Benin’s up to date artwork scene revealed on the Conciergerie | EUROtoday
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Ccaptivated by the brief movie by the Franco-Beninese artist Emo de Medeiros, Emmanuel Macron didn’t rely his time to reap the benefits of it on the event of a presidential go to organized a couple of minutes earlier than the inauguration of the exhibition “Revelation ! Contemporary Art from Benin*” on the Conciergerie de Paris in the beginning of October, within the firm of his Beninese counterpart, Patrice Talon. It have to be stated that “Tigitude I”, a variation in pictures of the well-known aphorism of the Nigerian author Wole Soyinka, who opposed the idea of negritude – “A tiger does not proclaim its tigritude, it leaps” –, seems to be a of essentially the most highly effective and fascinating works of this exhibition the place the abilities of latest artists from Benin and its diaspora are found.
A wealthy and various panorama of skills
What might this conflict of cultures and chronologies give on this third itinerant model of an exhibition introduced for the primary time on the presidential palace of Cotonou in 2022, “Art of Benin yesterday and today, restitution to the revelation” whereas the 26 royal treasures of Benin returned to the nation by France? After circulating on the Mohammed-VI Museum in Rabat in Morocco from January to May 2023 then on the Clément Foundation in Martinique from December 2023 to March 2024, the redesigned and enriched exhibition leaves the white dice fashion areas for a Capetian decor that renews the dialogue between previous and current of the unique challenge.
The curators Yassine Agnikè Lassissi and Emmanuel Daydé have reorganized the route, specifies the primary “to familiarize the Parisian and international public with the culture of Benin”. Divided into three components, it reveals round forty artists, all media mixed, or round 100 works. “The door: behind the door…!” What’s behind the door…? », set up by Georges Adéagbo, the primary African artist to obtain the Grand Jury Prize on the Venice Biennale in 1999, marks the edge from which the silhouette of the princess instantly emerges on the finish of the central aisle. by Fabrice Monteiro. On all sides, sculptures equivalent to that of the god Gou by Dominique Gnonnou often known as Kouass, line the alcoves in an itinerary which begins with the theme “Goddesses and Gods”, the place the works bear witness to the inventive metamorphoses of the voodoo pantheon. Where the spirits are again, as within the magnificent set up of assins by Éliane Aïssou. Then come “Queens and Kings”, with the one queen, Tassi Hangbé, but in addition the kings of Dahomey seen of their zoomorphic representations by Youss Atacora.
And lastly “women and men” with the outstanding portray by Moufouli Bello, one of many artists who represents Benin on the Venice Biennale till the tip of November.
*“Revelation!” Contemporary artwork from Benin”. At the Conciergerie de Paris. Until January 5, 2025
https://www.lepoint.fr/arts/la-scene-artistique-contemporaine-du-benin-revelee-a-la-conciergerie-17-10-2024-2573021_36.php