09 Feb 2021 11 Jul 2021

Africa Reborn

African aesthetics in contemporary art

In an original visual dialogue designed by critic and art historian Philippe Dagen, Africa Reborn attempts to decipher relations that have united the contemporary world and old African arts since the end of the 20th century.

About the exhibition

In 1984, at the MoMA in New York, the Primitivism exhibition displayed over 200 artworks from Africa, Oceania and the Americas beside works by Picasso, Matisse, Nolde and Giacometti. In doing so, it positioned non-Western arts as a foil to the Western avant-gardists, credited with giving them their status as works of art. That was the starting point for Philippe Dagen, curator of the exhibition Africa Reborn, which starts by reminding visitors that use of the term ‘primitive’ remains indissociable from colonisation of Africa and the West’s appropriation of what it long called ‘Negro art’ and reduced to beautiful use of forms without seeking to understand this art’s meaning and symbols.

Through a path exploring contemporary creation in all its forms, the exhibition examines relations between today’s art and old African arts. What common memory is there in work carried out in the studios of Annette Messager, ORLAN, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Chéri Samba, Alun Be, Théo Mercier or Emo de Medeiros? What have the now-classic African references become in the world of globalised, visual consumption? How have they come back to life ? What political or social meanings do they bear when revived by Myriam Mihindou, Kader Attia, Romuald Hazoumé or Pascale Marthine Tayou, who have made new works of art

for Africa Reborn ?

  • CURATOR

    Philippe Dagen, Curator, Art critic and art historian

  • Place:   Galerie Jardin
  • TimeSlots:  
    From Tuesday 09 February 2021 at Sunday 11 July 2021
  • Closed on monday
    Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday:  10:30 am-07:00 pm
    Thursday:  10:30 am-10:00 pm
  • Accessibility:
    • Handicap visuel
    • LSF
    • Handicap auditif (sans T)
  • Public:   All publics
  • Categorie : Exhibitions
  • Museum ticket entrance
    Full price:  14,00 €
    Reduce rate:  11,00 €

    Click here to see all rates
00:00 / 00:00
#ExAfrica | The Exhibition's short documentary
AFRICA REBORN. African aesthetics in contemporary art. In an original visual dialogue, the Africa Reborn exhibition showcases and contrasts over 150 contemporary art works from all generations and of all origins, in order to decipher the relationship between the contemporary scene and ancient African arts since the end of the 20th century. How do African arts, known today as “classic”, remain present and active in today’ artistic creation? For the critic and art historian Philippe Dagen, the exhibition curator, it is because they show that the ideas and forms particular to these arts are more alive than ever today, whereas forty years ago, an exhibition such as Primitivism at the Museum of Modern Art in New York reduced them to the role of visual models for the western avant-gardes of the first half of the 20th century, thus depriving them of their original stories and meanings, as only an interplay of beautiful exotic forms was seen in them. Installations, paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings and videos: through the great diversity of the artists and works presented, the Africa Reborn exhibition evokes the many ways in which these ancient references are revived in the creations of 34 contemporary artists. It includes new works by Annette Messager, Gloria Friedmann, Myriam Mihindou, Kader Attia, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Romuald Hazoumé, Théo Mercier and Emo de Medeiros, designed specifically for this exhibition. . . . Follow us on our social media : Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/quaibranly/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/quaibranly Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/museeduquaib... LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/muse... #ExAfrica #VivreLaCulture
17:30 min

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