29. March 2008 - 18.June 2008
«La rencontre»..! Venise – Florence..!» Part II
Florence Museo di Palazzo Vecchio
When installing in the Sala delle Mappe, (room of the maps) where Cosimo Medici made his plans for expanding his territories, Adéagbo placed next to the giant globe a sculpture from Benin, representing a pregnant woman. He commented:“I want to show, how a greedy person can even swallow the earth.” In Benin, he had a painting made of several men looking at a map, above them the text: “La cartographie, d’abord, sert a faire la guerre!” (Cartography, above all, serves warfare.) It took gallery Frittelli all their political skills to convince the belli arti, ministry of culture, to allow Adéagbo to make an intervention that was on show for several months.
Excerpt from the e-flux announcement:
The idea of Adéagbo’s project is to invite viewers to think about their history, in the belief that the look of “others” helps us not only to understand the time in which we live, but also to see our past in a different way.
Outside of the dominant culture of the Western there is another view, one that interprets more than just the historic relationship between Africa and Europe. In accord with this other view is the idea that to work as an artist is to sort through rubble and bring to light what was once buried. When sorting through the rubble, it is important for artists to uncover and make sense of our past – not only of memories but also of actions, transformations and concrete and progressive concepts.
“The encounter”..! Venice – Florence..! 2008 Detail of an installation in 23 rooms of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence © Georges Adéagbo. Photo: Agostino Osio. Courtesy: Gallery Frittelli Arte Contemporanea, Florence.