Introducing the C& Cyclopedia

On October 23 Contemporary And (C&) launches the C& Cyclopedia – a new searchable source of knowledge on contemporary art that puts the global majority at the center.

C& has been gathering stories, essays, interviews, announcements, and reflections from artists, curators, writers, and communities across Africa and the Global Diaspora for more than a decade. Now this living archive comes together in one place. The C& Cyclopedia holds over 11,000 texts, images, sounds, and people. An evolving resource that makes knowledge not just available, but discoverable.

Beyond surface-level search, layered and combinable functions enable unexpected connections across geographies and generations, between artists and audiences, histories and futures. Search a combination like “concept + place + medium” to produce constellations of material that reframe what you thought you knew — on Black imagination, unwritten futures, critical translation, or ancestral archives, for example. Or look up a person and see their story not in isolation but woven into the movements, conversations, and practices that shaped them. As the platform grows, these functions will continue to evolve and deepen, enabling more links, stories, and perspectives over time.

The C& Cyclopedia is built in the knowledge that archives are not neutral. Power tends to determine what gets preserved, how it’s presented, and whose voices are amplified. By creating a critical, credible, and culturally grounded tool, C& seeks to open up pathways to knowledge that dominant platforms often overlook or erase.

And it’s free. Because knowledge should be shared – between researchers and educators, artists and curators, journalists, students, and anyone curious about culture today.

The C& Cyclopedia aims to create a shift in how we remember, connect, and imagine. Not a mirror of existing systems, but a challenge to them. Not just another search tool, but a new epistemology, one that insists on multiplicity, unfinished stories, and transformative connections.

C& is deeply grateful to the Mellon Foundation for making this possible. And we can’t wait to invite you in.

From October 23, you’re invited to search differently.