COTONOU, Benin, Dec 20 (IPS) – Development of the brand new Museum of Trendy Artwork is underway in Cotonou, Benin’s largest metropolis. The museum, together with three others being constructed all through the nation, are a part of the Beninese authorities’s in depth plan to ramp up the nation’s tourism trade and protect its tradition. It’s anticipated to open on the finish of 2026.
A touring exhibition entitled “Revelation! Up to date artwork from Benin” serves because the precursor to the brand new fashionable artwork museum. Initially, the exhibition launched in Cotonou in 2022 underneath the identify “Artwork of Benin From Yesterday and Right this moment: From Restitution to Revelation.” It then traveled to Morocco, Martinique, and it’s now in Paris.
On the coronary heart of the initiatives is the repatriation of 26 items of stolen artwork to Benin from France in 2021. The returned royal artefacts have been showcased alongside the up to date artwork within the authentic exhibition in Cotonou, and so they have remained within the nation’s reserves since.
The exhibition brings collectively over 100 items of artwork by 42 artists from Benin and the Beninese diaspora.
Yassine Lassissi, director of visible arts on the Company for the Growth of the Arts and Tradition (ADAC), mentioned the exhibit unites works from each distinguished, well-known Beninese artists and rising younger creators.
The featured items characterize a variety of various varieties and creative mediums, Lassissi mentioned.
“There’s actually a variety of methods,” mentioned Lassissi. “Now we have work, sculptures, installations, multimedia methods, drawings, and images.”
Artist Emo de Medeiros showcases two works within the exhibition: a collection of fixtures entitled Vodunaut and a brief movie by the identify “Tigritude I.”
De Medeiros mentioned “Tigritude I” was impressed by a quote by Nigerian activist and creator Wole Soyinka, who mentioned, “A tiger doesn’t proclaim his tigritude, he pounces.” De Medeiros explores the function of the African diaspora in uniting know-how and spirituality by the piece.
“It options an alternate previous,” mentioned de Medeiros. “An alternate futurism that may be very dystopic with the intervention of futuristic tigers.”
Upon the return of the exhibition to Cotonou from Paris this January, Lassissi mentioned she hopes the art work can proceed to journey to new locations till the opening of the museum in 2026, together with probably to the USA.
Whereas in Cotonou, the exhibition drew greater than 220,000 guests in simply sixty days of opening.
“It was actually a historic occasion,” Lassissi mentioned.
Along with the Museum of Trendy Artwork in Cotonou, Benin is developing the Worldwide Museum of Reminiscence and Slavery in Ouidah, the Museum of the Epic of the Amazons and Kings of Dahomey in Abomey, and the Worldwide Museum of Arts and Civilizations of Vodun in Porto-Novo.
Nearly all of up to date artwork items from the touring exhibition might be housed within the Museum of Trendy Artwork in Cotonou. The 26 returned royal artefacts might be displayed within the new museum in Abomey.
The federal government plans to situate the Museum of Trendy Artwork inside a wholly new Cultural and Inventive Neighborhood, which might additionally include the Franco-Beninese Institute, coworking areas, the Artwork Gallery, the artisanal village, and artists’ residences.
The nation hopes the museums will strengthen its tradition and tourism trade, which it tasks to be the second pillar of its financial system after agriculture.
De Medeiros mentioned he believes Cotonou had been “sorely lacking” a recent artwork museum.
“This was one thing that was essential,” mentioned de Medeiros. “I feel this undoubtedly must be a platform Beninese artists can showcase their work to the world.”
Be aware: Megan Fahrney is a U.S. Fulbright fellow. The views expressed are solely the creator’s and don’t characterize the views of the USA authorities.
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