Published on : 24/05/2022 – 12:57
For the Biennial of contemporary art which is in full swing in Dakar, the Océanium, both a diving club and an NGO, presents in the “OFF” works by artists committed to the preservation of the environment and ocean. Along the same lines, the Océanium has launched an astonishing project: an “underwater museum”.
With our correspondent in Dakar,Charlotte Idrac
To hear ” conversations » of phytoplankton, you have to sit on a small bench, in front of a reflective surface… A sound installation by Antoine Bertin. “ Metabolites are small molecules that plant plankton use to communicate, explains the artist. The idea is to allow the public to enter into a relationship with these beings who are nanoscopic, therefore invisible. However, they produce more than half of the oxygen we breathe. It is more than the terrestrial forests! »
Right next to it, a sculpture by Fabrice Monteiro: a man dressed in a nylon net, like a figurehead. ” These nylon nets, underwater, it’s been miles and miles, indignant Charlotte Thomas, in charge of communication for the Océanium. It spreads out, it catches fish, it catches life, it’s dangerous. We regularly remove fish that have gotten stuck inside. »
In a video installation, German artist Bodo Korsig shows jellyfish caught in plastic bottles. On both sides, factory smoke. “ The pictures are very nice, but I think everyone understands the problem. The secret of the art is not to use big hooves to change mentalities, you have to do it in a gentler way. » A trilogy and a common point: a reflection on the place of man in his environment.
An underwater museum
In parallel with this exhibition, the Océanium is officially inaugurating a somewhat crazy project: an underwater museum in collaboration with the OH Gallery in Dakar, which today includes eight sculptures, installed under the ocean, and therefore visible from a dive. “ The idea was to bring people to the underwater world, explains Rodwan El Ali, director of the Océanium diving club. Someone who does not know, who will say to himself “Hey, there is an underwater museum?” and finally, when he sees these works, he will say to himself “But it’s magnificent!” And, from there, to be able to talk to him, to say to him “All that, everything is in danger.” »
« The museum is four meters deep. Either we are going to do a first dive, or, for those who know and are comfortable with the sea, just take a mask, flippers and go see it! We are still considering that the museum will grow, the objective is to have around a hundred works. We go to works that respect the environment. It’s marine concrete, it’s neutral PH… There, we have eight works for the moment. They’ve been in the water for six months. Sea urchins have taken up residence on it, there are fish hidden in the holes… We hardly recognize the work anymore! It’s covered in algae, it created life. »
