The “House of African Worlds” finally opens

Paris. “I have dreamed of this place since my childhood,” recognizes Élisabeth Gomis, the general director of MansA (House of African Worlds), relieved to see the project she has been carrying out for almost eight years come to fruition on October 4. Because if the report by Cameroonian historian and political scientist Achille Mbembé submitted in 2021 to Emmanuel Macron marks the official starting point of the project, she has worked on it since 2017 while she participated in the Presidential Council for Africa. A relief therefore, since this hybrid cultural place has experienced numerous delays, and hesitation over its location (premises of the Cartier Foundation bd Raspail, rooms of the Paris Mint). Élisabeth Gomis admits to having discovered “the art of compromise and the time of administration” during these eight years, far from the world of journalism where she comes from.

The chosen building is more modest than those mentioned: it is a former clothing workshop in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, near the Saint-Louis hospital. With a surface area of ​​approximately 800 square meters on four levels, it has a modular central space, a reading and music lounge, offices and a large fitted basement. Like the inaugural exhibition dedicated to Roxane Mbanga (born in 1996 in Paris, to a Cameroonian father and a Guadeloupean mother), who occupies all the spaces and deliberately disrupts the perception of volumes, the place is required to change shape according to the scheduled events.

If the building is bright and its circulation is pleasant and fluid (designed by the New South agency, Paris), MansA has lowered its ambitions: in his report, Achille Mbembé envisaged an establishment comparable to the Arab World Institute, with a surface area of ​​17,000 m2 on nine levels. The diplomat Luc Briard, who managed the foreshadowing of MansA with Élisabeth Gomis, mentioned, “the House of Culture of Japan or the House of Latin America”. These three institutions do not have the same status, but the representatives of foreign countries have a central place; this is currently not the case at MansA, which has sparked criticism in Africa.

With a budget supplemented by the Ministry of Culture and that of Europe and Foreign Affairs to the tune of 5 million euros, MansA can consider long-term programming, in the field of visual arts, cinema, literature, music and research. Will be explored “areas often left aside by French institutions, such as African video games”, explains Imane Lehérissier, programming manager.

Élisabeth Gomis, for her part, emphasizes the partnerships already established, particularly with universities in France and abroad (Paris Nanterre, Sciences Po, Chicago University). She adds that MansA aims to “leave a trace and create archives on Afro-descendant cultures, including overseas”through a magazine and online media. According to Christine Folly, deputy general director, the opening of MansA arouses great enthusiasm in France and abroad among the African diasporas, to the point that the establishment is “constantly requested by artists and researchers”, beyond its production or reception capacities. The location of MansA in the 10th arrondissement is “temporary, probably for two years”, she specifies, a sign that the project is set to grow if its support continues.