Roméo Mivekannin’s cage-like museum sculpture shaped the colonial past – Huge
Roméo Mivekannin reimagines the bold, bold paintings of European art history masterpieces with his own image, interested in the colonial gaze and the power of archives of Westerners to reveal underrepresented or immeasurable stories. Born on the Ivory Coast, Mivekannin allocated his time between Toulouse and Cotonou, France. His practice interrogates visibility, grants and dynamic dynamics through direct and firm works across acrylic paintings, installations and sculptures.
Last weekend, in Art Basel, in collaboration with Galerie Barbara Thumm and Cécile Fakhoury, Mivekannin proposed a title called Atlas, Includes a series of metal buildings hanging from the ceiling. Based on institutional buildings (in this case, museums of the collection of residential collections), the artist draws attention to colonialist practices and moral grey areas that permeate these spaces and their history.
Larger museums, often built on European urban elite collections in controversial or questionable collections of individuals, historically emphasize what is regarded as “primitive” or “exotic”, showing prejudiced prejudice to the prejudiced world culture, which constitutes world culture with a colonial mindset. For example, the British Museum was founded in 1753, after Sir Sloane’s death, which collected over 80,000 “natural and artificial rarity” to provide the institution with foundations. His wealth and his collection – partly accumulated through the labor enslaved in the sugar plantations in Jamaica.
Another well-known example of the problematic collection includes the thousands of Benin bronzes located in European institutions such as the British Museum. The British army obtained many carefully decorated plaques through plunder and robbery in the late 19th century. Today, some museums have agreed to repatriate bronzes to correct this historical insult (the British Museum is still under discussion).
As a student of art and architecture, Melekenin breaks into certain structures and built environments in ways that are designed to convey prestige and dominance. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the National Advanced Architecture Institute of Montpellier (Esam).
exist Atlas, The structure takes the form of a bird cage hanging from a chain. Both elements symbolize captivity, likening ethnographic collection to the relics that usually include humans and Map Album The exhibition statement is called the “Human Zoo”. In this case, the cage “can remind people of the historical practice of trying to control and exploit “another.”
The past and present of the Mivekannin bridge in this installation invites viewers to bypass the museum in a space where power can be changed. This work encourages viewers to “confront the disturbing truth about colonial heritage and its ongoing impact on our contemporary society.”
Given a meta-experience of the exhibition itself, the artist narrows down the rich details of the museum to smaller sizes, showing lower sizes. In Mivekannin’s portrayal, the structure is both a cage and a cage.
Artist’s paintings, Black mirror, Collezione Maramotti, currently in Reggio Emilia, Italy, lasts until July 27.
