HECTOR ACEBES - PORTRAITS EN AFRIQUE 1948-1953

Ce sont probablement les photographies qu’ Hector Acebes a prises au cours de ses voyages à travers l’Afrique, entre la fin des années 1940 et le début ds années 1950, qui constituent le volet le plus important de son oeuvre. Ces images récemment redécouvertes et maintenant en première Européene à la galerie MoBa attestent l’immense talent d’Acebes. Aujourd’hui, ses images sont considérées comme d’authentiques oeuvres d’art – dont la beauté et la grace révèlent les aptitudes techniques et le sens de la composition de leur auteur. Encore plus évidents sont la confiance et le respect qu’il témoigne à ses modèles, une qualité qui élève son travail au-dessus du simple documentaire. Ses portraits invitent le spectateur le plus blasé à considerer d’un oeil neuf des hommes, des cultures et des modes de vie qui ont subi de profonds changements au cours des cinquante dernières années. Ces invidus, ces familles, ces communautés vivant dans l’ombre d’édifices monumentaux, ces marchés grouillants d’activité, ces vastes panoramas nous sont restitués par le regard passionné d’un jeune homme curieux, captive par la beauté et l’énergie de l’Afrique.

Hector Acebes a aujourd’hui plus de quatre-vingts-cinq ans. Il vit à Bogota, en Colombie.

Exposition d’une trentaine de tirages argentiques (format 40x50cm et 50x60cm) et présentation de la première monographie consacrée à l’oeuvre admirable d’Hector Acebes.

Galerie MoBa (Modern Basics), rue de l’Epargne 29, 1000 Bruxelles (entre le Théâtre National et le KVS)

tel 02.219.81.82, toutes les photographies d’Hecor Acebes sont présentées sur www.moba.be

William Kentridge, Kay Hassan and Norman Catherine in Brussels

On Wednesday 7 May, MoBa Gallery in Brussels will open a new space called NOMAD, which is situated within walking distance from the gallery. NOMAD is comprised of over 350m2, and is dedicated to contemporary African art. MoBa will continue to exist as a private Gallery, open by appointment, and focused on photography. At this opening entitled Multiple Choice, three very important South African artists express themselves through editions.

William Kentridge is perhaps one of the best-known artists of his generation. Since 1989, Kentridge has been creating handmade animation films focusing on the apartheid and post-apartheid era. Kentridge has managed, with a few strokes of charcoal drawings and minimum pastel colour to redefine images. With these drawings and films he creates scenography for major theatrical productions, including the Magic Flute at La Monnaie, Brussels in 2005, Zeno at 4 a.m. in 2001 and Confessions of Zeno in 2002 at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels. But that is not all; one must admire his tapestries, sculpture, ink and watercolour drawings, powerful etchings, lithographs and silkscreens completed by the artist over the course of thirty years. The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York will show a retrospective of his artwork in 2010. This will be his first gallery show in Brussels precisely 10 years after his solo show in Bozar (1998).

Kay Hassan exhibited his grandiose “paper constructions” several years ago in MoBa, which are created by ripping and pasting billboard paper from Johannesburg to form enormous cubistic portraits. Kay Hassan continues to bring objects to the fore and reinterpret their existence and meaning. In this exhibition, the gallery is showing multiples relating to a sense of time cleverly entitled Fixing Time, Reversing Time and Reflecting Time as well as a series of intimate photos called Morning Rituals.

Norman Catherine will be bringing bronze sculptures to this exhibition, inspired by legends, masks, tales and allegories from South Africa. Catherine produces a sort of fantasy world both intriguing and scary through savage, animal-like, sometimes stereotypical images of the human spirit. His previous show at MoBa bore the name Urban Mutations, which is a just synonym for this bronze edition, although completely different to the work already shown.

NOMAD 96 Emile Jacqmainlaan 1000 Brussel

(across from the Théâtre National)

MoBa 29 Spaarstraat 1000 Brussel

Opening Wednesday 7 May 2008 18:00-21:00

Exhibition 8 May until 22 June, Thursday-Sunday,14:00-18:00

For more information or images: www.moba.be

Ashley Peeler 0496 79 45 54 Walter De Weerdt 0475 219 250

M O B A g o e s N O M A D 

Contemporary African Art & Photography

VOYAGES - DOMINIQUE ZINKPE

Voyages


Sur les routes de Porto-Novo et les sentiers d'Azali à Abomey, on trouve encore ces vieux vélos " Hercule " transportant femmes, tomates, paysans et houes. En 1998, je me suis intéressé à ce moyen de transport populaire aujourd'hui devenu " zémidjan " à Cotonou. Pour finir, une œuvre est sortie, " Taxi-Kannan " qui s'est promenée du Bénin au Ghana jusqu'en Suisse à travers l'exposition " South meets West ".

Plus tard, je suis parti à Abomey en taxi-brousse où j'ai mon atelier devant lequel ces taxis défilent à longueur de journée pour se diriger vers le marché Houdjro ou aller à Agbanhizou.

Le taxi de "Dis pour toi", je l'ai pris. Le taxi de "Tais-toi jaloux !" je l'ai pris. Celui de " Dieu est grand " aussi. A chaque fois, des scènes et ambiances différentes, mais presque toujours les mêmes. Une fois c'était Houbédji, le Président de l'Assemblée et sa trahison envers Kérékou, un débat entre marchandes d'oignons, de friperies et de volailles.

Moi j'écoutais.

Une autre fois, le 12 juin de cette année, une discussion sur la flambée des prix du pétrole et sur l'impossibilité d'écraser une mesure de mais à moins de 200 francs cfa. Quelqu'un du groupe, un vendeur de riz, donnait raison aux Européens et encourageait la consommation de riz. Je jetais un coup d'œil à la marchandise sur laquelle il était assis. Sur l'emballage, " Made in China ".

Difficilement, je suis parvenu à compter les têtes autour de moi : 12. Douze passagers pour une voiture à cinq places ! Sur mon épaule de la sueur dégouline, celle du voisin bien sûr. Quant à mes jambes, impossible de les remuer, il ne me restait qu'à supporter leurs fourmillements. Bras et jambes s'entrechoquent, se superposent, les corps essayant de trouver une place sur un siège sans place.

Mais la discussion était si prenante que je ne souffrais plus.

De temps en temps, le chauffeur augmentait exprès le son de l'autoradio pour nous faire entendre, absolument, la nouvelle cassette de Gbéssi ou de Koffi Olomidé. A chaque arrêt les vendeuses accouraient, leurs cris couvrant le son que crachait l'autoradio : " Fofo arachides 25 francs. Le tout 25 francs. Fofo, Fofo. Tantie le mais est chaud et ne coûte pas cher. Toutes les bananes 100 francs, 100 francs. Tantie vous n'en voulez pas. Fofo je viens de le cueillir, Tantie 50 francs seulement... " déferlaient dans mes oreilles.

De ces images, impressions, ambiances, paroles, rythmes, je dois sortir des œuvres, grandeur nature, de tous ces itinéraires, que ce soit au Bénin, au Niger, au Sénégal ou ailleurs.

Incontestablement.

Dominique Zinkpè

ETHNO PASSION - GALLERIA GOTTARDO LUGANO

28 May – 23 August 2008 

Ethnopassion 

Peggy Guggenheim's ethnic art collection. 

From 28 May to 23 August, the Galleria Gottardo in Lugano will be holding the world's first exhibition of the ethnic artworks collected by one of the twentieth century's greatest art patrons: Peggy Guggenheim. The idea behind the exhibition is to display the "exotic objects" that embellished the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni during the collector's lifetime. Since her death, they have been carefully restored and examined by scientific researchers. The restoration project was jointly launched by Galleria Gottardo, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice and the Museum of Cultures in Lugano with the aim of rediscovering the specific meaning of each object in itself and in the context in which it was purchased. 

Peggy Guggenheim's passion for ethnic art dated back to the period of her tempestuous relationship with Max Ernst, who was a keen collector of this kind of art. When their relationship broke down in 1943, the artist left with all the works in his collection. After settling permanently in Venice and opening her collection to the general public, Peggy rekindled her interest in ethnic art, and, from 1959, she began to acquire works and exhibit them in her home, mixing them with contemporary artworks as she felt inclined. She developed a genuine passion, an involuntary, unconscious attraction for these objects, which was rooted in purely phenomenal interest: she never felt a great need to find out more about their meaning and value. She appreciated their decorative nature, using them as a means of enhancing her interior design and keeping up with the latest fashions. 

Based on photographs from the period and the scarce information available on the subject, it is thought that her private collection consisted of around 50 artworks, mainly from Africa and Oceania; 35 of these remained in the estate of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, where they have been conserved in the museum’s art storage. 

The exotic artefacts had always been considered valuable as part of Peggy's collection, but with uncertainty about the intrinsic value of the items in question when examined outside the classical canons of conventionally understood art in the West. 

One of the aims of the “Ethnopassion” exhibition is to transform this view, giving these objects not just the value that they have in the intellectual context that fanned Peggy Guggenheim's interest for ethnic art, but also an anthropological value arising from the study of the objects and their links with various periods and cultures. 

JOHNNY MAD DOG - BAMBINI SOLDATO

di Maria Coletti - Cinemafrica

E’ ormai completo il cartellone del 61. Festival di Cannes, dopo le presentazioni della selezione ufficiale e delle due principali sezioni parallele, la Quinzaine des Réalisateurs e la Semaine de la Critique. Rimane abbastanza sguarnita la rappresentanza panafricana nella selezione ufficiale: oltre alla presenza, nella giuria presieduta da Sean Penn, del regista franco-algerino Rachid Bouchareb, autore dell’intenso Indigènes, presentato proprio a Cannes un anno fa, bisogna segnalare il progetto di un’opera prima dalla Somalia selezionato per partecipare all’Atelier della Cinéfondation (Queleh di Abdi Ismael Jama).

Infine, nella sezione Un certain regard, spiccano due titoli di interesse panafricano: Johnny Mad Dog del francese Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire e Tyson dello statunitense James Toback. 

Prodotto da Mathieu Kassovitz e tratto dall’omonimo romanzo del congolese Emmanuel Dongala, il film affronta la questione dei bambini soldato rimanendo il più possibile fedele al racconto, in parte autobiografico, di Dongala e scegliendo uno stile a metà strada fra documentario e finzione, tanto che sono proprio alcuni ex bambini soldato a recitare nel film, interpretando se stessi e le storie dei tanti ragazzi come loro, vittime e carnefici allo stesso tempo. Johnny Mad Dog ha 15 anni e non conosce pietà. Vive di istinto, freddezza e violenza, aggirandosi per le strade della città con uno squadrone della morte. Laokolé è invece una ragazza che cerca di sopravvivere alla follia della violenza, difendendo la madre e il fratellino, mentre il gruppo di Johnny si avvicina, sempre più minaccioso. Il film è stato girato in Liberia, dove sono stati selezionati i 15 ragazzini protagonisti, con i quali il regista ha lavorato per circa un anno prima di arrivare alla realizzazione del film. Un cammino insieme che sembra continuerà: il regista ha infatti creato la Fondazione Johnny Mad Dog, che aiuterà questi ragazzi a reinserirsi nella vita civile, andando a scuola o trovando un lavoro.

Se nella Semaine de la Critique non troviamo nessun titolo da segnalare, applaudiamo invece il ritorno sulla Croisette del regista franco-algerino Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche, con il film Dernier maquis, in concorso nella Quinzaine des Réalisateurs. Terzo lungometraggio di Ameur-Zaimeche, il film dovrebbe chiudere la sua ideale trilogia in parte autobiografica, iniziata con Wesh, wesh, qu’est-ce qui se passe? (2002) e proseguita con Bled Number One (in concorso nella sezione Un certain regard al Festival di Cannes nel 2006). Scritto dal regista assieme a Louise Therme, Dernier maquis affronta il tema dell’Islam in Francia, nei quartieri popolari e nel mondo del lavoro, prendendo spunto dalla storia del padrone di un’officina che apre una moschea nei sotterranei di un hotel di cui è proprietario. Nel cast del film, accanto allo stesso Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche, troviamo fra gli altri Fellag (L’Ennemi intime, Michou d’Auber), Sotiguy Kouyaté (Little Senegal) e l’intenso Abel Jafri, che ha già recitato con lui in Bled Number One e che abbiamo visto di recente anche nel film L’Autre moitié dello svizzero Rolando Colla, presentato in anteprima italiana a Panafricana 2007.

L'ALPHABET DE BRULY BOUABRE

Born c. 1923, Zéprégüé, Côte d’Ivoire

Lives and works in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

The origin of all of Frédérick Bruly Bouabré’s work stems from a revelatory experience: on March 11, 1948, “the heavens opened up before my eyes and seven colorful suns described a circle of beauty around their Mother-Sun, I became Cheik Nadro: ‘He who does not forget.’” From then on he tackled every field of knowledge and collected his research in manuscripts about arts and traditions, poetry, tales, religion, esthetics, and philosophy, revealing himself to be an astonishing thinker, poet, encyclopedist, creator. Searching for a way to preserve and transmit the knowledge of the Bété people, as well as the knowledge of the entire world, he invented an alphabet of 448 monosyllabic pictograms to represent phonetic syllables. This endeavor earned Bouabré the legendary reputation of being another Champollion, in reference to the great scholar and linguist Jean-Paul Champollion (1790-1832), who discovered the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs. Bouabré’s alphabet, which can transcribe all human sounds, reflects the essence of his thought: to achieve universality and to unite mankind.(CAACART)

ARTIST STATEMENT - Ntakiyica Aimé

L’Arbre A Palabre “This is the story of the pigment, both rebellious and contagious in nature. Imprisoned in its metallic tube it suffers from a crisis, a crisis of identity, remembering only a coloured amnesia of what it once was. It exists now in a viscous mass this paste, qualified by some as smooth, behaving like a serpent when forced to leave its hiding. A few blocks down the road, they say, there is a shop window containing a multitude of glass containers filled with pure pigment of all colours, a paradise! It is said, they have to remain closed at all times. It is said, once their content becomes volatile, it is no more.

It is not sufficient to be reborn a pigment, it is imperative to flee from paradise, not to stay. Once fallen in love with freedom again and eager to discover, it consoles it’s partner misfortune. Smouldered by numerous preparations, choked by innumerable layers of paint, the precious canvas dreams in silence of it’s pureness before. Breathing from it’s framework and the wind stroking it’s fibers, the canvas finds the ideal companion, the pigment.

Both apprehensive about their journey to the unknown. Later, a quarter to …. They unite in an old liason, still Later…. they find harmony. The canvas breaths pigment, latter holding on to the cloth. Later, a quarter to …It is in “L’ARBRE” that the canvas recognizes it’s modesty and tactile nature. It is in “LA PALABRE” that the volatile character and the insolence of the pigment perspires. (Art for Humanity)

Africa Remix (Universes)

THE TRIBE OF THE WHITE WARRIORS

Ralf Schmerberg is working together with Peter Herrmann since 1992. Peter Herrmanns parts in the project "the tribe of the white warriors" were: opening the contacts to important collectors for getting their objects, advising about the backgrounds of the world of masks, their valences and a suitable treatment of such precious artworks.

DAXAAR - ULTIMA FATICA DI STEVE REID

Steve Reid made his recording debut in 1964, aged 19, playing on Martha and the Vandellas’ classic “Dancing in the Street”. He went on to accompany the greatest of the jazz greats - legendary figures such as Miles Davis, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra and David Murray; and also soul legends such as James Brown, Dionne Warwick and Chaka Khan. Throughout Steve Reid has remained one of the true independent innovators. His new album ‘Daxaar’ is a brand new collection of rhythmic ideas captured during his first visit to Africa in over four decades.

“Daxaar” is the latest collaboration between Steve Reid and Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet) following on from their previous Domino albums: “Tongues” and “The Exchange Sessions” Volumes 1 + 2.

Their ongoing working relationship, and friendship, came about through a mutual friend, Antoine at Paris Jazz Corner. Kieran was keen to revisit the kind of intense dialogues to be found in 70s free jazz duos; Steve liked Four Tet and wanted to engage with modern electronic textures, something he felt had not yet been done well in jazz. The result was a show in Paris, one in London, and then straight after, the Exchange Sessions.

January 2007 found the intrepid duo at Studio Dogo, Dakar, Senegal for the ‘Daxaar’ recordings. Steve was on drums, Khadim Badji on percussion, Dambel Diop on bass, Kieran on electronics, Roger Ongolo on trumpet, Jimi Mbaye from Youssou N’Dour’s band on guitar and Boris Netsvetaev (keyboards). They were also joined by Isa Kouyate on kora and vocal for the album opener “Welcome”.

ROBIN RHODE

By Kathryn Smith for Arthttrob

For this self proclaimed "working-class bushie artist", the first two years of art school were living hell - until he read an article in Frieze magazine featuring the work of Kendell Geers, Stephen Hobbs and Wayne Barker. Feeling a true kinship with Geers' aesthetic terrorism, and recognising the work to be part of his life experience to a point where he felt he 'owned' the work mentioned in the piece, it became Rhode's desire to be Shakespeare's "pregnant enemy". Rhode believes art has a definite practical function and educational potential, which is partly the reason why he gives his art what he calls "real life form". He aspires to be entertaining and for his audience to be judgmental. Self-deprecating and very self-aware, Rhode has invented a word and life philosophy that he believes should be consciously applied at least once a day:

Selfinkoozament adj. having a proper sense of one's own dignity and integrity; being selfinkoozaful, or selfinkoozaing ('Kooza' derives from a Venda word meaning support) In his performance work, he blurs the usually clear-cut boundaries between illusion and reality by attempting to interact three dimensionally with a two-dimensional drawing, playing on the modernist notion of the artist as 'creative genius'. Although they inherit all the conventional qualities of drawing (charcoal on white ground) these drawings are made to appear as 'fictitious' as possible, creating an intense awareness that no matter how great the genius, a representation remains just that. All his works thus far are a prequel of things to come - "like Star Wars" he says. (MORE...)

LE LION ET L'OR DE MALIK SIDIBE

Fondation Zinsou - Cotonou (Benin ) du 16.02.2008 - 06.06.2008

La Biennale d’Art de Venise, en 2007, a exposé, pour la première fois, des œuvres contemporaines de l’Afrique Noire. Et pour cette grande première, le jury, qui couronne chaque année un artiste comme le meilleur de ses contemporains, a couronné un africain. Ou plutôt il lui a remis un trophée, sa plus haute récompense : un Lion d’or. Cet homme, celui qui ouvre la voie, c’est Malick Sidibé.

Dans ses mains un trophée d’Afrique. Evidemment les lions qui forment les armoiries de Venise, viennent d’Afrique. Il n’y avait déjà plus de fauves en Italie quand les navires byzantins ont touché à Torcello pour fonder la capitale de la lagune. Et l’or de la Venise naissante, qui couvre les absides de la première cathédrale puis de celle de Saint-Marc, ne vient pas encore de Manille ni de l’Amérique inconnue, mais il vient du Mali. La ville a vécu, dès le XVIIème siècle, de l’exportation du verre des fours de Murano vers l’Afrique tropicale. Puis elle est devenue moderne et elle a abandonné l’Afrique. Il n’est plus resté que les lions et l’or dont on avait oublié l’origine. Et c’est avec un parfum de scandale et de surprise qu’en 2007, comme si c’était une première fois, dans la mémoire abolie, Venise a rouvert les portes de son Arsenal à l’Afrique. Et elle les a rouvertes sur Malick, pour lui rendre l’or du Mali. Les italiens se sont trouvé audacieux, et les africains on trouvé cela plutôt naturel. Que fera Cotonou en 2008 qui pourrait surpasser Venise en 2007 dans l’hommage à Malick ?

Cotonou se donnera à lui.

Elle installe Malick dans quatre lieux d’exposition permanents et elle fait déplacer ses œuvres dans toute la vilLe, offertes aux entreprises, aux écoles, aux places qui les demandent.

Quand il ne restera plus d’autres souvenirs de l’Afrique d’aujourd’hui, aux enfants de nos enfants, que les photos de Malick Sidibé, protégées dans les Musées, alors ses portraits viendront dire l’idéal qu’il avait rêvé et le bonheur qu’il avait annoncé, celui d’une grande nation heureuse et fière."

Marie-Cécile Zinsou,(Présidente de la Fondation Zinsou)

LE SOUFFLE AVANT-GARDISTE DES PLASTICIENS CONGOLAIS

Avec Les arts du Congo, le critique d'art Roger Pierre Turine (1), dresse - dans une approche très personnelle - un panorama critique et précis de l'histoire des arts de la République démocratique du Congo d'hier à nos jours.

Publié dans le cadre de la manifestation Yambi (2) qui a accueilli 150 artistes du Congo, Les arts du Congo complétait en beauté les expositions d'arts plastiques - dont Roger Pierre Turine était commissaire - qui proposaient un panorama de la création congolaise contemporaine, tout en portant un regard sur les pionniers, les précurseurs et les peintres populaires.

Composé de deux parties : Les arts anciens et Aujourd'hui, ce beau livre d'art va bien au-delà de Yambi et restera un document précieux sur les arts du Congo, pays, qui selon les périodes, aura connu un foisonnement créatif et une longue traversée du désert artistique. Il semblerait au sortir de ce livre, qui donne la part belle à la jeune génération, que le meilleur reste à venir à condition que les artistes d'aujourd'hui - qui ne peuvent compter que sur eux-mêmes - persévèrent dans leur quête. (LISEZ LA SUITE......)

ACTUALITE DU DAK'ART 2008

ParRoger Pierre TURINE(critique d’art à La Libre Belgique)

Au-delà de ses prix, le plus souvent attribués à bon escient par des jurys soucieux d’encourager avant tout le travail, l’originalité et la force de frappe des œuvres en jeu, ce septième Dak’Art se sera justement signalé à l’attention générale par la qualité des intervenants en piste.

Au-delà des clivages de l’origine des élus, des genres abordés, des techniques éprouvées, les commissaires de l’exposition internationale ont témoigné de la pertinence d’une sélection riche en particularités représentatives d’une Afrique, à la fois noire et blanche, attentive à ses couleurs, ses valeurs ancestrales, sa foi multiple et variée en des expressions dignes et chargées d’âme. 

La présence à leur tête du sensible et rayonnant Yacouba Konaté aura, en effet, permis au Dak’Art 2006 de se positionner comme le plus riche en œuvres émergentes et fécondes de tous les Dak’Art réunis. Les prix et encouragements décernés n’auront d’ailleurs jamais été aussi nombreux qu’en cette édition anniversaire des dix ans de la Biennale de l’Art africain contemporain. Une heureuse réalité, puisqu’ils ont tous souligné la surprise, l’émotion et l’étonnement fédérateurs suscités par des travaux dont l’inédit de la conception et la probité de l’engagement pour la défense et l’illustration de drames et vérités planétaires le disputait à la précision et au savoir technique des produits finis. 

Bien évidemment, ces prix sont des encouragements adressés aux artistes, à charge pour eux, loin de se reposer sur des lauriers vite fanés, de se dépasser encore et toujours et de nous prouver demain que la confiance des jurés en leur chemin était un bon choix. (MORE...)

MOVING TOWARDS A BALANCED EARTH: KICK THE CARBON HABIT

NERART EVENTI

Il conto alla rovescia è quasi finito. Tra meno di un mese le due opere di Cyprien Tokoudagba commissionate espressamente per questo evento  verranno esposte al Te Papa Natural Museum di Wellington per la cerimonia ufficiale della giornata dell'ambiente.

In honour of the annual United Nations World Environment Day (WED) celebrations on 5 June, the Natural World Museum and Te Papa are pleased to present Moving Towards a Balanced Earth: Kick the Carbon Habit in partnership with the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the Ministry for the Environment, and the New Zealand Government.

This contemporary art exhibition of works by leading artists from around the world aims to generate awareness of global climate change, with an emphasis on moving towards a low carbon economy.

The artists were asked to find new ways to articulate the Earth in balance, and explore new visions and choices for a sustainable world.

The exhibition was curated by Randy Jayne Rosenberg of the Natural World Museum and features an evocative mix of painting, sculpture, photography, multimedia, and installation. Artworks include a startling video projection of environmental devastation by Susan Norrie of Australia, dream-like desert imagery by Bill Viola of the USA, assemblage by Mounir Fatmi of Morocco, an ‘existential slapstick’ video trilogy by Lars Siltberg of Sweden, and digital prints by Russian artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. New Zealand features with Alison Clouston, and lithographs by Bill Culbert and Ralph Hotere.

This is an exciting and rare opportunity to see global, multimedia artworks that will expand your perceptions about the environment.

Voiles et Dévoilements # Angèle Etoundi Essamba

Du 07.02.2008 - 31.05.2008

À la Fondation Jean Paul Blachère - Apt (F)

http://www.essamba-art.com/

GAUDI È ARRIVATO A COTONOU ?

Non si può che restare di stucco guardando alcuni immobili in africa. Questa costruzione si trova  a Cotonou in (Rep. del Benin). Non sono riuscito a sapere molto sull'autore di quest'opera che a quanto pare sembra destinata a diventare un albergo. (affaire à suivre..)

DIAPORAMA

No More Landmines Mission Statement

REGARDS CROISES ETE 2008 : ART MODERNE ET CONTEMPORAIN D'AFRIQUE

Lundi 26 mai 2008 à 19h00

Vente à la Fondation Dosne-Thiers

27, place Saint Georges - 75009 Paris

- 10 h 00 à 12 h00 : Exposition
- 19 h 00 : Vente d’art moderne et contemporain d’Afrique

TELECHARGER LE CATALOGUE 

(pdf - 2.68Mo)

NERART - LUGANO, Edizione dicembre 2007

CCA,Lagos presents: Paradise Lost by George Osodi

29th March - 3rd May 2008

The third and final exhibition of the 4 part curatorial project Democrazy features emerging Nigerian photographer George Osodi who brings a complex, multifaceted perspective of the Niger Delta to a Lagos and international audience. His powerful documentary images highlights the daily lives of Niger Deltans, the civil unrest, the environmental degradation as a result of oil and gas exploration and the lost dreams of millions of people in one of the richest regions in Nigeria if not in Africa. (MORE...)curator/ author Bisi Silva

George Osodi at DOCUMENTA KASSEL 07

The Obudu Plateau through the lens of George Osodi

LE VODOU, UN ART DE VIVRE, Comment montrer l'invisible

MEG - LE MUSEE D'ETHNOGRAPHIE DE GENEVE
5 décembre 2007 → 31 août 2008

Ouvrir le dossier du vodou haïtien, c'est ouvrir une immense boîte noire.
Surgissent pêle-mêle odeurs étranges, zombies errants, scènes de possession, objets d'art brut, fantasmes sur la sauvagerie, un peu d'amour et de jalousie, quelques crânes humains, de grandes productions hollywoodiennes, deux ou trois poupées plantées de leurs épingles, un parfum de mystère, des notes africaines, une nation d'esclaves libérés, sans oublier des dictateurs sanguinaires et quelques coups d'État...

Comment montrer l'invisible ?
Le vodou refuse la mise en boîte. Touchant à des domaines tellement variés, il ne se laisse pas enfermer dans les catégories classiques de «religion» ou de «culture». Le vodou brise les cadres, dépasse la rationalité qui cherche à le saisir et remplit l'espace de son évanescence et de son vertigineux parfum. Comment dire cet ensemble disparate, hétéroclite et dynamique ? Comment exposer le débordement de vie ? Comment montrer l'invisible ? Comment exposer ce qui refuse l'exposition ?

La plus importante collection haïtienne d'objets vodou
C'est grâce au partenariat établi avec la Fondation pour la préservation, la valorisation et la production d'oeuvres culturelles haïtiennes (FPVPOCH) que le MEG accueille en première mondiale la plus importante collection haïtienne d'objets vodou, rassemblée par Marianne Lehmann. Le formidable patrimoine réuni par cette Suissesse, installée à Port-au-Prince depuis 1957, témoigne non seulement de l'incroyable vitalité de la culture haïtienne, mais il nous interroge surtout sur notre propre rapport au monde et à l'existence.

The Harare International Festival of the Arts

The Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) has grown into one of the most substantial and diverse international arts events in Africa. The dates of this year’s Festival are 29th April to 4th May and HIFA 2008 promises to be the most prestigious since the Festival’s inauguration in 1999. HIFA is flourishing; HifAmigo subscriptions have increased from 467 in 2006 to 1 104 for HIFA 2008. The HIFA website receives thousands of hits on a daily basis and there were at least 600 separate articles covering HIFA 2007 posted on various international websites, in numerous languages. Box office figures grew from 39 750 tickets issued for HIFA 2006 to 56 000 at HIFA 2007 and the Main Stage shows were streamed on YouTube. This year, Harare Gardens in the center of Harare and surrounding venues will be transformed into a cultural carnival featuring a huge programme of music of all types, theatre, dance and visual arts.

SEGUN OLA L'erede di FELA - AFRO BEAT NIGERIANO A COTONOU

SEGUN OLA 

« Dompter le feu, jouer de la magie ou de la comédie, danser ou balancer un toast ragga d’une voix profonde, chanter sur une rythmique afrobeat ou bluesy, et même slammer…Segun Ola peut tout faire.

© par Elodie Maillot

Il a le sens de la phrase et de la phase : « Le slam c’est l’art, c’est le temps de vivre, la passé, le présent et le futur. C’est comme la couleur de la vie, comme les teintes d’une boite de nuit qui changent en permanence. » A cheval entre les couleurs et les sons, les frontières et les rythmes, Segun Ola est un immigré. Il a quitté son Nigéria natal pour le Bénin voisin. Quelques dizaines de kilomètres parcourus pour l’amour de la langue française, découverte dans un « film de requins », tout en restant infiniment lié à Lagos. « Déjà, mon nom yoruba dit tout : Segun, c’est comme le célèbre film, un guerrier qui se bat, et Olabissi, mon vrai nom, veut dire gagner la richesse. Donc, ma vie se résume à lutter pour des projets et des richesses, pas nécessairement matérielles. »

Avant de s’installer à Cotonou en 1997, à la mort de Fela, Segun a grandi dans l’ombre de son héraut, (MORE.....)

DAK'ART 2008 la BIENNALE DE DAKAR

8th Dak'Art
9 May - 9 June 2008
Dakar, Senegal

-Exposition internationale
-Programme 2008.pdf
-Dak'Art OFF

Main events of the 8th edition of the Biennale of Contemporary African Art:
International Exhibition of Contemporary African Art
 
Individual exhibitions of African artists and Diaspora Artists
African Design Salon

Tribute to an African artist
 
Meetings and Exchanges / Films Projections on contemporary art
 
Digital Arts Space

Musée du Quai Branly - Paris

Ivoires d’Afrique
19 février / 11 mai 2008

Dès le XVIe siècle, un certain nombre de pièces en ivoire sculptées par les artistes africains, provenant de zones qui correspondent à l’embouchure du Congo, à la Sierra Leone et au Nigeria actuels, sont entrées dans des collections aristocratiques, moins comme des objets de curiosités que comme des œuvres exotiques et luxueuses. Cette exposition réunit une vingtaine des plus anciens objets africains collectés par les Européens et conservés aujourd’hui dans les collections françaises, accompagnés de documents mettant en valeur la profondeur historique du continent africain et de ses productions ainsi que la question de la circulation des motifs iconographiques entre Europe et Afrique. Ivoires d’Afrique présente au grand public un aspect peu connu de l’histoire du goût et de l’histoire de l’art. 

Catalogue Ivoires d’Afrique dans les anciennes collections françaises • sous la direction de Ezio Bassani • 112 p. • coédition musée du quai Branly.

Download the MUSEE BRANLY complete Spring 2008 programme

MUSEUM RIETBERG - Kamerun - Kunst der Könige

Kamerun - Kunst der Könige dal 3 febbraio al 25 maggio 2008

Museum Rietberg 

L’incantevole Rieterpark e le sue ville storiche rappresentano lo sfondo ideale per l’arte proveniente dall’Asia, dall’Africa, dall’America e dall’Oceania. Il Rietberg è un museo chiaramente configurato, che espone opere artistiche di altissima qualità. Le sculture di fama mondiale che Eduard Baron von der Heydt ha donato alla città di Zurigo nel 1952 costituiscono il nucleo delle collezioni permanenti nella villa Wesendonck. Nella villa Rieter, il museo presenta capolavori scelti della pittura indiana, cinese e giapponese dalla collezione propria. L’Haus zum Kiel accoglie esposizioni speciali minori di arte extraeuropea.

Césaire, Aimé Fernand (1913-2008) Nous avons perdu un ami

The most influential Francophone Caribbean writer of his generation, Aimé Césaire was one of the founding fathers of Negritude, the black consciousness movement that sought to assert pride in African cultural values to counterbalance the inferior status accorded to them in European colonial thinking.

He was born into a peasant family at Basse-Pointe in the northern part of Martinique in 1913, close to the site of the town of St Pierre, the former capital of Martinique, which had been completely destroyed by a volcanic eruption seven years before his birth. He grew up in a poverty-stricken environment in the wake of this disaster and volcanic imagery pervades his poetry. (more...)

La liste de quelques articles parus dans la presse

Poetry Foundation

Aimé Césaire - Wikipedia

Augusto Panini - PERLE DI VETRO MEDIORIENTALI E VENEZIANE

Augusto Panini, nel corso di una trentennale carriera nell'ambito dell'industria tessile, ha avuto varie occasioni di soggiornare, tra il 1980 e il 1992, anche per lunghi periodi, in diversi paesi dell'Africa Occidentale, soprattutto compiendo viaggi di ricerca e di approfondimento in diverse regioni del Mali.

Ne è nato un profondo interesse per lo studio e la ricerca delle perle vitree che da secoli compongono le collane delle varie etnie della regione sub-sahariana.

La lettura di questo volume ci permette di condividere anni di ricerche appassionate e fruttuose, che hanno portato l'autore a selezionare un insieme di perle di vetro mediorientali e veneziane rinvenute in Africa Occidentale.

Sono testimonianze incorrotte e perfettamente conservate di scambi commerciali e contatti culturali che sin da epoche antiche quella regione intrattenne con tutto il mondo allora conosciuto.

Pubblicato da SKIRA Italia

"Le passage du milieu" un projet de William Adjété Wilson

Ecco un bel esempio di collaborazione con artisti del Benin.

Insieme a Yves Appolinaire Pédé , William Wilson ha realizzato una serie di "appliqués" a partire da alcuni suoi disegni originali.

Da vedere qui !!!

DOMINIQUE ZINKPE AT CANAL+ HORIZONS

Afrik'Art

Mardi 15 avril 2008 à 21H55 sur CANAL+ HORIZONS

A NE PAS MANQUER ! - DO NOT MISS !!

Dominique Zinkpé Plasticien (Rép. du Bénin)

JOBURG ART FAIR

The First Joburg Art Fair takes place in the heart of the Sandton Central. 22 Major galleries are selling work in a traditional art fair set up covering 5000 square meters of the Sandton Convention Center. Special Projects for 2008: FUNDA Community College, Tonic design and artist Robin Rhode. Extending the representation of African contemporary artists at the art fair is As You Lit It, a curated show by Simon Njami. A talks program will focus on collecting African contemporary art and the place of the art fair in the city. The Art Fair and the Talks form part of Artlogic's Joburg Art Week.

My friend Artist Dominique ZINKPE, will be also represented as special guest.

2008 WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

NERART in collaborazione con il NATURAL WORLD MUSEUM di San Francisco presenta due opere di Cyprien Tokoudagba alla seguente esposizione:

Moving Towards a Balanced Earth: 

Kick the (Carbon) Habit


World Environment Day 2008


For the 2008 World Environment Day, UNEP continues to explore and address the theme of climate change, with an emphasis on moving toward a low carbon economy. Background: The Earth maintains a natural carbon balance. Under normal conditions, the system gradually corrects imbalances and returns to a balanced state. However the rate at which humans are now burning fossil fuels, introducing excesses of carbon into the atmosphere, has surpassed Earth’s ability to maintain balance. As a result, the Earth’s climate has begun to experience massive change. 

Nature strives for balance. Carbon balance is one part of nature’s process to maintain stases. Humans, collectively and individually, also strive for balance. 



What does it mean to be in balance as individuals and communities? What is the connection between the Earth’s imbalance and our imbalance as a species? Can nature serve as a model and mentor for discovering a way of living in balance, for coming into a state of equilibrium? The excess of atmospheric carbon is just one symptom of our environmental problems; water and air pollution, toxic waste—all of these are also symptoms of imbalance. The symptoms are expressed on both planetary and personal levels. Other species may adapt or become extinct. How will humans adapt? 



Participating Artists:


AES & F Group – Russia, Ken Aptekar – USA, Lise Bjorne – Norway, Lien Botha – South Africa, Antonio Briceno – Venezuela, Enrique Martinez Celaya – Cuba, Alison Clouston – New Zealand, Shane Cotton – New Zealand, Bill Culbert and Ralph Hotere – New Zealand, Geoff Dixon – New Zealand, Chris Drury – UK, Mounir Fatmi – Morocco, Peter Fend – USA, Isa Genzken – Germany, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov – Russia, Walangari Karntawarra – Australia, Ik-Joong Kang – Korea, Gabriela Morawetz – Poland, Susan Norrie – Australia, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba – Vietnam, Susan Plum – Mexico, Ken Rinaldo & Amy Youngs – USA, Alexis Rockman – USA, Harriet Russell – UK, Soledad Salame – Chile, Lars Siltberg – Sweden, Superflex – Denmark, Cyprien Tokoudagba – Benin, Bill Viola – USA