Until October 16, 2022, the Saint-Etienne Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art is offering an exhibition that resonates with the Design Biennale and its guest of honor continent: Africa. “Globalisto, a philosophy in motion” immerses visitors in a discovery of the work of 19 African artists from different generations, inviting them to look at the world differently. Against the backdrop of the idea of a world without borders.
“We want the museum to be more inclusive,” explains Aurélie Voltz, director of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Saint-Etienne. Of the 20,000 works present in our collections, 93% were created by Western men… A characteristic that can be found in the history of European and American fine arts museums. To echo the Biennale and because Africa is the guest continent of this event, we wanted to open a door to a new conception of programming and exhibitions. It’s time to open up to other cultures and art forms. Thus, the Saint-Etienne institution called on Mo Laudi, a multidisciplinary South African artist who handles music as well as the plastic arts, to be the curator of the exhibition “Globalisto, a philosophy in motion”. A presentation that allows you to discover the work of 19 African artists, activists, philosophers, poets or storytellers, of different generations, styles and notoriety.
See the world from different perspectives
For Mo Laudi, Globalisto is a “new philosophy, showing the world from different perspectives” and in particular from a Pan-African point of view. With the objective of shaking up received ideas, of questioning the visitor regarding his own place in relation to post-colonization.
Thus, we find ourselves confronted with the works of the Congolese Sammy Baloji, born in 1978 and questioning the consequences of the colonial period and suggesting that the work of decolonization is not finished.
We stop in front of “Cape II”, a work by Sam Gilliam (artist who died on June 25th) acquired in 1971 by the Saint-Etienne museum – remaining today the only French museum to own a work by the artist. A work that is close to the Supports/Surfaces movement where the artist decompartmentalizes the canvas by freeing it from its frame and which expresses the fight for social change at a time when black people were not considered legitimate to practice in the field. ‘abstract art.
We also stay in front of the work of Dread Scott, “What is the proper way to display an American flag?” », which invites you to tread the star-spangled banner. A creation which caused a great scandal across the Atlantic and which is for the first time visible outside of American soil.
We carefully observe “Song of the Pick”, a painting by one of the most important South African artists, Gerard Sekoto, born in 1913 in Bothshabelo and who, according to Mo Laudi, is somewhat the “father of this exhibition”. .
We discover “Khtbtogone”, the video story of Sara Sadik, an artist born in Bordeaux in 1994, which highlights the question of the representation of diasporic youth from North Africa in France via the story of a young person from popular neighborhoods of Marseille who are regarding to make their marriage proposal. An adventure that will lead him to discover himself more and to free himself.
Finally, we inevitably linger in the penultimate room where the “portrait-monuments” of imaginary heroes by Raphaël Barontini, the nest on a human scale by Porky Hefer or the work “Restitution: renaming the collection” by the curator rub shoulders with him. -even, restoring his feelings in relation to the liberation movement of South Africans.
“Globalisto, a philosophy in motion” to discover until October 16, 2022 at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Saint-Etienne Métropole
Also to discover at the MAMC this summer:
- “Meta-photography” by photographer Thomas Ruff, exhibition retracing the 40-year career of this German photographer. Visible until August 28, 2022
- “Double Je”, exhibition devoted to the donation of some 180 works to the museum by Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert, gallery owners and collectors. Visible until September 18, 2022.