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DAK’ART 1992–2002The Problems of Representation,

Contextualisation, and Critical Evaluationin Contemporary African Art as

Presented by the Dakar Biennale

Rasheed Araeen

DAK’ART 2002

The 10th May 2002 was a beautiful sunny morning in Dakar. As Iapproached the grounds of the grand premises of CICES (Centreinternational du commerce exterieur du Senegal), I sensed an atmosphereof great celebration and festivities. Musicians and dancers, with theirspecially designed colourful dresses, were around everywhere, perform-ing among the people – both Senegalese and their international guests –who had gathered there for the official opening of Dak’Art 2002. Whatreally pleased me most was not only the celebratory spirit of the wholething, but also the fact that so many Senegalese people who wouldotherwise be unemployed most of the year were able to earn some moneyby participating in this event. The whole thing was so overwhelming thatone expected it to be a prelude to an extraordinary event, particularlywhen it was also a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the DakarBiennale.

After being received in such a festive atmosphere, which produced anoptimistic mood in me, I proceeded to the hall where the actual openingceremony was to take place. The hall was in fact packed with thousandsof people, with a dozen or so TV cameras installed there to record theceremony. And although I myself was an hour late, the podium was stillempty. It took at least another hour before the whole entourage ofgovernment officials and Biennale organisers began to arrive. At leastanother hour was lost in listening to their unnecessarily long and vacuousspeeches before the doors of the exhibition were officially opened.

Compared with the festivities outside in the grounds of CICES andthe great enthusiasm of the public around, who patiently and atten-tively listened to all the speeches of the high officials, the actual event

Third Text ISSN 0952-8822 print/ISSN 1475-5297 online © 2003 Kala Press/Black Umbrellahttp://www.tandf.co.uk/journals

DOI: 10.1080/0952882032000075261

Third Text, Vol. 17, Issue 1, 2003, 93–106

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turned out to be an anti-climax. Ifthe exhibition represented, in thewords of Marie-Jose Crespin, ‘thevibrant artistic heart of the con-tinent’,1 then it was a big dis-appointment. First of all, the con-tinent wasn’t there. How could amere thirteen countries (mostlyFrancophone), out of more thanforty African nations, justifiablyrepresent ‘the heart of thecontinent’?2

In fact this has been one of themain problem of the Biennalefrom its very inception in 1992. Itsinability to attract the participa-tion of sufficient artists across thewhole of Africa, so that it couldjustify its claim to be ‘the Biennaleof Contemporary African Art’, hasconstantly left a big gap. Ofcourse there have been many otherproblems – of a material, organi-sational, artistic and ideologicalnature – to which it seems littleattention has been paid, andwhich consequently has preventedthe Biennale from fulfilling its his-torical objectives. As these prob-lems are of a fundamental nature,and they remain unresolved evenafter the ten years’ existence of theBiennale, I feel that it is moreimportant that we pay attention tothese problems rather than justlooking at the Biennale as aunique event of African art. It is ofcourse a unique event, but whatsignifies its uniqueness? Is it possi-ble to answer this question with-out looking at the whole thing andtaking stock of what the Biennalehas done in its ten years’ exist-ence? In fact, it will not be imper-tinent even to ask: what has beenits achievement? If it has not ach-ieved much beyond just showingworks of some African artistsevery two years, and celebratingthem without any context or crit-ical evaluation, shouldn’t thewhole idea of this Biennale and its

A view of the Centre international du commerce exterieur du Senegal(CICES), Dakar. Photo: Rasheed Araeen

A general view of the international exhibition at the CICES.Photo: Rasheed Araeen

Dominique Zinkpe (Benin), Malgre tout, 2002, jute, lit, plastique etbouteille, 205 × 310 × 295. Photo: Rasheed Araeen

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performance now be subjected to critical scrutiny? But, first, let us visitthe remaining exhibitions.

The next day I found myself climbing up the high steps of the (ancien)Palais de Justice. Again there was a music and dance group at the doorto welcome the audience. As I entered the building I faced rows of pillars;around each of these pillars were placed bags of agricultural productsindigenous to Senegal – rice, sorghum, millet, beans, etc. It was an

impressive display. At the other endof the building colourful chairs werearranged in the usual manner of apublic meeting. I wandered aroundthinking what all this was about, asthere was no information whatso-ever about the nature of this exhibi-tion. On enquiring from an officialof the Biennale present there, I wastold that they were just Senegalesefoodstuffs on display; and the chairswere for the people to sit on – whichthey were in fact doing. Only whenI returned to my hotel room late inthe evening and looked in the cata-logue did I realise that I was lookingat the installation works of two (infact there were three) invited Euro-pean artists – Jannis Kounellis andFranz West (the third artist wasJaume Plensa). Why were theythere, and what was the significanceof their participation in an Africanbiennale? If their presence in Dakarwas part of the Biennale’s ‘quest for

1. Marie-Jose Crespin,President of the ScientificCouncil of Dak’Art 2002,‘A Course Set by a PoetPresident’, introductorystatement for thecatalogue of DAK’ART2002, pp 12–13.

2. There were forty-fourartists (their numbershown in brackets)representing thirteencountries in thisinternational section of theBiennale: Algeria (1),Benin (2), Burkina Fasso(1), Cameroon (2), Egypt(1), Ethiopia (1), IvoryCoast (4), Madagascar (1);Morocco (8), Nigeria (4),Senegal (13), South Africa(4), and Tunisia (2).

Ndary Lo (Senegal), La longue marche du changement, 2000–2001, metal soude etdivers, 195 × 75 × 250 cm. Photo: Rasheed Araeen

Jannis Kounellis (Italy), Untitled, installation at the ancien Palais deJustice, 2002.Photo: Rasheed Araeen

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reciprocated exchange relations and shared social, economic and culturalgrowth’,3 it failed miserably despite the quality of their work. In theabsence of a context or framework in which this ‘exchange’ could takeplace, the whole thing in fact became a farce. I will return to this questionagain later, when I will point out the impossibility of this ‘exchange’within the prevailing dominant framework.

My next stop was at the Musee de I’FAN. As I entered the premisesI saw a row of beautiful young Senegalese girls in front of the door of themuseum, dressed in a beautifully tailored Biennale’s typical costume,welcoming the audience. I passed through them and climbed up to thefirst floor, where there were installations by three artists. For me it wasanother disappointing show. But maybe I should let its curator N’GoneFall enlighten us:4

Identity, authenticity, africanity. None of these words has a meaning whenwe talk about [these artists]. What, then, they have in common? A feelingof belonging to Africa. West, Southern, Central Africa. Amahiguere Dolowith Mali, Berry Bickle with Zimbabwe, Aime Ntakiyica with Burundi.Three exhibitions, three atmospheres, three personal stories.

Dolo is a Dogon. In Dogon society, a sculpture has a specific function; itis a link to God, it represents a symbolic area whose spiritual dimensionis only accessible to the initiates. . . . If Dolo’s sculptures are intriguing, itis because they are full of mystery. Dolo speaks to the spirits. There is norelation to the cult, nor any invocation of the Word in his creative process.His sculptures do not have a utilitarian, sacred or secular function. Theyare meant for a public on whose senses and imagination they call.

To live or rather to survive, such is the goal of BereniceJosephine Bickle. In a country which is on the verge of achievinga record of ‘isms’ (racism, homophobism, totalitarianism, anar-chism), to be a woman, and a white woman and an artist is topersonify a cocktail of attributes very difficult to manage inZimbabwe. Can Berry Bickle be a barometer of artistic trends inZimbabwe? Can she discharge that when, in the collective

3. Bruno Cora, curator ofthe European artists at theancien Palais de Juctice,‘Seeds of the 21st Century:From One to Several’, acatalogue essay, DAK’ART2002, pp 103–4.

4. N’Gone Fall, curator ofthe exhibition at theMusee de l’IFAN, thefollowing quotes here arefrom her introductoryessay ‘Myth, Memory andConcept’, catalogueDAK’ART 2002,pp 110–12.

Amahiguere Dolo (Mali), Ine-Kouh, date not given, wood, height50 cm.

Berry Bickle (Zimbabwe), A restless city, a restless me, 2002, colour photoson aluminium

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unconscious, Zimbabwean art is lim-ited to stone sculptures?

There is always interaction between thework [a video installation by AimeNtakiyica] and the public. The latter arenot mere spectators, they move betweenthe periphery and the centre, amongsuspended objects, in levitation. . . .Fragments of space (a fountain, a corri-dor, a shower, a patio, a summer room),these installations enable him to con-quer a place and mark his territory.

Language can reveal what an objecthides, but it can also mystify. Thus theobject becomes cocooned in the play oflanguage without revealing its real sig-nificance or lack of significance. So Ireturned to the ground floor where a bandwas playing traditional instrumentalmusic. It was beautiful, but there was noone listening.5

It may seem that I am being dismissiveof everything. But this is not so. TheBiennale is full of interesting work, asinteresting as one would find in otherbiennales or international exhibitions. If Iam disappointed it is only because I havesomewhat different, if not high, expecta-tions from this Biennale. For me theDakar Biennale is an event of unique

historical importance, with a specific objective that should differentiate itfrom other biennales. If this uniqueness is not supported or underpinnedby the works in the Biennale, then there is something wrong. Biennales orinternational exhibitions are often of a thematic or historical nature,underpinned by rigorous scholarship that gives them their specificcontexts that highlight their aesthetic as well as sociohistorical sig-nificances. In view of the fact that the Dakar Biennale has emerged out ofa different struggle and history, I cannot merely use the contexts of otherbiennales or international exhibitions, and what legitimises them ashistorically significant events, to evaluate its real significance and/orwhat it contains.

One cannot just look at artwork and say whether it is good or not.It must say more than just offering itself for appreciation or enjoyment;this is particularly so when the work of different artists is put together.They must have a context or framework that justifies or legitimisestheir togetherness, and enables us to understand their collectivesignificance. It is therefore necessary to go beyond just looking atartworks and ask: what is the context of the Dakar Biennale? If Africais the context, what does it mean? If it means its achievements in art,how do we recognise them? The answer to these questions is not asobvious as is assumed by the organisers and supporters of the Biennale.

5. Besides these threeexhibitions, there werethree more main shows:(1) three African artistsfrom the diaspora, curatedby Ery Camara, at theMaison de la CultureDouta Seck; (2) at theGalerie Nationale was ahomage to Senegal’spopular artist GoraMbengue; (3) and ‘TheAfrican Design Salon’,representing fifteendesigners, at Espace Vema,which I found mostinteresting. There werealso some small showsaround the city, besides aweek of discussion at the‘Forum des Arts Atelier’,CICES.

Angele Etoundi Essamba (Cameroun), Noirs 9, 26, 27, 29, 69,b&w photos, 60 × 50 cm each

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In fact I find no satisfactory answer from the works on display or thetexts in the catalogues.

However, I do find it interesting that so many people to whom I havetalked– particularly from Europe and North America – are so fascinatedby the Biennale and are full of praise for it. In some way, this isunderstandable. After all, most of these people – museum directors,gallery owners, curators, critics, journalists, and so on, from the West –are the guests of the Biennale. They have been given free air tickets andare accommodated in four- or five-star luxury hotels with cash for dailyexpenses. This may be a facile or cynical observation, but should we notlook at the whole thing beyond the West’s fascination for the others,which often is no more than a patronising gesture by the benevolentpower? Can we evaluate the real significance of the Biennale and what itshows as works of art without its own specific context and, moreimportantly, a critical framework, which are historically justified? Worksof art have little value without their sociohistorical contexts and withoutthe context in which they are collectively presented. Is it enough to saythat it is a biennale representing Africa, or that it is now the only Africanbiennale of visual arts showing the works of African artists living in bothAfrica and abroad?

WHAT DO THE CRITICS SAY?

Clementine Deliss, reviewing the very first Biennale in 1992, says that‘the misguided faith in the so-called international art circuit [has]deterred the organisers from developing a pan-African approach, [with]a focus on greater communication and familiarity within Africabetween practising artists and writers’.6 Four years later, Brian Biggs

Mouhamed Ounouh (Algeria), Ecoutez moi et tout ira bien, 2000–2001, matiere gris,pigments, armatures metalliques et grillage, 200 × 200 × 260 cm

6. Clementine Deliss, ‘TheDakar Biennale 92: WhereInternationalism FallsApart’, Third Text, no 23,Summer 1993,pp 136–41.

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finds ‘that there was no attempt to pursue a pan-African approach, orto give the artists a central role in shaping and participating in theevent. The focus . . . on an all-African selection went only half-way toaddressing the . . . issue with large areas of the continent hardlyrepresented at all. . . .’ He then raises a very important question: ‘Sowhat were the objectives set out by the DAK’ART organisers, and whatrole do international gatherings like this [mostly from Europe andNorth America] have in the developing framework of contemporarycultural discourse on the African continent itself? Reading through the. . . catalogue, answers to these questions proved frustratingly evasive.’7

Katya Garcia-Anton goes even further: ‘However intoxicating thefestival spirit must have been, the spectre of colonialism cast a sombreshadow. The voice, as well as aesthetic values, continued to residewithin a dominant western centre.’8

I am in total sympathy with these comments, as they have raised somevery fundamental issues and to ignore them would be tantamount to notrecognising the historical nature of the Biennale. Pan-Africanism is animportant concept, as it brings Africa’s whole body together. But cancontemporary art produced by African artists, whether in Africa orabroad, be contextualised only by and within the idea of pan-Africanismwithout recognising its history of struggle against colonialism? If theAfrican ‘voice, as well as [its] aesthetic values, continued to reside withina dominant centre’,9 was there no struggle against this centre? Why is thisstruggle, or its spirit, totally absent from the Biennale?

7. Brian Biggs, ‘DAK’ART96’, Third Text, no 36,Autumn 1996, pp 83–6.

8. Katya Garcia-Anton,‘DAK’ART 98’, ThirdText, no 44, Autumn1998, pp 87–92.

9. Ibid, p 87.

Gora Mbengue, (Senegal) Couple, musicien et argent, 1985. Collection: Marie-Jose Crespin

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The struggle of Africa was not only against the crude and brutalforces of political domination and oppression but also for its right todefine itself in its own way and within modernity. Although it would bea truism to say that modernity was an arm of colonial domination, Africa– like other colonised continents – did adopt its ideas of universalprogress and emancipation, with a hope that it would help construct itsliberated future in terms of advanced scientific and technologicaldevelopments. This consciousness also gave rise to the emergence of artthat not only defied Africa’s old traditions, particularly those which insome cases had become an obstacle to its modern progress, but alsochallenged the West’s perception of Africa and its creativity perpetuallytrapped in its old structures. Since the work of Aina Onabolu of Nigeriain the early twentieth century, and subsequently the struggle of manyother African artists (such as Gerard Sekoto, Ernest Mancoba, IbaNdiaye – to mention a few from the African mainland) against the West’smonopoly of modernism’s history,10 African art has come a long way; ithas now reached a position where there seems no longer to be conflict orstruggle with the dominant centre. But can this really be true? If thesocial, economic and political conditions of Africa are still strugglingagainst the global hegemony of the West, how can its art be free from thishegemony? The present generation of African artists – those we see in theDakar Biennale as well as in international exhibitions – may not feel thatthere is any need to confront the dominant system, but are they not thenabandoning the very principle of modernism or the avant-garde (dissentfrom or challenge to the established order) from which they derive theirformal strategies?

We can, however, say that African artists are as good as their Westerncounterparts, in terms of the use of modern techniques and technologies,but should this really be their only aim? Modern techniques andtechnologies are necessary means today by which the contemporary artistis able to reflect on the complexity of modern life with all itscontradictions. But if this is only determined or achieved by the internalmechanisms of making art and is removed from the specificity of thesociohistorical forces of Africa and its critical relationship with thedominant world, would it not lead African art to naive and facile ends?It would be unfair, however, to attribute these characteristics only to theworks in the Biennale. They are in fact also part of what is now inflictingart globally, and as the Biennale wants to be part of the global artcommunity this condition of African art is understandable. However, wecannot avoid asking the question: why is African art part of this globalphenomenon, emerging from the centre in the West, but also what doesthis mean for Africa? Can Africa assert its independence or develop itsown Direction and Vision within this context without critically confront-ing the dominant structures of art around the world today?

WHAT ARE THESE STRUCTURES?

While lamenting the absence of ‘inter-African links’ free from ‘colonialrelationships’, David Elliott, President of the Selection Committee andJury of Dak’Art 2000, says that ‘the masters had departed yet theirstructures remained’.11 Who would disagree with him? But is he seriously

10. See Olu Oguibe,‘Appropriation asNationalism in ModernAfrican Art’, Third Text,no 60 (16:3), September2002, pp 243–60.

11. David Elliott, ‘Dakar: RealAction’, introductoryessay, catalogue DAK’ART2000, pp 14–16.

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concerned with ‘their structures’, or just shedding crocodile tears? Is thisnot just a passing gesture of Western liberalism that can only see thesestructures in operation away from its own home territory, and forgetsthat these structures are in fact the very source of its power andprivilege?

What are these structures, and how are we to deal with them? Shouldor can Africa alone deal with them? If the issue is of freedom from thesestructures, can it be achieved without a struggle against these structures?If these structures are still found on African soil, where are their roots?Are they in Africa? If their roots are elsewhere, outside Africa, but theycontinue to affect whatever Africa does or produces, shouldn’t we look atthese roots? What is the nature of these roots? Who and what nurturesthese roots?

What is remarkable is not that people like David Elliott can see thesestructures and that they can point to the detrimental effects thesestructures have on African art and its position in the world, but theirinability to see or recognise that they themselves are in fact part of theproblem. If Elliott is really concerned with these structures, what has hebeen doing to confront them on his own ground? David Elliott is not anordinary person but represents an important pillar of the Western artestablishment, and his influence on the British art world in particular hasbeen considerable. In fact he is part of the worldwide system thatcontinues to defend and maintain the power of ‘the masters’ and ‘theirstructures’. I’m not alluding to the political and economic structures ofthe West but its liberal institutions, and I have seen no evidence offundamental change in these structures since they were formed to upholdthe ‘humanism’ of colonial power. They are still intact, both in artinstitutions and academe, and are rigorously protected from thesubversive onslaught of the others, who are kept outside their boundarywalls on the pretext that they belong elsewhere.

The structures of colonialism cannot be dealt with only by thosewho are colonised. Colonialism is a process or phenomenon that affectsboth the coloniser and the colonised, and decolonisation implies adialogical process by which both should be liberated. The freedom ofthe colonised without the coloniser undergoing the process of decoloni-sation is an illusion that maintains the power of the coloniser over thecolonised even when the colonised is supposed to be free. Westernliberalism represents this power. If people like David Elliott really wantto see the others liberate themselves from these structures, they willhave to be actively part of this liberation. They themselves will have toconfront the institutions of which they are part, and in the process helpliberate their structures from the colonial legacies. The problem is thatthe power and privilege of these people depend on the continuation ofthese structures, and it is this power that brings them to Africa. Whenthese people come to Africa and tell Africa that it is still the victim ofthese structures, all they do is to display their white liberal guilt mixedwith arrogance of power.

It is therefore no wonder that the work of such a historicallyimportant European artist as Jannis Kounellis should end up falling flatin the abandoned building of the Palais de Justice – the very same Palaisde Justice through which the colonial power bestowed its ‘justice’ on thecolonised and by which it justified its power. As this building now lay

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shattered, dilapidated by its lack of historical purpose, with what new‘justice’ is Kounellis now seeking a dialogue with the society when it hasnot yet recovered from the old one? How can an artist who had nodialogue with his African – or the other – contemporaries while they werethere on his home ground, have a meaningful dialogue with them now onAfrican soil? And on what basis? Did Kounellis ever ask himself why thediscourse that privileged him and gave him the power to assert hispresence in Africa kept the others outside this discourse? Did he everrealise that these others were immigrants as much as he was animmigrant?12 How could he? They were different, and were meant to dodifferent things. In fact, he would have been surprised – to say the least– if he had found them doing similar things, within the same context andseeking the same structures for their recognition on a par with his statusas a white/European artist.

AFRICA’S REAL ACHIEVEMENT

What exactly has all this got to do with the achievement – or non-achievement – of African artists, or the Dakar Biennale? The answer tothis question lies with the historical position of African artists of the lasthundred years or so, both within and outside Africa, and the lack of itssufficient recognition. It is of particular historical importance when it ismeasured as part of its struggle within and against the dominant centre.My aim here is to argue that without the full recognition of this positionwe have no other way to judge what is produced as African art today.

The struggle of African artists in the West in particular offers animportant clue to the problem I have alluded to, and reveals thedifficulty of the problem. This difficulty does not necessary lie with theartists themselves, or their failure to enter the discourse of the countrythey make their home, but with the system which often shuts its eyeswhenever it encounters them at the centre of the modern discourse;with the result that these artists remain invisible to the system as wellas to Africa.

Migration of artists to the centres of power is not a new or uniquephenomenon. Artists have always migrated; in the early twentiethcentury Paris was their destination. In the postwar period, Londonattracted many artists particularly from the former British colonies.However, the issue here is not the migration (despite postcolonialtheories of migration and diaspora) of these artists but what they actuallyproduced and how their work was received by their hosts.

What did African artists really do when they found themselves in theWest? Did they just follow the already beaten track of Western art, or didthey find their own way within modernist developments? The institutionsin the West are silent about this important question. They would ratherprefer this question never to be raised, because they cannot answer itwithin the context of prevailing colonial structures while they still protectthem. There are of course some sympathetic voices, from within theestablishment, with great admiration for African artists’ ‘Africanness’.But this admiration often overlooks the modernity of African artists’work, and use their ‘Africanness’ as the only measure of these works.Some others have been totally dismissive of them, even to the point of

12. Jannis Kounellis isoriginally from Greece,but he has lived andworked in Italy. He isconsidered to be animportant member of theItalian art movement ArtPovera that emergedaround the mid–1960s.

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being openly hostile to Africa’s quest for modernity and allowing theirhidden racism to appear on the surface.

Art moves forward only when there emerge new perceptions,innovations and breakthroughs – both formal and conceptual – and inthis respect we have no reason to presume that there is or should be anydifference between the aspirations and quests of white and non-whiteartists. Given the global spread of modernity during colonialism, andwith modernism now being the common inheritance of artists from allover the world, it would be presumptuous to think that they should havedifferent goals on the basis of racial or cultural difference. If artists fromall cultures find themselves within the same context of the metropolitancentre, and they all want to produce something new within this context,what is the problem? The answer to this lies in the philosophy orideology of the history of modern art, without the understanding ofwhich one cannot deal or engage with whatever one encounters as anestablished thing, and what one produces as a result. And here lies themain issue. The problem is not of entering the discourse of history andestablishing one’s position by confronting whatever history represents asan accumulation of knowledge, but the recognition of this entry andwhat it has produced. How can a historical discourse whose verystructures are formed on the differentiation between the white/Europeansubject and what is continued to be perceived as its others, and whichlegitimises only whites/Europeans as its players by excluding the othersfrom its system, see the presence of the others within it? Wouldn’t thisotherwise destroy the very basis of its institutional power?

As this differentiates the others from their white/European con-temporaries and removes them from the consideration of their place inhistory on the basis that the history of modernism is the exclusive domainof the white/European subject, the position of the others – and in our caseof African artists – becomes precarious. They are thus forced to exist ina vacuum, reduced to nothingness. While the position of white/Europeanartists is thus firmly established within history, according to theEurocentric philosophy of modernity, bestowing upon them the exclusivestatus of canons, this exclusivity then becomes a barrier that one has tobreak through to claim one’s place in history.

So what African artists faced was a double task, both of producingsomething new within modernism but also of challenging and redefiningits historical context beyond its Eurocentric legacy. The point I’m tryingto assert is that African artists have indeed crossed the barrier of thewhite/European exclusivity of modern art history, and that this is wheretheir historical achievement lies. In other words, Africa does have a placein modern art history, and it is the duty of Africa to claim this place. Thisplace is not of a secondary nature but is fundamental to what would thenprovide African art or the Dakar Biennale with its historical context orframework.

HOW CAN AFRICA CLAIM THIS HISTORICAL CONTEXT?

It is perfectly legitimate to critique the West and to demand from itwhatever it owes to the others. It is also historically legitimate to demandthat Western institutions should undergo their own decolonisation in

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order to liberate themselves as part of the liberation of humanity at large.Without this decolonisation they should have no claim to possessinghumanist discourses of universal values; and it is our intellectualresponsibility to expose them when they resist decolonisation and areinvolved in the perpetuation of lies about the others, their misrepresenta-tion and ignorance of their true historical achievements.

But can we change the whole thing by merely critiquing the West orappealing to its sympathetic and benevolent liberalism and seeking itshelp? How can this liberalism help when it refuses to accept itsresponsibility within its own territory? Can the West really absolve itselfof this responsibility? It would, however, be silly to reduce the West to amonolith unable to aspire to radical change, and not to recognise thatthere also exist voices of dissatisfaction and dissent. These voices can beour allies. As this problem is not exclusive to Africa or the others but isthe legacy of colonialism that affects humanity at large, there is no reasonwhy the radical elements in the West cannot play an important role indealing with this problem. But they must first recognise the problem astheir own problem and then be prepared to have a dialogue with thosewho have already been struggling to confront it.

However, the problem is not of a mechanical nature, in the sense thatwe can persuade the dominant discourse or its liberal institutions toaccept the others among its ranks on the basis of equality between allartists irrespective of their different racial or cultural background. WhatI am alluding to is in fact a philosophical problem: how can we eliminatethe idea of the Other, which continues to inflict the others with theircolonial past and denies them a central place in the progress ofhumanity? Although this problem has already been somewhat dealt withby the other or African artists, as I have suggested earlier, and we haveempirical evidence to claim their place in history, this claim cannot bedealt with successfully unless it is also dealt with in philosophy. It isimperative that the philosophical underpinning of the subject of historyis decolonised and redefined, so that we are no longer inflicted by theidea of modern art as the exclusive monopoly of the white/Europeansubject. In fact we need a new universal philosophy that recognises theequality of all races and cultures and their equal roles in the dynamic ofemancipatory modernity that can lead us to a better future.

What, then, can Africa do in this respect? Of course Africa alonecannot do everything to deal with what is a vast problem beyond its ownresources, both material and intellectual. However big the problem,Africa has no choice but to do the groundwork itself. It will have to takethe first step itself to lay the foundation for an institute that isfundamental to this pursuit, which is of both and artistic and aphilosophical nature. The institute can be in the form of an independentart museum of contemporary art representing art from all over Africaand also art produced by African artists abroad, but not exclusively; itcan also be affiliated with an institute of higher learning – a pan-Africanuniversity? However, whatever form it takes, it must have a compre-hensive archive, which should provide resources for research work,leading to scholarship that can present Africa’s own interpretation of notonly its own art but contemporary art in general. Using the availableempirical evidence it can then proceed to assert Africa’s independentposition within the modern history of art.

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This need has also been expressed somewhat differently by EryCamara, President of the Selection Committee and International Jury forDak’Art 2002:

The working conditions of our African artists are most often not the best,because of lack of infrastructure, namely lack of proper space, promoters,collectors or sponsors, committed to turning the work of art something ofa higher value than a trophy or a mere luxury article. I insist on this pointbecause without a circulation process guaranteeing a successful approachto these works, most of them would end up, as before, in hands that drawmore profit from them than us, or they would rot in attics, offices or, attimes and unlawfully, in private collections. . . . It is the responsibility ofAfrican intellectuals to remedy this lack of interest making our heritagevulnerable and at the mercy of perverse manipulations. . . . I fullyunderstand that economic circumstances may impose limits to many ofour projects but developing an organisation and a suitable space thatwould exhibit and promote a selection of the most representative of ourartistic production would be most useful in monitoring, with keeninterest, the development of arts in our community. We need a spacewithin which a great number of analyses and interactions among visitors,artists and the arts would be expressed in order to record, over the spanof time, the ideas subscribed to by each generation . . .13

My own proposition may appear as too idealistic, given the reality ofAfrica today. But a small start can be made in Dakar as part of itsBiennale. If an institute with a comprehensive archive (comprising slides/photos, already written and published material, catalogues, books,videos, etc) and a library stocking essential theoretical and philosophicalmaterial, is established in Dakar with facilities for research work, withthe provision for scholarships for both resident and non-residentscholars, it will provide not only tremendous resources but also ahistorically viable framework for the Biennale. It can also operate as abase for the publication of a journal in which research papers arepublished on a regular basis. Publications of monographs on historicallyimportant African artists will add to its resources.

If the Dakar Biennale wants to play a historically important role in thedevelopment and evaluation of contemporary African art, it must nowthink hard instead of indulging in facile self-gratification. Merelycollecting some artists and putting their works together and then callingit a Biennale is becoming a farce. The Dakar Biennale is too important tolet it slip into being a mere spectacle. It was an extremely importanthistoric moment in 1992 when Dakar took the initiative to launch thefirst African biennale, and it must now undertake this responsibilityseriously. It is absurd for African artists to follow global trends emergingfrom the West, when the West is undergoing a serious crisis of thecollapse of its enlightened bourgeois vision. All it now has is itsmarketplace where it celebrates its dehumanising decadence and sells itas a precious thing. Why does Africa want to be part of this decadence?It is somewhat true that ‘Western-dominated art . . . is running out ofsteam’, but to believe that African artists in the Biennale are ‘affirmingtheir independence’14 from it is a kind of fantasy that does not help them.On the contrary, by trapping them in this fantasy they are prevented frommoving forward in a way that would assert their independence. Thehistorical struggle of Africa demands that it should develop its own

13. Ery Camara, ‘EssentialUndertaking in the Fieldof African Art’,introductory essay,catalogue DAK’ART2002, pp 17–19.

14. Marie-Jose Crespin, op cit.

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Direction, within modernity, and its own Vision. The Dakar Biennale canprovide these if it can put its house in order, free itself fromunimaginative bureaucracy, and let other people with knowledge,expertise and intellectual understanding of things come forward and helpthe Biennale realise it true objectives – and thus fulfil its historicalresponsibility.

African intellectuals have a particular responsibility in this respect, asEry Camara has also pointed out. It is no good merely saying that weshould show our solidarity with the Biennale and support it whatever itdoes. Why are the African artists and writers I have met in Dakar afraidof self-criticism? Self-criticism is fundamental to one’s growth andmaturity, without which we allow ourselves to drift into the abyss of thenarcissistic self and with it turn Africa into a spectacle of nothingness.

I should not, however, end my reflections with a negative note. I willtherefore give the last word to Marie-Jose Crespin, President of theScientific Council for Dak’Art 2002:

DAK’ART is a channel to the future that should lead us to the reconciledworld to which we all aspire. It may sound utopian, but I sense this vitalbreath, which is ready to become a gust of wind that will blow across theplanet.15

DAK’ART 2002, 5eme Biennale de l’Art Africain Contemporain, was held from 10May to 10 June 2002, in Dakar, Senegal.15. Ibid.

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