This article describes Dak'Art's role as a platform for critical global views. The author examines the biennial's origins and development in recent years, and shows, by interpreting some of the exhibited artworks from 2008, 2010 and 2012, that Dak'Art represents an alternative kind of global exhibition that shifts the perspective from insistent demands of the north to critical global viewpoints. Many of the artworks communicated messages critical of the European Union, particularly with regard to historical and contemporary problems with borders and boundaries. Pan-African unity was often proposed as an alternative solution. The biennial redefines the concept of internationalism through this Pan-African orientation, and serves as a platform for tackling urgent contemporary issues around politics, ethics, globalization, identity and postcolonial conditions.