After years of uncertainty and location changes, the House of African Worlds (MansA) has finally opened its doors in Paris on October 4th, settling into a former sewing workshop in the city's 10th arrondissement. The cultural institution, which was promised by President Emmanuel Macron in 2021, initially considered various prestigious locations including the former Cartier Foundation building on Boulevard Raspail and a space within the Paris Mint on Quai Conti, before finding its temporary home in this 800-square-meter, three-story space redesigned by young architects Meriem Chabani and Mélissa Dyminat.
While this location is temporary – the institution will remain in this working-class neighborhood for two years, a stark contrast to the more bourgeois areas initially considered – MansA is pleased to have found a roof over its head. The institution takes its name and crown-shaped logo as a tribute to Mansa Musa, the legendary king of Mali, reflecting its mission to celebrate African heritage and contemporary creativity.
The opening features an inaugural exhibition-installation by emerging 29-year-old artist Roxane Mbanga, who has taken the concept of "house" literally to imagine her own sanctuary. Mbanga has created what she describes as "an enveloping environment where non-white bodies can feel somewhat at home," with the goal of "making space for those who have never had any," as she explained during the inaugural visit.
For three weeks, Mbanga worked in a basement workshop within the building, which visitors can explore to see her tools, notes, and works in progress. The artist will remain on-site until the exhibition's end on October 26th. Surrounded by a team of fifteen people, she has utilized every available square centimeter of the space, covering floors with rugs and adorning walls with large textile portraits of her grandmother, mother, and herself. Family photographs are displayed in frames scattered throughout the space, while books from her personal collection have been integrated into MansA's library alongside the institution's own volumes.
The atmosphere is gentle, domestic, and welcoming, immediately inviting visitors to sit and browse books or return with children to play. African board games called mancalas are available alongside comic books, novels, and art books. Despite the intimate setting, there is much to discover. During her residency, Mbanga took the opportunity to revisit traditional techniques such as batik, a wax-dyeing method she used to color the large textile panels that greet visitors at the entrance. She has also distributed video archives throughout the space focusing on women within the Coupé-Décalé movement in Ivory Coast.
Beyond the exhibition, MansA reveals an open-plan space designed to break down barriers in every sense. The venue will host a continuous program of readings, short exhibitions, concerts, and conferences, with the working team visible on the upper floor. Programming coordinator Imane Lehérissier explains that the basement will soon be transformed into an incubator, hosting "12 projects around African worlds" encompassing fashion, media, and podcasts.
The institution successfully balances being both highly welcoming – largely thanks to Mbanga's artistic choices – and deeply engaged with social issues. The strong, determined personality of founder Liz Gomis is clearly evident throughout the space. Gomis, a journalist and documentary filmmaker known for works like "Africa Riding" on Arte, defines the venue's dual mission of healing wounds while celebrating the pure joy of existence, combining pride with innovation: "To transmit not only traumas, but strengths. Not to name the gaps and absences, but to bring them back to life through living, powerful, and untamed contemporary creation."
The House of African Worlds represents a significant addition to Paris's cultural landscape, offering free programming in an accessible format that prioritizes community engagement over institutional formality. Located at 26 Rue Jacques Louvel-Tessier in the 10th arrondissement, the venue embodies a new model for cultural institutions that prioritizes inclusivity and contemporary African voices while maintaining high artistic standards.
