Julie Mehretu, whose BMW Art Car #20 continues to anchor the African Film and Media Arts Collective across the continent. (Photo courtesy of BMW Group)
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
January 2026
New York (TADIAS) — As Julie Mehretu’s BMW Art Car #20 continues its global journey, the project’s deeper ambitions—centered on artistic exchange, collective inquiry, and long-term cultural infrastructure—are coming into sharper focus across the African continent.
Launched in 2025, the African Film and Media Arts Collective (AFMAC) emerged as an integral extension of Julie’s BMW Art Car vision. Developed in collaboration with Ethiopian-born producer Mehret Mandefro and the BMW Group, AFMAC brings together artists and filmmakers from across Africa and the diaspora through a series of research-driven workshops hosted in cities with deep cultural histories.
For Tadias readers, the initiative builds on conversations we have followed closely—from the Art Car’s world premiere in Paris to our exchange with Julie during its unveiling—where she reflected on the essential role of artists in society. Artists, she noted, contribute to the health and well-being of communities not only through joy and interaction, but by critically engaging social systems and helping imagine—and propel—paths forward.
Julie Mehretu alongside BMW Art Car #20 at its world premiere in Paris, 2024. (Photo courtesy of BMW Group)
From Addis to the Continent:
Mehret Mandefro, Emmy-nominated producer and co-founder of the African Film and Media Arts Collective, during the ongoing BMW Art Car project. (Photo courtesy of BMW Group)
Both Julie Mehretu and Mehret Mandefro—born in Addis Ababa—anchor AFMAC’s vision through lived experience across art, film, and institution-building. While the initiative spans Lagos, Tangier, Nairobi, Dakar, and Cape Town, Ethiopian participation has remained central. This includes filmmaker Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, director of the critically acclaimed Difret and lead artist of the Tangier workshop, as well as Mandefro’s long-standing work nurturing film ecosystems across Africa.
Rather than positioning Africa as a backdrop, AFMAC treats each city as a site of knowledge, with local partners shaping the program from the ground up. Workshops are led by internationally recognized artists, yet remain rooted in regional archives, community histories, and experimental practice.
The Final Workshop: Cape Town, January 2026
From January 27–31, 2026, AFMAC will convene its final workshop in Cape Town, hosted in partnership with Chimurenga, the influential platform for African ideas and cultural production founded by Ntone Edjabe.
The workshop will be led by The Otolith Group, the London-based collective known for their research-intensive work across film, sound, and installation. Titled African Cosmotechnics: Animation, Animism, Abstraction, Automotion, Automation, Aesthetics, the program approaches animation not as a technical exercise, but as a way of rethinking how images, voices, and histories move through time.
Participants—including artists, writers, theorists, and filmmakers—are invited to explore animation as a conceptual framework, opening space for new forms of storytelling shaped by African epistemologies rather than industry convention.
Public Screening and Dialogue
The Cape Town workshop concludes with a public screening of Infinity Minus Infinity (2019) by The Otolith Group, followed by an art talk on January 31, 2026. Presented in cooperation with Chimurenga, the work blends dance, music, spoken word, and animation to examine how the legacies of racism and colonialism continue to shape contemporary social and environmental realities.
True to AFMAC’s ethos, the public event underscores dialogue over spectacle—an invitation to reflect, question, and engage collectively.
Toward a Shared Exhibition
Julie Mehretu signs her BMW Art Car #20 at the world premiere on May 21, 2024, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. (Photo: Courtesy of BMW)
The culmination of AFMAC will take shape in Scaling Intentions, an exhibition opening at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) from December 2026 through August 2027. The exhibition will present new films by each AFMAC lead artist alongside Julie Mehretu’s BMW Art Car #20, a BMW M Hybrid V8 first unveiled at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Together, the works form an anthology of contemporary African film and media art—less a summary than a constellation of ongoing inquiries.
A Long View
Speaking to Tadias during the Paris unveiling, Juile reflected on the importance of building platforms that outlast individual moments. AFMAC reflects that long view: a commitment to sustained networks, shared resources, and cultural production that moves across borders without losing its grounding.
Rather than marking a conclusion, the BMW Art Car serves as a point of departure—continuing to create space for African and diasporic artists to imagine futures shaped by their own creative priorities.
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For more on this story, revisit Tadias’ previous coverage:
Celebrating Creativity in Africa: Julie Mehretu’s Vision for the 20th BMW Art Car
Julie Mehretu’s BMW Art Car to Make its World Premiere in Paris
Art Talk: A Conversation Between Julie Mehretu and Mehret Mandefro
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