»L'époque Pythagorienne«

"Das Pythagoreische Zeitalter"

‘The Pythagorean Age'

An installation by Georges Adéagbo for 'the Galerie im Taxis Palais-Innsbruck-Austria'
from August 10th until October 7th 2001

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view from stairs of the foyer's wall C	foyer - wall A	foyer - wall B	detail wall B
detail wall B	'Zongbeto' costume in front of wall C with mirror eyes	text relating to the mirror	books below wall A
view of the entire foyer	text, part of the foyer's central installation	wall C and central floor installation	second 'Zongbeto' costume and reflection of the main hall

Dr. Sylvia Eiblmayr, the director of the ‘Galerie im Taxispalais’, run by the Prefectural
Government of ‘Tyrol’, invited Georges Adeagbo for his first exhibition in Austria this
summer. The firstmonographic catalogue about Adéagbo’s work will be available on this
occasion, edited and conceived as a cooperation of the Galerie im Taxispalais and jointadventures,
published by Cantz, Stuttgart. *

The unique features of the space in the ‘Galerie im Taxispalais’ was a challenge to
Georges Adéagbo. He was asked to work in both a large space 12 by 12 meters,
embedded underground in the court of the recently modernized Palais built by the family
Taxis in the center of Innsbruck, and an anticamera of about four by five meters. Parts of
the installation can be seen from the ground floor level through the glass roof, which
gives the entire work the aspect of being inside a giant vitrine. Descending into the
gallery and walking through the installation can give the visitor a double sensation of
being both observer and part of the work, aware of being seen by others above.

walls D and E	walls E and F	walls F and G	walls G and H
wall F with central installation	detail of wall E	Detail of wall G	Detail of wall F
text of central installation in main hall	detail of central installation	books in front of central wall F	text in front of central wall

Two hairy ‘Zongbeto’ costumes, formerly used in Benin as disguise for patrolling night
guards, receive the visitors as they arrive. Rather than serving as sensational objects to
elicit exotic curiosity, their pyramid like shape become part of Adéagbo’s simple
description of what he sees as holy mountains.
While the installation in the foyer summarizes the entire work as a kind of table of
contents, or index chart, the work itself begins with the exploration of the general history
of socialism, then introduces the pioneers and key events of several countries,
investigates the increasing gap between fanatic theories and the ways these get distorted
and betrayed when put into practice. “In order to have socialism, you need the socially
appropriate behaving human being. It all starts with a personal relationship, family, local
community, and moves into dimensions called nations” is a rough English synopsis of
some of Adéagbo’s texts in the show.

wall E	wall E	wall G	wall G
central wall	central wall	wall G	wall G

Furthermore, the in-congruencies of mental projections, as evident in books written by
Europeans about Africa and Africans’ political maneuvers, as seen in various newspaper
and magazine articles, are part also of this installation. ‘History is a process which
repeats itself in a cyclical way. Whom we believe to be a new protagonist is just a
previous strong spirit reappearing in a different form.’ is one of the messages of
Adéagbo’s juxtaposition of history books of local Innsbruck and Tirolean events and
heroes, with illustrations he had painted in Benin depicting turning points of world
history. The format of a portrait gallery with a dazzling collection of hundreds of
carefully found and bought objects, both of Benin and Innsbruck origin, sustains the
viewers attention as crescendo and decrescendo in music.

Katalog/catalog Deutsch/English published on occasion of the exhibition 'The Pythagorean Age'
'Archaeologie der Motivationen-Geschichte neu schreiben/Archaeology of Motivations- Re-Writing history'
Hg./Ed. Silvia Eiblmayr/Galerie im Taxispalais, conception: Stephan Kohler Beitraege von/contributions by:
D.Abensour, G.Adeagbo, M.Aoki, L.Cherubini, C.Christov-Bakargiev, O.Enwezor, A.v. Fuerstenberg, J.Gachnang, E.Harney, S.Kohler, M.Ritter/O.Sutter, H. Szeemann, S. Vogel

112 S./p. 50 Abb. F/images color Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern-Stuttgart,
ISBN 3-7757-9098-5 Euro 14.80
place orders 'the Galerie im Taxis Palais-Innsbruck-Austria'

© jointadventures.org October 2000
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