This group exhibition can be seen at the Fondation Clément in Le François (Martinique) from December 15, 2023 to March 31, 2024.
Conceived by Benin’s Agence de développement des arts et de la culture (ADAC) in partnership with the Fondation Clément, the exhibition entitled “Révélation! Contemporary Art from Benin” brings together 42 artists and over a hundred works, divided into three sequences: Recurrence-Variation, Transition(s) and Transgression-Hybridization. The themes addressed are highly varied, and relate in particular to the identity and environment of these artists. Various media and techniques are used by these creators – namely painting, sculpting, installation, video art, drawing and photography – who “are the voice of an overflowing cultural and human richness”.
This is “an important body of work illustrating the abundance of the contemporary art scene in Benin and its diaspora (…) Initially presented in Cotonou in 2022 as part of the diptych exhibition “Art du Bénin d’hier et d’aujourd’hui, de la restitution à la révélation” (Art of Benin yesterday and today, from restitution to revelation) alongside the twenty-six royal treasures of Bénin returned by France, the exhibition “Revelation ! Contemporary Art of Benin” occupies the entire space of the Fondation Clément and reinforces the desire for artistic encounters between the African and Caribbean scenes”, say the organizers.
Curator Yassine Lassissi will give a lecture on Sunday December 17 at 10:00 am at the Fondation Clément. The current visual art director of Benin’s Arts and Culture Development Agency is a graduate of the Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne with a degree in art history. She was first artistic director of La galerie nationale du Bénin, the very first state agency created to promote Beninese visual arts. She is co-curator of one of the most important exhibitions in the history of art restitution in Africa, “Art du Bénin d’hier et d’aujourd’hui, de la restitution à la révélation” (Art of Benin of yesterday and today, from restitution to revelation), and co-curator of the tour of the contemporary part of this exhibition in Morocco, Martinique and France.
Yassine Lassissi is also the associate curator of the Benin pavilion at Benin’s first participation in the Venice 2024 International Art Biennale.
Exhibiting artists: Euloge AHANHANZO-GLÈLÈ, Kiffouli DOSSOU, Ludovic FADAÏRO, Dominique KOUAS, Épaphras DÈGNON TOÏHEN, Yves APOLLINAIRE PÈDÉ, Cyprien TOKOUDAGBA, Youss ATACORA, François AZIANGUÉ, Julien SINZOGAN, Nathanaël VODOUHÈ, Dominique ZINKPÈ, Tchif, Laeïla ADJOVI, Moufouli BELLO, Ishola AKPO, Rémy SAMUZ, Éliane AÏSSO, Edwige APLOGAN, Thierry OUSSOU, Roméo MIVEKANNIN, Julien VIGNIKIN, Aston, Chloé, Quenum, Hector SONON, Ponce ZANNOU, Simonet BIOKOU, Sènami DONOUMASSOU, Louis VIDJANNAGNI OKÉ-AGBO, Meschac GABA, King HOUNDÉKPINKOU, Nobel KOTY, Dimitri FAGBOHOUN, Emo DE MEDEIROS, Romuald HAZOUMÈ, Sébastien BOKO, Georges ADÉAGBO, Gérard QUENUM, Éric MÉDÉDA, Charly D’ALMEIDA, Didier VIODÉ, Marcel KPOHO.
