A vibrant international call has been launched for African artists: the exhibition Red. Rad., a bold artistic dialogue around the color red, will be held in December 2025 in the heart of Moscow. Between symbolism, power, and emotion, this initiative repositions African creativity at the crossroads of cultures and continents.

From the blood of the ancestors to the fire of revolution, red is never innocent. It carries a thousand stories, glows with a thousand meanings. With Red. Rad., the “I-A Gallery of Contemporary African Art” is opening a space for bold chromatic expression, inviting African artists to reflect, through their own plastic vocabularies, on the visual and symbolic power of this color that haunts the collective imagination.

At the intersection of pop figuration, committed abstraction, and transmedia installations, the exhibition Red. Rad. promises to be a sensory and political journey. In African traditions, red embodies vitality, war, initiation, and often the sacred. It resonates with the pulse of ancestors and the heat of rituals. In contrast, in Russian semantics, the word “red” (krasny) is etymologically linked to “beauty” (krasiviy), bearing witness to the intimate cultural attachment to this color in Slavic societies.

This curatorial dialogue between Africa and Eastern Europe is more than a palette match. It is a geopolitical and poetic gesture. The exhibition, scheduled for December 2025 in Moscow, will serve as a platform for discovery and valorization. Some of the shortlisted works will be acquired by the gallery, while others will be showcased and promoted.

As a prelude to the event, selected artists will be invited to an art residency from November 2 to 12, 2025, on the banks of the Lower Zambezi in Zambia. A unique setting, halfway between creation and reflection, where red will be experienced not only as color, but as language.

Artists interested in this call must send their portfolios to awaaapplication@gmail.com  by July 28, 2025. Accepted works must reach Zambia by August 10, 2025.

The exhibition Red. Rad. is not just a show. It is a gesture of reconnection between lands, aesthetics, and symbols. It is an affirmation of African contemporaneity, pulsing in red.