Ré-imaginer le passé
24.3.24 – 28.7.24
The exhibition Ré-imaginer le passé is currently on view at the KINDL — Centre for Contemporary Art until 28 July 2024 and was curated by Mahret Ifeoma Kupka, Isabel Raabe, Ibou C. Diop and Malick Ndiaye. The work we want to present this week is Synthèse (2021) by Viyé Diba.

Viyé Diba is a mixed media, installation, and performance artist from Senegal. His works, which use mainly recycled, local, and unprocessed materials, have been featured in numerous international exhibitions and are represented in various institutional collections. Formerly a professor at the National School of Art in Dakar, Diba was involved in training several generations of artists. His work Synthèse was created during the three-week TALKING OBJECTS LAB Artists Residency at Musée Théodore Monod in Dakar. In developing this work, the artist engaged with objects from the museum’s collection, focusing on how to reconnect these preserved artefacts with modern Senegalese society. A Senufo loincloth and a Tuareg bedpost provided the starting point for his installation. Impressed by the intricate bedpost design and the artisanry of the loincloth, woven from beaten raffia palm bark, Diba offers a contemporary reinterpretation of the fabric using raffia, nylon, potato sacks, and other fibres. “Art is an appropriation of what our living environment provides. I am just a mediator between these two worlds”, remarks the artist. By blending historical references with modern materials, his work bridges past, present, and future. The artwork consists of wood, raffia, nylon, potato sacks and various fibres.

Together with Viyé Diba’s installation, digital photographs by the artist Caroline Gueye are shown in a loop on screen, which were taken during their joint TALKING OBJECTS LAB residency in Dakar in 2021. She documents the original objects that Viyé Diba worked with, and, in her very own way, focuses on the material and the knowledge that lies within.