Viyé Diba's 'Messe-nue' Confronts African Art's Double Bind
The installation-performance 'Ere-Pré-Pygmée: messe-nue' (2004, Dak'art; 2006, Casa Encendida, Madrid) by Senegalese artist Viyé Diba critiques the tendency to categorize African artists based on geographic or ethnic stereotypes. Central to the piece is a three-meter cross draped in red fabric, with dark faces obscured by wire mesh. A 50 m² area covered in sand features sculptures that mimic crawling crocodiles, accompanied by plaques marked 40,000 and 300,000. Diba characterizes the experience as 'bodies-objects on the ground,' enhanced by liturgical music. The work reflects on the Catholic Church's involvement in the Rwandan genocide, alluding to the 1994 'Bloody Easter.' Diba incorporates Gregorian chants with local instruments, as part of the 'Ere-Pré-Pygmée' series, with plans for an extension at the Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres.
Key facts
- Viyé Diba's 'Ere-Pré-Pygmée: messe-nue' was first presented at Dak'art in 2004 and reprised at Casa Encendida, Madrid in 2006.
- The installation features a three-meter cross, wire mesh with faces, sand-covered ground with cement and clothing sculptures, and numbered cardboard plaques (40,000, 300,000).
- Lighting alternates between torch-lit faces and darkness, with some lamps illuminating the numbered cards.
- At the vernissage, actors wore old clothes and white cement masks on metal armatures.
- The work references the Catholic Church's role in the Rwandan genocide: 2,000 Tutsis killed in a bulldozed church, 7,000 betrayed by Benedictine nuns.
- It also references Gbadolité village in Rwanda where impoverished congregants worshipped naked in darkness.
- Diba uses Gregorian chants from Keur Moussa Abbey, blending plainsong with kora, tamtam, and balafon in French, Wolof, and Sever.
- The work echoes Christian Boltanski's use of clothing to evoke absence and death.
- Diba uses local materials: sand, plant fibers, found objects, masks.
- The project is part of a series 'Ere-Pré-Pygmée' including 'Le Spectacle des mal habillés' and 'L'Esthétique des mots.'
- An extension is planned for the Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres.
- Viyé Diba was born in 1954 in Casamance, Senegal; studied at École normale supérieure d'éducation artistique, Dakar; École d'art de la Villa Arson and University of Nice.
- Recent shows include Contemporary African Art Gallery, New York (1999); Centre d'art contemporain, Barcelona (2001); Dak'art (2004); Casa Encendida, Madrid (2004); Biennale d'Alexandrie (2005); Galerie MAM, Douala (2005); Rio Loco festival, Toulouse (2006); curator of 'Cent Livres-objets pour Senghor' (2007); visual arts commissioner for Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres (2008).
Entities
Artists
- Viyé Diba
- Christian Boltanski
- Yacouba Konaté
- Eliane Burnet
- Roger Boulay
Institutions
- Casa Encendida
- Dak'art
- Keur Moussa Abbey
- Solesmes Abbey
- Contemporary African Art Gallery
- Centre d'art contemporain (Barcelona)
- Espace d'art contemporain, Rur'Art
- Goethe Institut (Dakar)
- Musée national du Mali
- Biennale d'Alexandrie
- Galerie MAM (Douala)
- Rio Loco festival
- Maison de la culture Douta Seck
- Galerie le Manège
- Centre culturel français (Dakar)
- Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres
- Musée national des arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie
- Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum
- Museum für Gegenwartskunst (Basel)
- École normale supérieure d'éducation artistique (Dakar)
- École d'art de la Villa Arson
- University of Nice
- Université de Savoie
- Le Monde
- Artpress
Locations
- Senegal
- Dakar
- Madrid
- Spain
- Rwanda
- Gbadolité
- Keur Moussa
- Casamance
- New York
- United States
- Barcelona
- Poitiers
- France
- Bamako
- Mali
- Alexandria
- Egypt
- Douala
- Cameroon
- Toulouse
- Eindhoven
- Netherlands
- Basel
- Switzerland
- Arusha
- Tanzania
- Nice
Sources
- artpress —