circulating works among African capitals
Beyond its artistic dimension, AfriConnections also has a strong ambition: to promote the circulation of works among several African countries, a dynamic that is still relatively rare in the international art ecosystem. The exhibition will travel successively to the Congo, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and Senegal, before being presented in Belgium. Conceived as a project of sharing and encounter, it will be offered with free admission, in order to be widely accessible to all audiences.
“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
When air routes become cultural routes
Through this initiative, Brussels Airlines reminds us that its flight routes do not merely connect cities. They bring people together, foster economic, human, and cultural exchanges, and also allow works of art, imaginations, and stories to circulate.
For a century - more precisely since 1925, the date of the very first air link between Belgium and the Congo - the Belgian airline has placed Africa at the heart of its history and strategy. True to this commitment, the airline is launching two distinct initiatives this year AfriConnections is the traveling exhibition between the two continents, and Art&Design is the digital campaign rolled out on social media through a series of videos dedicated to African artists.
Itinerant exhibition schedule
D.R. Congo – Kinshasa | Senegal – Dakar |
Ivory Coast – Abidjan | Belgium – Brussels |
Cameroon – Yaoundé |
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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.
Joëlle Neeb
