Georges Adéagbo: The Story of the Lion
«Venise d’hier et Venise d’aujourd’hui»
La Biennale di Venezia,
dAPPERTutto,
June 10, 1999, Campo dell’Arsenale
Concept and Coordination: Stephan Köhler
Georges Adéagbo’s first
installation in public space,
awarded by the biennale jury with the "premio della
giuria"
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Georges
Adéagbo’s installation piece for the Campo
dell’Arsenale merged into an alloy with the historic
site
and induced the visitors to think about the origin of
mankind, his evolution, Africa’s contribution as source
of inspiration and the history of Venice in particular. Also,
the position and instructive contents of the
installation contrasted many of the works exhibited in the
Biennale venues and raised questions, why African
nations have never had a pavilion and what has caused their
under-representation. Adeagbo’s intervention
amplified the stories embedded in the stones of Venice by
matching them with sculptures, paintings, books,
texts, found objects, which he had chosen for this particular
situation. At the same time he made clear
comments about African culture, not from a white
ethnologist’s, but from a native thinker’s point of
view.
Georges articulates clearly the essential momentum of his
origin. By harmonizing ideas represented through
elements from Africa with those found on location, Georges
Adéagbo intends to create a neutral bridge for
mutual understanding, and refrains from favoring any race.
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Georges calibrated
the entire square by carefully arranging the elements of his
installation in about fifteen
clusters; in front of the four lion statues(3-6), along the
canal of the Arsenale(8), below and on wooden panels
disguising a bridge under construction(13,15,16 and 17), in
front of a tree and along the walls of the houses lining the
south and west sides of the Campo.(9-12)In the middle of the
square, Georges installed two fields of elements (5,7,20 and
21), the largest about 10 x 3 meters, leaving ample space for
people to pass through and look at the installation from all
sides.
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So far, Georges had realized installations in well protected
exhibition rooms, of generic gallery format, with
days of undisturbed preparation. However, this work in public
demanded from the artist a dialogue with a
unique historic spot, which no artist had been allowed to
occupy before. Georges dived into a mental
simulation process, a virtual installation, before having a
one-day-only-chance to open the oeuvre like a
parachute on June 9th. The act of installing in public
attracted observers, who witnessed the Campo and its
monuments appear in focus, shed off the fuzziness of everyday
life, ready to host new questions and
investigation into past, presence and future. Taken down on
June 13, now a photo, showing one detail of
the installation, represents Georges’ installation in
the dAPPERTutto space ‘Corderie’ during the entire
duration of the 48th Biennale.
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Usually Georges
Adéagbo needs several months to prepare a site specific
installation, studying the history
and geography of the location he is invited to carefully. In
the case of Venice, within few weeks Georges
managed to launch one of his biggest pieces, without having
had a chance to visit Venice beforehand. The
project for the Campo dell’Arsenale was proposed to
Georges in mid March by an independent curator as a
parallel project to the Biennale. Harald Szeemann extended
his invitation to include this installation as an
official contribution of the dAPPERTutto in mid April 1999.
Using the photos of the Campo and books on
Venice sent to Benin, Georges began to commission paintings,
carvings and his texts painted on glass from
the craftsmen he works with regularly in his hometown. In
addition, he acquired wooden sculptures and
more than a dozen old bronzes as well collected related
objects on his walks through Cotonou.
May 20 the curator joined Georges in Cotonou to plan the
realization of the project in detail and arrange
logistics of transport and travel. (1) The two arrived in
Venice May 29th.(2) There Georges collected and bought
further elements to complement those he had sent from Benin.
Everyday he visited the Campo dell’Arsenale
to visualize the location for the hundreds of pieces to be
installed within one day only.
“We are moving on citizens’ territory, and also
find ourselves in front of the entrance to the Marine. It is
my
biggest concern not to inhibit the daily activities of the
people living here. If an art work is imposed
forcefully into a context, it is not an artwork. On the other
hand, I do not want to loose against the power of
this history charged environment. My work is about creating
harmony and making people understand, that
mutual respect for each other’s territory will keep
peace in the world.”
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Various aspects of
the public pulse of the open square manifested themselves
during the preparation and
realization of the work. In spite of professional night
guards being hired, two books and four paintings
disappeared. The artist commented:
“Fortunately the thieves did not have the intelligence
to read my installation and choose the works which
are the key to its lecture, such as the painting of Pope Jean
Paul II with the text : ‘Could an African be the
successor of Jean Paul II?’ (18 and 19) What they took
can be seen as the city of Venice taking its share to show
her
acceptance of our work.”
While all of the
works in the Biennale were only accessible to those holding a
pass for the very exclusive
private preview, the installation by Georges Adéagbo could
be accessed freely by anyone. It might therefore
be seen as the only official contribution, which fulfilled
the stipulation formulated by Harald Szeemann’s title
dAPPERTutto- ‘overture everywhere’ also in the
literal sense. Curated and financed independently, the
project symbolized a harmonious symbiosis between a well
established organization with a long-standing
tradition and a recently formed team of an artist and his
advisor-sponsor.
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To introduce Georges’ way of thinking and to commemorate
this one day installation, a T-shirt (edition 300)
with a philosophical text (‘rappelez-vous, que les
astres influencent, mais ne déterminent pas et que le libre
arbitre permet à l’homme de forger son destin’
remember that the stars influence, but do not determine and
that the free judge allows man to forge his own destiny) and
image of ‘Le passeur’, the ferryman, was given
away during preparation and the opening ceremony on the
afternoon of June 10th. (14)
Johannes Gachnang, former director of the Kunsthalle Bern and
co-director of Dokumenta with Rudi
Fuchs, welcomed the guests of the vernissage with a speech
about general aspects of collecting and
classifying objects and events. Just about as the guests had
enough time to read the work, a thunderstorm
with it’s short rain shower blessed the installation and
made the risk and trust in nature with which the artist
and his supporters had worked with ever more evident. (22)
The broken umbrella, which Georges had found in
Venice and included in his installation on the Campo
dell’Arsenale, then seemed like an accurate prophecy.
At the opening
ceremony of the Biennale on June 12th, Georges work was
awarded one of four honorary
mentionings by the international jury. (23) It might not be
mistaken to say, that Adéagbo’s work was the first
individual contribution to the Biennale by an artist from
Africa and the first African to win a prize. Rather
than seeing his personal benefit, Georges hopes that his
participation has unlocked a door and will facilitate
other artists from his continent to be included into future
Biennales.
The magnitude of this installation, participation at the
Biennale and acknowledgment with a prize meant for
Georges’ oeuvre the step into a new era. Freed from
categorization by clichés and exoticism, such as
‘African Art’ ‘Recuperation’ and
‘Installation-art’, the public began to perceive
the universal statement of a
man who articulates clearly his philosophical insights,
gained while suffering in solitude unrecognized for
decades. His performance in Venice triggered the process for
his oeuvre to be eventually ranked even with
the importance of Broodthaers, Boltansky, Beuys and Byars.
An artist's book (edition 325, of which 15 copies are signed
by the artist and include a special insert for
collectors) will be available at the end of September from
CTL Press Hamburg. ctlhamburg@compuserve
copyright: Georges Adéagbo and Stephan Koehler, Summer 1999,
use of images or texts of this page only with written consent
of the authors
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| © 1999 Joint Adventures Art
Projects For further information: Stephan Köhler Fax +81-52-955 0121, Tel. +81-575-34 8335 |
Contact
& orders for the book: CTL Press Hamburg, Tel:
+49-40-3990 2223; Fax 3990 2224
mail@ctl-presse.de