Two weeks after the official launch of the 15th Dakar Biennale, under the theme “The Wake or L’éveil”, Artistic Director Salimata Diop held a mid-term review. On the Biennale channel, she returned to the challenges and artistic transformations that characterize this event.By Ousmane SOW –
The 15th Biennale of Contemporary African Art in Dakar (Dak’Art) began on November 7. In a filmed interview with the biennial press team, Artistic Director Salimata Diop expresses her satisfaction with the teams who made this event possible despite the difficulties. “We had a particularly difficult context to put together this edition. And the teams had to redouble their passion and investment in their work. They went much further than their missions,” declared Ms. Salimata Diop. Artistic director of the event, also art critic and exhibition curator, she believes that beyond the obstacles, the work of these teams seems to have paid off, since there is already positive feedback from of the public, more and more numerous on the “In” premises of the exhibition. “We see all ages, all backgrounds. And that was already a goal. We got some pretty extraordinary feedback, people who shared a very strong emotion and pride. I am delighted to see that the public is going to the different venues of the In, to see that it is a mixed audience,” she rejoices.
Programming in progress… Obviously, it is still early to draw up a definitive assessment of the event. “It’s rather difficult to make a judgment when you don’t really have perspective. I am in the biennial, I am still in it and there is a program that is still in progress. I work with a large part of the team. But, it’s very positive,” she admits. However, one of the most striking elements of this biennial remains the transformation of the former Cap Manuel courthouse which saw historic trials take place. Salimata Diop, who has known the place for a long time, remembers her first impressions. “The transformation of the old courthouse is a long story that begins well before this edition, because it is a place, as a Senegalese, as a Dakar resident, that I have known for a long time. It’s a place that has existed in my imagination for years and that I have seen with different artistic visions,” she explained. In his eyes, this place is much more than just an exhibition space. It embodies a complex story and multiple layers of meaning. The building, which was a colonial courthouse, marked the soul of the place, creating a particular atmosphere that she describes as haunted. “When I came back, being appointed Artistic Director, the first thing I said to myself was that it was a haunted palace. And it is also haunted by everything that came before, by the previous editions. There were extremely striking installations that we will never forget,” she says, while specifying that it is a “complicated” palace because it has a “labyrinthical” side. “It has very hard architectural lines including symmetry. It was necessary to place works so that they were highlighted, but also so that they highlighted the palace. And it’s this whole conversation that was quite delicate to put in place,” she will say. However, the challenge for Salimata Diop and her team was to transform this imposing space into a place of exchange and creativity, while respecting its history. She also recalls that the building was not originally designed to be a place open to culture, but to impose a certain colonial power. “It was a real courthouse. So, it is not a building that was designed at the time by architects to be a welcoming place, a place open to all, to be a place of exchange. No way. It’s almost the opposite. It is a place that was designed to display colonial power, to intimidate, even to be overwhelming. And it had to be transformed,” she concluded.
