Biennale / Event Supplements / Dakar Biennale 2026 / Live
Dak’Art profile · Dakar city page · Free to read · Updated October 6, 2026
Dakar Biennale · Dakar · November 19 to December 19, 2026
Following Dak’Art
The headlines since June, newest first, and the places that will carry the next ones: the wire, the dailies, the organizer’s accounts, the films, and the feeds that were tested and work.
The lists The Artists & Designers · Dak’Art: history and essays · Dak’Art on My Biennale · Dakar on My Biennale
The news since June
Four Months, One Wire
Most news of the 16th Dakar Biennale (Dak’Art) starts in one place: the Agence de presse sénégalaise, whose dispatches the dailies and allAfrica reprint within a day. This page lists what has been published since June 1, 2026, and where the next reports will appear. It is a reading list checked on October 6, 2026, not a running commentary.
The story has moved in five steps. Morad Montazami was appointed artistic director on April 15, as PressAfrik reported the next day. On July 27 the organizer opened registration for the OFF, the independent programme that runs beside the official one. Through the summer the Secretary General, Marième Ba, named Saudi Arabia and the Democratic Republic of Congo as guest countries, in an APS dispatch of July 23. At the launch on September 24, the DRC stood alone. The selection followed the same day: 54 artists in the international exhibition and 21 in Design, by APS’s count. Since October 4 the organizer has been filling its own site, posting a page for each artist.
The selection is in The Exhibitions and The Artists & Designers; the people are in People.
Latest headlines, newest first
Titles are given as published. Every item was opened on October 6, 2026.
- Oct 6Faouzi Laatiris, “Grand témoin” du Dak’art 2026, un artiste inclassable et incubateur de talents (an unclassifiable artist and incubator of talent). APS. A profile of the Moroccan artist; it does not say what he will show.
- Oct 6Afrique: Dak’Art 2026 - Dakar se prépare à accueillir la 16e Biennale de l’art contemporain (Dakar prepares to host the 16th Biennale of contemporary art). allAfrica. A round-up: dates, theme, 75 artists, the DRC, works under way at the Ancien Palais de Justice.
- Oct 5Ngoor, le sentiment comme manière de créer (Ngoor, feeling as a way of making). Le Soleil. On the tribute exhibition at the Galerie nationale, November 19 to December 19.
- Oct 5Grand Témoin : Faouzi Laatiris (Grand Témoin, or principal witness). Biennale de Dakar. The organizer’s presentation, posted with Carte blanche : Serigne Mbaye Camara.
- Oct 5Artiste hommage : Abdoulaye Niokhor Bobdit « Ngoor » (Tribute artist: Abdoulaye Niokhor Bob, known as Ngoor). Biennale de Dakar. Title as published, typing error included.
- Oct 4Mme Marieme BA, Secrétaire générale de la Biennale de l’Art africain contemporain (Marième Ba, Secretary General of the Biennale). Biennale de Dakar. Carries the launch communiqué dated September 24: dates, theme, five curatorial lines, 75 proposals.
- Oct 3Morad Montazami, directeur artistique de la Biennale de Dakar : « C’est dans une certaine adversité qu’on trouve des ressources inattendues » (It is in a certain adversity that one finds unexpected resources). Le360. Interview on the Moroccan artists and the selection criteria.
- Oct 1Dak’Art 2026 : quelles Afriques dessine la sélection de Morad Montazami ? (Which Africas does Morad Montazami’s selection draw?). Diptyk. An analysis of the selection: few emerging artists, many from the diaspora and the islands.
- Sep 30Morad Montazami, un pont culturel entre l’Afrique et le Moyen-Orient (a cultural bridge between Africa and the Middle East). APS. The original profile of the artistic director.
- Sep 29Dak’Art 2026 : tout ce qu’il faut savoir sur la prochaine Biennale de Dakar (Everything to know about the next Dakar Biennale). au-senegal.com. A visitor primer; says programme and venue details will follow.
- Sep 26Biennale de Dakar 2026, l’art face aux fractures du monde (Art facing the world’s fractures). Sud Quotidien, read on Seneplus. Counts 75 presences from 36 countries and some 450 OFF exhibitions.
- Sep 26Dak’Art 2026: Dakar Biennale unveils its 75 artists and bets on the art of repair. African Meridian. A summary in English.
- Sep 25Dak’Art : 54 artistes visuels retenus pour l’exposition internationale de l’édition 2026 (54 visual artists chosen for the international exhibition). APS. Nearly 900 applications, 11 Senegalese artists, the Ancien Palais de Justice as main venue.
- Sep 25Le Dak’Art 2026 propose une réflexion sur la puissance esthétique de la fragilité (directeur artistique) (a reflection on the aesthetic power of fragility). APS. Montazami explains the theme.
- Sep 25Alpha Thiam réaffirme le soutien “sans équivoque” de l’Etat à la Biennale de Dakar (Alpha Thiam reaffirms the State’s “unequivocal” support). APS. The minister’s speech, source of the 2024 visitor figure. The APS page did not open; read in allAfrica’s reprint.
- Sep 25DAK’ART 2026 : la 16e édition officiellement lancée (The 16th edition officially launched). APS. A short text with APS TV’s film of the ceremony.
- Sep 25Un aréopage de curateurs pour insuffler « l’(Anti)fragilité » (A panel of curators to breathe in “(Anti)fragility”). Le Soleil. Who the curators are.
- Sep 25Biennale de Dakar 2026 : voici le «onze type» du Sénégal (Here is Senegal’s starting eleven). Seneweb. Names the 11 Senegalese artists.
- Sep 25La Biennale de Dakar dévoile sa sélection (The Dakar Biennale unveils its selection). Diptyk. A news brief.
- Sep 24Dak’Art 2026 : La sélection officielle et le thème de la 16e Biennale dévoilés ce jeudi à Dakar (selection and theme unveiled this Thursday). Le Quotidien. Advance notice; still names Saudi Arabia with the DRC.
- Sep 21Le Dak’Art 2026 va dévoiler sa sélection officielle, jeudi (the official selection to be unveiled Thursday). APS. Announces the ceremony and says the official calendar would be unveiled there.
- Aug 15Dak’Art 2026: (Anti)Fragility, Montazami, and the OFF Deadline You Should Not Miss. MoMAA. Explains the OFF and its September 13 deadline.
- Jul 27Conditions et Formulaire d’inscription aux manifestations « OFF »du 27 juillet au 13 septembre 2026 inclus (conditions and registration form for OFF events). Biennale de Dakar. The official rules and contacts.
- Jul 23La sélection officielle du Dak’Art 2026 en phase de finalisation (Secrétaire générale) (the official selection is being finalized). APS. Ba on progress: a Senegalese pavilion of 20 to 40 artists, two guest countries, works at the courthouse.
- Jun 11Biennale de Dakar 2026 : la RDC de Félix Tshisekedi invitée d’honneur, Fally Ipupa décoré (Félix Tshisekedi’s DRC guest of honour, Fally Ipupa decorated). Senego. Names the DRC guest of honour.
Where the reports disagree
- Guest country. APS on July 23 and September 21, and Le Quotidien on September 24, name Saudi Arabia and the DRC. Every report from September 25 onward names the DRC alone. No source read explains the change. More in The Exhibitions.
- Applications. Some 800, of which 600 were admissible, in APS on September 21; nearly 900 in APS on September 25.
- The count of 75. The organizer counts 75 proposals (54 and 21), with the Grand Témoin and the Carte blanche in addition. APS on September 21 gave 73 artists plus those two, 75 in all.
- Countries. Thirty-six in Sud Quotidien and the launch film; about twenty in APS on September 25; roughly 30 in African Meridian.
- Ministers. APS on July 23 calls Mame Coumba Diop the Culture Minister. The organizer gives Alpha Thiam as Minister of Culture, Crafts, and Tourism, and Diop as minister attached to him, in charge of culture, creative industries, and historic heritage. This guide follows the organizer.
“Moins une biennale de l’émergence, donc, qu’une biennale de l’affirmation.”
— Emmanuelle Outtier, critic, in Diptyk, October 1, 2026. In English: less a biennale of emergence, then, than a biennale of affirmation.Who covers it
The Press, Sorted by Use
Each outlet was tested on October 6, 2026. The link goes to a section or search seen to work. More on who writes about the biennale is in People.
The wire
- Agence de presse sénégalaise (APS). Culture section. The source of record for official statements, figures, and first announcements. Its Dak’Art search feed is the fastest watch.
- allAfrica, in French. Reprints APS and other agencies with a clear source line and date, as in this example. Article numbers begin with the date. Its search is closed to automated reading.
Dailies
- Le Soleil, the state-owned daily. Its culture articles sit under one address and are easiest to find through the biennale search feed. Best for long interviews, curators’ profiles, and archive pieces.
- Le Quotidien. Culture section and a biennale tag. Best for independent reporting and criticism of the organization.
- Sud Quotidien. Its own site did not resolve on October 6, 2026. Its articles can be read on Seneplus.
Portals
- Seneplus. Republishes and credits Le Quotidien, Sud Quotidien, and APS, so it is one place to read the dailies. An example.
- Seneweb. Fast, short items in French and English. An example.
- Dakaractu. Site search. Short reports with video, and transport news; see the practical page for the airport train.
- PressAfrik. Site search. Same-day accounts of official ceremonies: it ran five items on the 2024 opening day.
- au-senegal.com. Site search. A travel and culture guide, best for practical explainers on the BRT bus line and the TER train.
Broadcasters
- APS TV. The wire’s YouTube channel, which filmed the launch.
- Le Soleil TV. YouTube channel of the daily.
- RTS, the public broadcaster, was a media partner in 2024, by that edition’s programme. Its site could not be reached on October 6, 2026.
Pan-African and art press
- Diptyk, Casablanca. Site search. The most sustained specialist coverage found: selection analysis in 2026, critical reports in 2024 and 2022, and a podcast.
- MoMAA. Search feed. Explainers in English for artists and collectors.
- ART AFRICA, Cape Town. Its search feed returned no Dak’Art 2026 article between June and October.
No 2026 coverage found
No Dak’Art 2026 article was found in Jeune Afrique, Le Monde Afrique, RFI, TV5Monde, BBC Afrique, France 24, The Art Newspaper, Artnet News, ARTnews, Frieze, Art Network Africa, Contemporary And, Nataal, Africanah, or Something We Africans Got. Several of these sites refuse automated reading, so absence here does not mean silence. The Ministry of Culture’s own site carried no Dak’Art 2026 item: its news list stops in June 2024.
Official accounts
Two Instagrams, One Handle on X
The organizer’s home page linked two different sets of accounts on October 6, 2026, one in the header and one in the footer. Both are given here exactly as linked. Which set is active could not be confirmed.
- Instagram. Header: dak_artbiennale. Footer: biennale_de_dakar_officiel. These are two separate accounts.
- X. @Dak_Artbiennale, the same handle in header and footer.
- Facebook. Header and footer link a numbered profile. The site’s page metadata names a different page, BiennaledeDakarOfficiel, as publisher.
- YouTube. @biennalededakar5587, called “La Chaîne de la Biennale” in the site menu. The channel page is titled Biennale Dak’Art.
- Newsletter. A sign-up form on the home page asks for first name, last name, and e-mail. No issue has been seen.
Hashtags
No 2026 hashtag was found in use. The keywords set on the official YouTube channel are those of earlier editions: #indaffa and #dakart2022 for 2022, with BiennaleDeDakar, “the wake”, and Dakar2024.
Other institutions, from their own sites
- Selebe Yoon. Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube, with a newsletter sign-up on its site.
- OH Gallery. Its site shows Instagram @oh.gallery, Facebook ohgallery.sn, X @ohgallerysn, YouTube @ohgallery, a LinkedIn page, and an Artsy profile.
- Partcours, the gallery circuit. Its home page showed Instagram and Facebook as @partcours on one reading and not on a second. Unconfirmed
- Ministry of Culture. Its site links a Facebook page and embeds an X feed for @mccsenegal. The site looks unmaintained since mid-2024, so these may not be the current ministry’s accounts. Unconfirmed
Not found: follower counts for any account, and official accounts for the Musée des Civilisations noires, RAW Material Company, or the Village des Arts. The places are in What to See and Dakar Art Scene.
Video
Three Minutes From the Launch
One film of the 2026 edition was verified: APS TV’s report of the September 24 launch at the Musée des Civilisations noires. It shows the poster unveiled, remarks by Abdoulaye Diop and Minister Alpha Thiam, and the DRC named guest of honour. No 2026 video on the biennale’s own channel could be confirmed, and no filmed interview with Montazami was found.
| Title | Channel | Date | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAK’ART 2026 : la 16e édition officiellement lancée | APS TV | September 24, 2026 | 3:41 |
| LANCEMENT DE LA BIENNALE DE DAKAR : LE CHEF DE L’ETAT REND HOMMAGE AUX PIONNIERS DE DAK’ART | Biennale de Dakar | November 7, 2024 | 7:47 |
| Les rencontres professionnelles | Biennale de Dakar | June 10, 2022 | 7:41 |
| Elhadji Malick Ndiaye, Directeur artistique de la Biennale de Dakar | Biennale de Dakar | Posted June 2, 2022 | Not read |
| L’interview : Marième Ba, Secrétaire Général de la Biennale de l’Art africain Contemporain | Biennale de Dakar | Posted June 2, 2022 | Not read |
| Kalidou Kassé, coordinateur du Marché de l’art dans le IN de la Biennale | Biennale de Dakar | Posted June 2, 2022 | Not read |
The 2024 film is President Bassirou Diomaye Faye opening the 15th edition. The 2022 films record the professional meetings and an art market in that year’s official programme; the organizer’s video page lists about 40 more from 2022. For past editions, see People.
A caution on the visitor figure
In the text of the minister’s speech, as APS published it, the 2024 edition drew more than 780,000 visitors. The automatic English transcript of APS TV’s film of the same speech reads as some 78,000 participants. The spoken French on the film is the tie-breaker; until it is checked, neither number should be quoted as fact, and neither comes with a counting method. Host City has the fuller account.
For the press
A Press Room Still Empty
As of October 6, 2026, the organizer’s press page said only that information would be posted soon. No press kit and no image bank could be downloaded. The media accreditation page carried the same sentence: accreditation was not open, and no dates or conditions for 2026 had been published. Both pages were modified on October 5.
- Precedent. In 2024, press and visual-arts professionals applied through one online form on the accreditation page, according to an earlier version of that page. Unconfirmed
- Press contact. None is named. The general contact printed on every page of the site is info@biennaledakar.org, (+221) 33 823 09 18 or 77 489 96 96, at 19, Avenue Hassan II, BP 3865 Dakar.
- OFF commission. off2026@biennaledakar.org, +221 71 052 26 26, from the OFF notice.
- Official texts. The only 2026 text for the press is the launch communiqué. An earlier release of January 26, 2026 gave the dates; it was not opened for this guide.
Journalists should confirm everything with the Secretariat. The professional days are in The Exhibitions.
Feeds, podcasts, radio
Thirteen Feeds That Answer
Thirteen feeds worked when tested on October 6, 2026. WordPress sites answer a feed address ending in a search word, which makes a Dak’Art alert.
| Feed | Result |
|---|---|
| Biennale de Dakar | Works. Latest items October 5 (artist pages). |
| APS, all news | Works. Latest item October 6. |
| APS, Dak’Art search | Works. Returns only Dak’Art items. |
| APS, culture | Works, but lags: latest item September 25. |
| Le Soleil and its biennale search | Both work. |
| Le Quotidien, culture and its biennale search | Both work. |
| Diptyk | Works. |
| Dakaractu | Works. |
| au-senegal.com | Works. Latest item October 6. |
| MoMAA, Dakar search | Works. |
| ART AFRICA, Dakar search | Works. No Dak’Art 2026 item. |
| Official YouTube channel (ID UCpKQ1B2nfZckZd2NQIcGWxQ) | A standard YouTube feed exists; it could not be read in testing and should work in a feed reader. |
| ArtReview, Dakar search | Fails (404). |
| Art Network Africa, search | Fails (redirect loop). |
| APS tag pages for Dak’Art or biennale | Do not exist (404). |
Feeds for Seneplus, Seneweb, PressAfrik, and Partcours were not tested or could not be read.
Podcasts and radio
- Diptyk podcast, episode 15. Conversation avec Malick Ndiaye, directeur artistique de la biennale de Dakar (Conversation with Malick Ndiaye, artistic director of the Dakar Biennale), June 28, 2022. Meryem Sebti talks with the director of the 2022 edition about making the biennale more inclusive.
- Le Soleil TV. A special on Youssou N’Dour, published October 2, 2026 and presented by the music critic Mohamed Sow. Not about the biennale: background on mbalax, Dakar’s dance music, for Nights.
Not found: any podcast episode with Montazami about Dakar, any English-language podcast on the city’s art scene, and radio programmes on the 2026 edition from RTS, Sud FM, RFM, or RFI.
Newsletters and listings
What to Subscribe To
Dakar has no single public agenda that could be verified. These are the listings that were seen working on October 6, 2026, with their status.
- au-senegal.com. Active. Its feed and event search are the nearest thing to a working public agenda found; the agenda addresses tried returned errors.
- Partcours. Active. Its site announces a 15th edition, November 23 to December 13, 2026, marked as work in progress. Once published, its programme and map become the nightly gallery guide; see What to See and Nights.
- Institut français du Sénégal. Active. Its agenda listed October 2026 events with hours and prices.
- Biennale de Dakar newsletter. A sign-up form exists on the home page. No issue has been seen.
- Selebe Yoon and OH Gallery. Newsletter sign-ups on the first and the second gallery’s sites.
- Agendakar and Dakar Lives. Neither site responded on October 6, 2026. Their activity in 2026 could not be established. Unconfirmed
Third-party guides such as Wakilisha and Seneguide surfaced in search and were not assessed. Neither is an official or established press source. No English-language listings newsletter for Dakar was found.
Biennale keeps its own page for the event on My Biennale, with the city at Dakar, and sends the Biennale Buzz newsletter. Biennale is independent and is not affiliated with the organizer. Start with The Guide.
The calendar, day by daySources. Biennale de Dakar, its feed, press and accreditation pages, and video page; Agence de presse sénégalaise; Le Soleil; Le Quotidien; Sud Quotidien, read on Seneplus; Diptyk; MoMAA; au-senegal.com; APS TV. All pages were read on October 6, 2026, unless an entry says otherwise. Corrections: contact@biennale.nyc.