AA/Dakar/Alioune Ndiaye
Canceled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 14th edition of Dak’art is being held from May 19 to June 21, 2022, in the presence of several officials including the Ivorian Minister of Culture and the Chinese Ambassador, including the countries are in the spotlight for this edition, placed under the same theme, namely Ndaffa # (forging in Serer, a local language).
“Forge yes, but what to forge? In our traditions, the blacksmith is a craftsman who models with the hand of the raw material (metal) to create objects that are both beautiful and meaningful”, insisted the Senegalese President, Macky Sall, at the opening ceremony at the Doudou Ndiaye Rose Grand Theater in Dakar.
“Forging immerses us in creation, that is to say the ability of an individual or a group to imagine or to build and give shape to a new concept, a new object or to discover an original solution to a problem. continued Sall, noting the importance of culture in thinking regarding development.
It is also with cultural notes that the ceremony began. A top-of-the-range performance with the troupe of tam-tam drummers Doudou Ndiaye Rose, accompanied in its performance by modern instruments.
The Orchestra Baobab then the jazzman Alioune Wade and the Senegalese-Malian singer, Sidiki Diabaté, succeeded each other on stage to give a particular cachet to the meeting.
“The more we appropriate our culture, the more we will understand the challenges of the world”, pleaded on this subject Moridja Kitenge Banza, Congolese artist, winner of the Léopold Senghor Grand Prize at the Biennale in 2010.
Returning to the reason for his presence at this edition, the artist living in Canada explains: “The Biennale remains the most important place in Africa for visual artists to be able to present their work, to know the art market but also meet other artists from the continent and the diaspora”.
“That’s why I’m coming back this year. Not as an artist but rather as a curator since I am bringing five African-Canadian artists whom I present to the Ouakam cultural centre,” he assured.
Dak’Art is a whole range of creations and for this edition, 59 professionals and collectives of visual arts professionals are participating in the international exhibition called In.
“West Africa is represented by 14 artists, Southern Africa by 12 creators, North Africa 6 visual artists while East and Central Africa have 6 artists. The Indian Ocean is represented by a Seychellois creator and the diaspora by 19 creators,” noted the artistic director of the El Hadj Malick Ndiaye biennial.
The most prominent countries in this official international selection are South Africa (eight artists), Senegal (seven visual artists), Cuba (five creators), France, United States (four artists for each country). Benin and Cameroon find themselves respectively with three artists each. The kingdom of Morocco is represented by two artists. Same for Tunisia.
“My work is a very large egg, five meters in diameter. It fits into the main line of thought of the entire exhibition, that is to say the idea of forging”, noted Karem Ibrahim, the only Egyptian participating in the international exhibition.
It is this kind of works that will fill the dedicated spaces such as the old courthouse in Dakar, the town hall of Dakar or the Théodore Monod museum.
On the Off side, hundreds of exhibition sites are listed. “We have around 430 exhibition sites which can be expanded because there are sites where there are two or even three exhibitors,” noted Mario Petroni, artist in charge of the Off section.
At the Maurice Guèye cultural center in Rufisque (27 km from Dakar) where an Off exhibition is held, five exhibitors are scheduled. “We see that the biennale is spreading out in other regions, particularly on the Petite Côte,” noted Petroni, assuring that the diaspora is not left out with two exhibitions in Italy. “There are in France, Holland and Martinique too,” noted Petroni.
Dak’Art is also a series of concerts across the sites. Sidiki Diabaté, who took part in the inaugural ceremony, will kick off Dakar in the evening with a concert at the Place du Souvenir Africain.
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