RÉ-IMAGINER LE PASSÉ

Which futures can emerge from our shared history? Which narratives from the past merit recounting? How do we challenge established knowledge? And why is knowledge inevitably also a construct of world orders? These questions laid the groundwork for the project Ré-imaginer le passé.

Ré-imaginer le passé is more than an exhibition – it is a research journey, a months-long collaboration between curators, scholars, and artists from the African continent, the Diaspora, India, and Germany. In May 2023, a series of workshops dedicated to this endeavour took place in Dakar, called LABoratoires. During these workshops, the artists Elsa M'Bala, Fatou Kandé Senghor, Caroline Gueye, Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Ibrahima Thiam, Viyé Diba, Mansour Ciss Kanakassy, Uriel Orlow, Alibeta, as well as the scholars Nikita Dhawan and María do Mar Castro Varelas worked together with curators Mahret Ifeoma Kupka, Isabel Raabe, Ibou C. Diop, and Malick Ndiaye to explore the notion of reimagining the past and envisioning alternative narratives for the future. The core question is: Could a different understanding of our histories cultivate a new ethical framework guiding relationships between the global South and the global North?

The imaginary served as a creative catalyst for questioning established realities and reshaping them. The project places a particular focus on the repercussions of colonial history, examining the past from a perspective that challenges eurocentric narratives. It aims to carve out room for new approaches, knowledge (re)forms, and narratives. This philosophy permeates every aspect of the project’s curation – from omitting standard biographical details in artist descriptions to the sequence in which artists are acknowledged and the creation of a comprehensive discursive programme that includes artist talks, film screenings, and performances.

The works presented in this exhibition were previously on display in Dakar from 25 November 2023 to 8 January 2024 as part of Partcours d’Art at Musée Théodore Monod / Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire. They were either developed through a dialogical process or specifically crafted for this exhibition project. They stand out for their reassessment of objects and their relevance for the present; they reinterpret history and revive knowledge. In doing so, they build a bridge between different times, places, and realities.

The works presented in this exhibition were either developed through a dialogical process or specifically crafted for this exhibition project. They stand out for their reassessment of objects and their relevance for the present; they reinterpret history and revive knowledge. In doing so, they build a bridge between different times, places, and realities.