This year, the Cobra Museum is focusing on art from different parts of Africa, following the example of a number of Cobra artists in their fascination with African art. In the fall, the Cobra Museum exhibits Cosmogonie: Zinsou, an African collection with a selection of 110 works of art by 37 artists from different countries and different generations. The Cobra Museum completes this imaginative exhibition with an original program of activities.
Based on the intention of MO.CO Montpellier, the Cobra Museum also wishes to introduce the Dutch public to this collection of African art, whose works not only all come from Africa, but whose collection itself has been created in Benin. The exhibition offers the Zinsou Foundation a platform to present part of its special collection internationally, and the Dutch public the exceptional opportunity to get to know the world of contemporary African art in depth. The Cobra Museum welcomes this treasure of contemporary African art and hopes that it can contribute substantially to the expansion and diversification of the artistic offer of Dutch museums.
The selection of works of art, consisting of sculptures, photographs, paintings and installations, was presented around the theme of "Cosmogony", which refers to the study of the creation of the cosmos. This concept gave rise to several themes in this exhibition: "Alphabet and codes", "Identity and memory", "Life as it comes", "Posing and staging", "Critical reflection", "Mythology and symbols" and "Metamorphoses". The exhibition of this collection in this context was carried out with the desire to raise awareness of the dynamic contemporary art scene that is present throughout the African continent. Besides internationally recognized names such as Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Cyprien Tokoudagba, Mallick Sidibé, Chéri Samba and Zanele Muholi, they have also been in contact with young talents, giving them a better idea of the modern influences that shape the contemporary experience alongside to cultural traditions. in Africa.
From the early 1990s, a movement of aesthetic globalization profoundly changed the art world – at least its geopolitics.
Contemporary African art asserted itself as a living reality, but not without reluctance: a frozen image of its traditional forms, especially since they were strongly linked to the history of modern Western art, continued to impose itself in the heads. First of all, we clearly saw two main access routes to the vitality of the African scene being constituted: the first was embodied in the ironic figurative painting of Chéri Samba, the second in the poetry of photographic documentation, through Seydou Keïta or Malick Sidibé.
If a foundation like the one created by the Zinsou family exists, bringing together major artists in today's art, it was the result of patient work and great stubbornness. [...] Through the spectacular development of an art infrastructure in Africa (from the biennials of Dakar and Bamako to the emergence of foundations and exciting collections), we see today the rise power of the imagination and African forms on the world art scene.
And it is today an “institution to institution” relationship that Montpellier Contemporain has established with the Zinsou Foundation. What brought us to invite this remarkable Beninese institution, it is the possibility of accessing an African view of Africa, and of entering into dialogue with this view. At a time when regionalist impulses are putting on new ecological clothes to justify isolationism, or brandishing the carbon footprint to close borders, it is important for the Hôtel des collections to celebrate the militant activity of the Zinsou Foundation, firmly anchored in its Beninese context while addressing the whole world.
Nicolas Bourriaud
General Manager of MO.CO., extract from the preface to the catalog
Artists presented in the exhibition
Léonce Raphaël AGBODJELOU
ASTON
lshola AKPO
Joël ANDRIANOMEARISOA
Sammy BALOJI
Pierre BODO
Frédéric BRULY BOUABRE
Seyni Awa CAMARA
Cheri CHERIN
Jeremy DEMESTER
John DEPARA
Omar Victor DIOP
Kifouli DOSSOU
Rotimi FANI-KAYODE
Samuel FOSSO
Pauline GUERRIER
Romuald HAZOUME
Seydou KEITA
Adama KOUYATE
George LILANGA
Ibrahim MAHAMA
Esther MAHLANGU
Emo by MEDEIROS
MOKE
Zanele MUHOLI
Rigobert NIMI
J. D.’Okhai OJEIKERE
Kwesi OWUSU-ANKOMAH
Gerard QUENUM
Sadek RAHIM
Lyndi Sales
Cheri SAMBA
Amadou SANOGO
Malick SIDIBÉ
Aisha Snoussi
Sanlé SORY
Cyprien TOKOUDAGBA