Issa Samb
Born 1945 in Senegal, Issa Samb lives and works in Dakar.
In 1974 he founded, together with a group of artists, writers, filmmakers, performance artists, and musicians, the Dakar-based Laboratoire Agit'Art. The aim of the group was to transform the nature of artistic practice from a formalist, object-bound way of working to practices that were based on experimentation and agitation, on process rather than product, ephemerality rather than permanence, and political and social ideas over aesthetic ones. Focusing on communication between the artist and audience over physical objects, the actions of Laboratoire Agit'Art engaged with the immediate sociopolitical situation.
From the establishment of Laboratoire Agit'Art to the present, Samb has produced an extensive body of work from which emerges a fluid exchange between objects, the artist, and audience. His work, although nontraditional and unconventional, combines African artistic traditions—where importance is placed on the spoken word and performative actions—with direct political action.
2014
bilingual edition (English / French)
Sternberg Press - Monographs and artists' books
Comprehensive monograph.