Grenzeloze Nieuwsgierigheid

Lecture by: N'Gone Fall
Date: 31 March 2008

As an art curator and a specialist in cultural engineering working in Africa, I am always confronted to closely consider and challenge the specificity of diverse contexts. In this early twenty first century we must keep in mind that: 

• the continent is lacking cultural infrastructures and structured public and private cultural institutions, 
• the access to information in the field of arts and culture is very difficult, 
• informal professional networks are not easy to identify and contact, 
• art communities have almost no government and private financial support.

These points are crucial for anyone willing to work with Africa as the real and first challenge is to have a good understanding of the social, cultural and economic context of African countries.

Too many things are taken for granted and I would like our partners to have a closer examination of the weak cultural strategies and policies implemented in Africa. I would like our partners to realize that public institutions, disconnected from a complex sifting global world, are not their best and single partners. Africa does not have a range of trained and experienced art professionals such as agents, cultural producers, art critics, curators, editors and art publishers. I live in a country in witch art is seen as entertainment and culture is not on the list of the priorities. Nobody never questions the role of arts and culture in education and heritage.

As a curator working in Africa, I am inspired by history and geography. My concern is to revisit history, to analyze Africa's interaction with the world and the transformations of a cultural heritage that regenerates itself or loses its way depending on its encounters. As peoples on the move carry a conception of the world that is transmitted and adjusted by contact with others. No society of sound mind claims that its culture is absolutely pure; it is characterized by diversity founded on multiple borrowings linked to the migrations sparked by exploration, conquests, wars and natural disasters. Technological advances have generated an increase in both physical and virtual displacement, leading to a radical change in our perception of space and time, thus calling into question the borders between territories, who we are and where we come from. It is in that state of mind that I curated with two colleagues from Nigeria and Tunisia an exhibition for the National Museum of Mali in Bamako last October. Gathering 12 artists hailing from 10 north and west African countries, Contact Zone was conceived like a meeting space for artists from the north and south of the Sahara. The purpose was to follow symbolically the caravan routes in order to reconstruct the stage for the ebb and flow of ideas, culture and knowledge. The exhibition is also a tribute to the spirit of the conveyors of the desert who transported salt and gold, culture and technology, knowledge and learning, the spiritual and the religious, slavery and hope, friendship and love. During the development of the concept, it was crucial to keep in mind that the Sahara is the repository of a shared history, the receptacle of civilizations with moving boundaries, the land of people who together built kingdoms and empires out of the matrix of the desert. And this was the real challenge of this project considering the intense political context following the speech of the President of France who stated in July 2007 in Dakar that "the drama of Africa is that the African man did not enough enter history" and that "the problem of Africa is that it must be conscious that the golden age that it is always regretting will not come back because it did never exist".

It was overwhelming to collaborate with 10 different nationalities. I believe that an exhibition is a powerful laboratory of research for constructing thought. I have faith in the ability of artists to invent metaphors with which to speak of life and death, of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Working together means to promote the free flow of information, knowledge, new concepts and ideas. Meeting and working with other people means a partnership not only based on financial support but also on the transmission of expertise and know how as well as the sharing of networks and believes. And this was the great value of the professional trip to Mexico and Curacao organized by the Mondrian and the Prince Claus Foundations in May 2007. Because there is always somebody somewhere who has the solution to your problem. Connecting people and developing professional networks must be encouraged. Projects involving a diversity of artists and art professionals advance a better understanding and a stronger mutual cultural interest.

The projects I am currently trying to develop involve how artists, by capturing all the sounds of the world, are able to resonate and interact with different cultures and societies.
A very good example is this work by the South Africa artist Andrew Putter, Secretly I will love you more. The video is based on an oil on canvas portrait the wife of Boet Van Riebeeck. Maria tenderly sings a Khoikhoi lullaby song to her adopter child. Putter re-examines South Africa's history during the Dutch period and gives us a masterful lesson of tolerance buy transcending race and prejudice. Through love he invites us to challenge, to face and embrace Otherness.