)U(, 2018
All images from Dakar Biennale 2018. All rights reserved

)U( is a piece about self-liberation through self-awareness and presence. Its intention is to create an “anti-panopticon” or a “heterotopia”, by reference to French philosopher Michel Foucault.

Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (A human is a human through other humans) - Zulu proverb

Je est un autre (I is another) - Arthur Rimbaud

It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others. - W.E.B. DuBois

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Thirty-two video cameras film the whole space of the installation, displayed on four monumental projections and eight screens scattered in the installation, allowing the visitors to see themselves and the other visitors from every angle and distance.

Mirrors are disposed in the installation space, allowing for the infinite multiplication of the visitors’ images.

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Farsights neon pieces switched on by rhythmically set timers illuminate the installation in three colors, black, red and white, transforming its atmosphere, emulating day, night, dusk and dawn.

Other in situ neon compositions outlining the exhibition space are switched on by movement detectors.

The soundtrack of the installation mixes cinematic atmospheres, natural sounds and abstract textures.

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The Reflections mirror paintings and their “koans” trigger self-awareness, whereas the Farsights neon pieces based on Fa’s odu or symbols (Fa or Ifa is a West African philosophy and geomancy) allude to the spiritual self’s freedom: Fa’s essential message is that a humans are not predestined, but forge their own destiny in harmony with spiritual energies.

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Finally, the Future ancestors series statues (inspired by Egungun ceremonies from Benin and Nigeria) allude to the the finitude of the «I», reminders of both history and the human condition: each and every human is a «future ancestor», but totally alive in the present moment.

)U(

)U( is a piece about self-liberation through self-awareness and presence.

Thirty-two video cameras film the whole space of the installation, displayed on four monumental projec- tions and eight screens scattered in the installation, allowing the visitors to see themselves and the other visitors from every angle and distance. Mirrors are also disposed in the installation space, allowing for the infinite multiplication of the visitors’ images.

The piece could be seen an «anti-panopticon» or a «heterotopia», by reference to French philosopher Michel Foucault.

Farsights neon pieces and a neon in situ composition illuminate the installation in three colors, black, red and white and modify its atmosphere.

They are switched on for some of them by movement detectors, and for others by rhythmically set timers.

The soundtrack of the installation mixes cinematic atmospheres and abstract textures.

The mirrors both evoke the familiar «I» and materialize a heterotopic space. The CCTV systems materialize the social «me» both object and subject to the digital gaze and the slight latency between the filming and the captures the immediate past.

The Reflections mirror paintings and their «koans» propose self-awareness. The Farsights neon pieces (based on Fa’s odu or symbols) allude to the spiritual self’s freedom: Fa’s essential message is that a humans are not predestine, but forge their own destiny in harmony with spiritual energies. Finally, the Future ancestors figures allude to the the finitude of the «I», reminders of both history and the human condition: each and every human is a «future ancestor» totally alive in the present moment.

«I is another» - Arthur Rimbaud

«Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu» (A human is a human through other humans) - Zulu proverb