Meschac Gaba ^©  

(1961)

Provenance:
Artra Gallery, Milan;
Private collection, Milan

Exhibitions:
Museum of Contemporary African Art, Maastricht, 1997

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Since the mid-1990s, Meschac Gaba (Cotonou, 1961 - lives and works in Rotterdam) has studied the constructions of cultural identity together with the trade systems in relation to the exchanges between Africa and the Western world, addressing ideas of value and revaluation, perceptions of African art, the policy of museum exposure and roles of artist and visitor. At the same time critical and playfully sincere, the artist’s work overturns the codes of national and shared identity, along with their intrinsic value, confusing politics, art, and everyday life.

CONTINENTAL SHIFT. A VOYAGE BETWEEN CULTURES: LE DISCOTHÈQUE DU MUSÉE is an important work that makes use of some of the most used materials by the artist: the flag and coins. The work shows in the center the writing of the museum in which it was exhibited in 1997 on the occasion of an important exhibition of the artist: "Museum of Contemporary African Art in Maastricht". The flag depicts the profile of the African continent embroidered in the fabric from which coins hang, which explain, according to the artist, the imbalance in the global economy and the growing devaluation of African currencies against the euro and the dollar.

I think that the museum is above all a place of study, of research. People look at the collection, they ask questions and talk to each other about the pieces... My museum of contemporary African art has no walls. I want to show artists that you can show your work anywhere, you can do it yourself. You don’t need four walls to determine your place, to decide who you are. Have the courage to decide for yourself who you are!» (Taken from the words of Meschac Gaba in "Library of the Museum - Museum of Contemporary African Art", Artìmo, 2001)