United States of Africa at The Raw Material Company, Dakar

International Wed 07-09-2011

United States of Africa at The Raw Material Company, Dakar
Press Release | Raw Material Company

In reference to the notorious Congo Conference that took place in Berlin from November 1884 to February 1885 under the spearhead of the first German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, Berlin-based Senegalese artist Mansour Ciss Kanakassy created an art laboratory in 2002 called Laboratoire de Déberlinisation (laboratory of deberlinization).

United States of Africa at Raw Material Company

Mansour Ciss Kanakassy, 'Lumumba' 2010. Aluminium print, 125x80cm.

The laboratory is a conceptual framework for artistic action to unpack the exploitation and mercantile ideologies applied on Africa in the late nineteenth century known as the Scramble for Africa. It works collaboratively by reaching out to diverse professional backgrounds and artistic practices.

The Congo Conference was convened to discuss economic dominance and partition of the African territories among European powers. It is widely recognized that the partitions and borders drawn then, followed by a ruthless colonial rule, are—among other things—at the root of contemporary crisis and disruptions that undermine economical and political progress in Africa.

Aware of the insurmountable obstacles that would indefinitely postpone the advent of a single currency and a unified space for mobility and exchange, Mansour Ciss Kanakassy and other contemporary African artists such as Pascale Marthine Tayou have substituted themselves to the states to achieve the seemingly impossible. They do not need endless committees, high level meetings, majority votes and they like to create a symbolic land to assert their political stand.

The Afro, an imaginary single currency for Africa, is the artistic response to bankrupt policies of the post independence era. It is a conceptual work using multiple practices such as installation, print, performance and public lecture. The exhibition is accompanied by a newspaper with texts by Simon Njami and Koyo Kouoh as well as an interview of the artist by David Cadasse.

Mansour Ciss Kanakassy

Born in Dakar in 1957, Ciss studied sculpture at Institut National des Arts in Dakar from 1973 to 1977. He has exhibited widely in Africa and Europe in group and solo shows at the Dakar Biennale, Musée National du Mali, Bamako, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin, and Museum der Weltkulturen, Frankfurt am Main among other venues.

His works are in the collections of Museum der Weltkulturen in Frankfurt am Main, the National Collection of Senegal and the Central Bank of West African States. He is the recipient of the Léopold Sedar Senghor award for artistic excellence. He lives and works in Berlin.

Education

In collaboration with University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar (UCAD) and Institut Supérieur des Arts et des Cultures (ISAC) the lecture program "United States of Africa": utopia or reality, will take place from October to December 2011. Lecturers are Mamadou Lamine Diallo, economist and former project leader of United States of Africa at the African Union, historians Prof. Abdoulaye Bathily and Dr Ibrahima Wone, author and social critic Safietou Ly Sow and rapper Didier Awadi.

About Raw Material Company

Raw Material Company is a non-profit center for art, knowledge and society. It is an art initiative unfolding within the realms of exhibition making, commissioning, knowledge sharing, and archiving of theory and criticism. It works to foster appreciation and growth of artistic and intellectual creativity in Africa.

The underlying rationale of its program is a firm belief in visual arts as a potent tool capable of shifting perspectives, and to ignite engagement for art practice as a viable path for social and political transformation. The program is transdisciplinary and is equally informed by urbanity, literature, film, architecture, politics, fashion, cuisine, and diasporas.

Raw Residency

Raw Residency forms the residential program of Raw Material Company. It consists of two studio-apartments located on the premises of the center. It is directed towards artists, architects, academics, curators and critical writers. It facilitates production of new works that provide a visual and critical discourse on social and political issues.

The underlying rationale of this program resides in the firm belief in the functionality of art for social awareness. The residency program is thus strongly attached to community engagement as a mean to reintegrate art practice as a defining part of society.

The production program makes special efforts at creating a dialogue between the public space as a stage of artistic interventions and its users. The overall aim of the residency program is to sustain a continuous presentation of and a confrontation with African and Africa related artistic practices.

United States of Africa
21 September–31 December 2011
Opening:Tuesday, 20 September 2011, 7–9pm
at The Raw Material Company, Center for Art, Knowledge and Society

For further information please contact

The Raw Material Company, Center for Art, Knowledge and Society
4074 bis Sicap Amitié 2
BP 22710 Dakar, Senegal
Tel +221 33 864 0248
Email: info@rawmaterialcompany.org
or visit www.rawmaterialcompany.org

Gallery hours:
Tuesday–Saturday from 10am–8pm

Posted By: Allan Kapten

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