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Abstract
The establishment of colonial metropolises in Africa was an important step in strengthening the conceptualization of urban and rural space. Some precolonial cities became cosmopolitan by undergoing remarkable transformations, often due to the spatial reorganization of colonial administrations whose quarters were swiftly urbanized, while other parts of the same city may continue to present as more rural in character. These specific circumstances of urbanization held serious consequences for the lives of everyday people, but also for artistic production and reception. The two case studies considered here prove useful in understanding such a process. The first is the experience of Magou Amédée in his long quest to connect rural regions to contemporary art production. The second is devoted to Eclosion Urbaine’s original experience in Porto-Novo, which demonstrates how interactions between urban contemporary artists and rural social practices can still be successfully achieved within an exclusively urban context.
Notes
* Most of the quotations in the text are translated by the author.
1 Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch (Citation1988), “Villes coloniales et histoire des Africains,” in Vingtième Siècle, revue d’histoire, n°20, octobre-décembre 1988. pp. 49–73.
2 Ibid., p. 63.
3 Romuald Tchibozo, Citation2015a, “L’art africain face au défi de la mondialisation,” in Mouckaga, Dianzinga, and Owaye J-F. (dir.), Ethnies, Nations, Développement en Afrique, Actes du colloque de Brazzaville (Congo), du 26 au 28 mai 2014, Paris, L’Harmattan, pp. 629–652.
4 The existence of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) is the post-colonial strategy to impose the right of interference to weaker states since this is coupled with humanitarian assistance always to the most fragile.
5 Herkovits (Citation1950) said: “Culture is an attribute of all human beings regardless of where they live and how they live … There is no example of a society without a philosophy of life, without notions of the origin and functioning of the universe and without theories on how to manipulate the supernatural to achieve some things.” The Bases of Cultural Anthropology, a digital version produced by J. M. Tremblay, professor of sociology at the Cegep of Chicoutimi, p. 10.
6 Antoine Compagnon, 2001, “La culture, langue commune de l’Europe?” in Qu’est-ce que la culture? sous la direction d’Yves Michaud, Odile Jacob, p. 231.
7 Hybridity here is not directly relating to the artwork in a contemporary context with the art of installation as developed by Molinet (2006)—that is another issue. H. K. Bhabha (1994, p. 185) stated: “The effect of the colonial power is felt as the production of hybridization rather than the noisy command of the colonial authority or the silent repression of the indigenous traditions.” Therefore, it will be taking here as a result of the process of exchange between at least two cultures, the one of local people and the other of colonizers, which in a global context generated some specific behaviors at the origin of artwork production.
8 Since then, many other studies were conducted about urbanization in Africa, those of Beauchemin and Philippe Bocquier in 2004, of Toyin Falola and Steven J. Salm in 2012, and of Brigit Obrist, Veit Arlt, Elisio Macamo, etc.
9 See for that M.-J. Pineau-Jamous, 1986. “Porto-Novo: royauté, localité et parenté,” Cahiers d’études africaines, vol. 26, N°104, pp. 547–576. A. Akinjogbin, Citation1967. Dahomey and Its Neighbours 1708–1818, Cambridge; Y. Person, Citation1975. “Chronologie du royaume gun de Hogbonu,” Cahiers d’études africaines, vol. 15, no 58, pp. 217–238; E. Dunglas, 1967. “Origine du royaume de Porto-Novo,” Etudes Dahoméennes, 9–10, pp. 29–62.
10 The Yoruba who would be the first to arrive called it Ajachè, the Alladahonnou, Xogbonou and the contact with the Europeans, in particular the Portuguese, has spawned Porto-Novo.
11 Results of the general census of the population in 2013 at the National Institute of Statistics and Economy (INSAE).
12 Romuald Tchibozo, Citation2016g, “L’art contemporain, révélateur de la complexité culturelle de Porto-Novo,” Les cahiers du CELTHO, N° 002 (2), December 2016, pp. 97–119.
13 It is useful to note here that the first generation of artists in Porto-Novo are already very active. There is the case of Lishu, Kouas, and Gratien Zossou.
14 ANSOM Sénégal IV 124b Lettre de Glèlê au gouverneur du Sénégal, Clément Thomas pour le Président Carnot 12 mai 1889 cité par Messanvi Garcia Luc, Citation1976, “Archives et tradition orale. À propos d’une enquête sur la politique du royaume de Danhomé à la fin du 19e siècle,” Cahiers d’études africaines. Vol. 16, N°61–62, Histoire africaine: constatations, contestations, pp. 189–206.
15 Interview with Magou in October 2006.
16 Gèlèdè is a cultural performance of Yoruba’s people established in Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and elsewhere in Africa. This display proceeds by a performance characterized by the mask sculpture whose shape varies according to the themes of each period (Tchibozo Romuald, 2011 & 2013b).
17 Interview with Magou on May 10, 2017 at Cotonou.
18 It is important to underline here that there is already such an experience of working with the artist group on specific issues, in Ouidah, concerning slavery memory through the slave route and its heritage as part of an international project. But here it is peculiar because artists are oriented toward normally non-urban practices, and this is new.
19 Goukomè literally mean the land of Gou, but this implies here, the district of Gou because the ancestors, priests of Gou who arrived, were settled in this part of the city not to be far from the royal palace as its protects the kingdom. It is also famous in Danxomè, and one of the well-known artworks of this kingdom is the representation of Gou now exhibited in the Louvre.
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Romuald Tchibozo
Romuald Tchibozo ([email protected]) is a researcher, curator and currently deputy Director of Institut National des Métiers d’Art, d’Archéologie et de la Culture (INMAAC), University of Abomey-Calavi, (Benin Republic). Currently, he teaches Art history, contemporary Art and International Cultural Relations. His doctorate research, Art and Arbitrary: a study of the African contemporary art reception in Western, the German case from 1950 to the present day was published in 2014 with PAF. He was fellow of Art Histories & Aesthetic Practices (2013/14) an initiative of Max-Planck-Institute at the Forum of Transregional Studies in Berlin. His researches focuses on African contemporary art in former German Democratic Republic, the evolution of contemporary art in Benin, and heritage issues such as the Yoruba Gèlèdè Society and the practice of art history.