Territoire Frontière Monde: Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Callixte Dakpogan, Efiaimbelo, Emmanuel Ekefrey, John Goba, Bodys Isek Kingelez, George Lilanga, Esther Mahlangu, Moke, Chéri Samba, Amadou Sanogo, Cyprien Tokoudagba

In 1989, the exhibition Magiciens de la Terre presented one hundred artists fromfive continents. It was the first truly global exhibition.

It then sparked strong controversies; it became legendary. She showed theWestern countries that contemporary art existed outside themselves. Thus thepainted house of the Ndebele woman from South Africa, Esther Mahlangu, facedthe monumental mural painting by the English Richard Long. The voodoo paintingsand sculptures of the Beninese Cyprien Tokoudagba or even the Alouals by theMalagasy sculptor Efiaimbelo were next to those of the artists Claes Oldenburg,Christian Boltanski, and Mario Merz. This presentation on an equal footing of worksby Western and non-Western artists allowed a vision of extremely diverse works.The exhibition announced a new history of art.

The diversity, specificity, and singularity of the works presented in this exhibitionlend themselves, by their contents, their meanings, and their knowledge, to the ideaof drawing an imaginary map defining three spaces: Territory, Border, World, whichdesignate intensities rather than categories.

Territory envelops works that relate to terrestrial forces related to a specificculture. These forces can be religious, ritual, or social. They would relate to theTerritory of creators who work within a tradition. The Alouals of Efiaimbelo,the paintings of Esther Mahlangu from the Kwa Ndebele of South Africa, or thepaintings of Cyprien Tokoudagba are powerful examples.

World is more on the side of the sign of what circulates and is shared. Belong tothe World of creators such as the Congolese Bodys Isek Kingelez and Chéri Samba,the Ivorian FrédéricBruly Bouabré, or the Malian Amadou Sanogo, who work according to transculturalconcepts, using objects or iconograms of multicultural origins.

Border includes artists such as the Sierra Leonean John Goba, the TanzanianGeorges Lilanga, the Congolese Moke, or even the Beninese Calixte Dakpogan.Their works are related as well to the powers of the Territory as to those of the sign.One is therefore never from all eternity of the Territory, the Bi, or the Worldbut constantly crossed by intensities that move the thought and the production ofthe spirit.

The MoMA, NY recently dedicated solo exhibitions to Frédéric Bruly Bouabré andBodys Isek Kingelez. The latter, as well as the Senegalese Seyni Awa Camara, willbe presented this year in the international exhibition of the Venice Biennale, wherenon-Western countries open new pavilions there... as many events that reflect the new cartography of creation and the writing of a new world history of art.