Emo de Medeiros explained

Emo de Medeiros

Emo de Medeiros (born 1979) is a Beninese artist living and working in Paris, France and in Cotonou, Benin.

His work explores themes of transculturalism, transforming identities, post-colonial representations, and globalization as a worldwide hybridization and mutation.[1] He also questions the African continent's transformations in the context of the digital revolution and the occurrence of a Pan-African 21st-century TransAfrica in transition between tradition and accelerated innovation.[2]

Background and education

After spending his childhood and teenage years in Cotonou, Benin, he moved to France to pursue an academic education. He graduated from Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris where he studied history, sociology and anthropology, after which he continued his training at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts also in Paris.

While in Beaux-arts he started focusing on digital arts: digital photography, graphic design, 3D modeling, digital video and interactive devices, and specifically explored the relationship between time and memory through the notion of instensity (intensity of the instant), linked to his experimental and electronic musical practice. After finishing art school he directed musical videos and experimental short films while pursuing his practice as a composer and producer of electronic music in Paris. He then moved to Boston, where he attended classes at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, before returning to France and finally to Benin.

Work

Emo de Medeiros' work crosses a variety of mediums, including photography, video, textile, painting, performance, and sculpture, and investigates themes of social and symbolic interactions, of the relationship to the digital civilization, of ethnicity and Panafricanism in a post-colonial context. He is sometimes associated with afrofuturism.[3] His practice is based on the notion of contexture, defined as the creation of artefacts based on interconnections between cultures, materials, concepts techniques and practices from diverse areas, eras, and uses. In particular his pieces often mix technological elements (such as connected devices)[4] and forms from classical African art, notably from Benin, or fuse art genres such as installation and performance resulting for instance in the notion of performative installation in which the public represents a semantic element in its own right, such as Kaleta/Kaleta presented in Palais de Tokyo in 2014.[5]

In 2015 he presented Pavillon du Bénin during the 56th Venice Biennale, a clandestine installation located next to the French Pavilion in the Giardini, the main site of the biennale.[6] The ephemeral piece was an ironic political commentary about the clandestine African vendor figure's absence in the works presented at the biennale, despite their highly visible presence in touristic towns in Italy, about the economic and symbolic power balance that makes the presence of national pavilions of African countries difficult, and about the controversy regarding the Kenyan Pavilion where most of the artists presented were Chinese.[7]

His work has been shown in several solo and group shows in Benin,[8] [9] France,[10] [11] United Kingdom[12] [13] [14] and South Africa.[15] It was also presented at the Salon de Montrouge in 2013,[16] at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2014,[17] at the Dakar Biennale[18] [19] and at the Arts in Marrakech (AiM) International Biennale[20] in 2016.

Exhibitions

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Notes and References

  1. News: Sélection galeries : Emo de Medeiros et Murakami . Philippe Dagen . Le Monde. France . 16 September 2016.
  2. Web site: A Conversation with artist Emo de Medeiros: Transmutations and Transpositions . Dagara Dakin . Contemporary And. Germany . 6 October 2016.
  3. Web site: ‘Contexture’ is key: An interview with hypermedia artist Emo de Medeiros . Dave Mann . 10and5 . South Africa . 4 March 2016 . 23 December 2016 . 14 January 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190114154739/https://10and5.com/2016/03/04/contexture-is-key-an-interview-with-multimedia-artist-emo-de-medeiros/ . dead .
  4. News: Dak'art : art et nouvelles technologies . Morgane Vannier . Sekou magazine. France . 18 August 2016.
  5. News: Kaleta/Kaleta de Emo de Medeiros. Le Point Perché. France. 28 November 2014. 30 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161229031817/http://xn--lepointperch-meb.com/events/view/78-Kaleta_Kaleta_de_Emo_de_Medeiros. 29 December 2016. dead.
  6. News: Le Bénin, passager clandestin à la Biennale de Venise . Claude Biao . Le Monde . France . 16 September 2016 . 30 December 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161229173728/https://ecceafrica.com/installation-biennale-venise-emo/ . 29 December 2016 . dead .
  7. News: Outrage over Chinese artists chosen to represent Kenya at Venice Biennale . Serubiri Moses . The Guardian. United Kingdom . 15 April 2015.
  8. News: Exposition du franco-béninois Emo de Medeiros : "Vodunaut" : quand l'art africain adopte et épouse la technologie . Josué F. MEHOUENOU . La Nation . Benin . 14 August 2015 . 23 December 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161224032612/http://www.lanationbenin.info/index.php/k2/item/1734-exposition-du-franco-beninois-emo-de-medeiros-vodunaut-quand-l-art-africain-adopte-et-epouse-la-technologie/ . 24 December 2016 . dead .
  9. News: Exposition " Vodunaut " : Emo de Medeiros peint l’" Homos Futurus " . Cyrille Sèmako Ligan . Fraternité. Benin . 18 August 2015.
  10. Web site: Emo de Medeiros – Transmutations – Backslash. Point Contemporain. France. 3 September 2016. 23 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161224232810/http://pointcontemporain.com/agenda/8489. 24 December 2016. dead.
  11. Web site: A Conversation with artist Emo de Medeiros: Transmutations and Transpositions . Dagara Dakin . Contemporary And. Germany . 6 October 2016.
  12. News: Emo de Medeiros : Transpositions . Osei Bonsu . Contemporary And. Germany . 28 September 2016.
  13. News: 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair: Emo de Medeiros at 50 Golborne . Art Africa . South Africa . 29 September 2016 . 23 December 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161224094105/http://artsouthafrica.com/220-news-articles-2013/2790-1-54-contemporary-african-art-fair-emo-de-medeiros-50-golborne.html/ . 24 December 2016 . dead .
  14. News: La foire 1:54 consacrée à l’art africain continue à se bonifier. Roxana Azimi. Le Quotidien de l'Art. France. 7 October 2016. 30 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161229031432/http://www.lequotidiendelart.com/articles/9729-la-foire-1-54-consacree-a-l-art-africain-continue-a-se-bonifier.html. 29 December 2016. dead.
  15. News: The Medium is the Message:' ART AFRICA In Conversation with Emo de Medeiros . Art Africa Magazine . South Africa . 23 February 2016 . 23 December 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161224094608/http://artsouthafrica.com/220-news-articles-2013/2608-the-medium-is-the-message-art-africa-in-conversation-with-emo-de-medeiros.html/ . 24 December 2016 . dead .
  16. News: Montrouge dévoile sa liste. Le Quotidien de l'Art. France . 21 January 2013.
  17. Web site: Kaleta/Kaleta : le Bénin au Palais de Tokyo. Virginie Ehonian . African links. France . 30 November 2016.
  18. News: Un Dak’Art sous le signe de la colère . Philippe Dagen . Le Monde. France . 10 May 2016.
  19. News: Witnesses of the invisible at the Dakar Biennale. Elena Giulia Rossi. Arshake. Italy . 4 May 2016.
  20. News: Biennial of Marrakech 2016 II: Side projects . Metropolis . RTVE (Spanish National Television). Spain . 24 April 2016.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Emo de Medeiros".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.