A certain friend of mine once mentioned that South Africa is one of the few countries in the world ‘without a name'. In the ensuing exchange, this notion of lacking of a name was interrogated and seemed to suggest a particular state of not-being, a certain fluidity, an indecisiveness, a kind of extreme compromise. Yet, as much as we may consider South Africa and its history, and in as much as these attributes make it a volatile, violent and totally cruel environment, it also, and in a totally contradictory manner, denotes the continent of Africa in a brutally honest and its shameless representation. The city of Johannesburg is the economic powerhouse of Africa, yet it embodies the most brutal “man to man” experiences in the history of human beings.

The destruction of apartheid may also have been one of the most important African victories, with some of the poorest countries in Africa playing pivotal roles in its deconstruction. Yet, just a few years later, militia groupings were audaciously fabricated in the backyards of this metropolis to cause mayhem and in a rage of violent fury, flush out Immigrants from other African countries, with an express mandate to wash ‘em out of ‘the rainbow nation' for whatever reason.

This was followed a few months later by the Jo'burg art fair at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, March 2008, the first on the continent. This African affair, organized by Art Logic, a private institution, made steps towards synergizing the market for contemporary art of Africa, bringing together the most important Artists from the continent and its Diaspora. Also present were galleries, projects & institutions that partner with contemporary African creation. Africa seems to find its place in nameless spaces. Or maybe, in the process of healing, such brutalized spaces inspire some kind of dressing. It seems that the curated show within the African affair that was the Johannesburg art fair, was aptly titled “As You Like It”.

What is the significance of such events in Africa? Why look for a contemporary art market, or even try to develop one in Africa? It is to develop some infrastructures for the future, so that my son does not have to go to a museum in Europe to see African masterpieces. It is to safeguard the present from the excesses and dis-enfranchisement of the yester-years, so that our next generations don't have to go through the same traumas we did.