Monographic catalogue structured around installations by Vincent Meessen which examine the influence of the
Situationist International in
Sub-Saharan Africa, notably through figures such as Lungela Diangani eand Omar Blondin Diop. This richly illustrated book documents both the IS's relationship with the African continent and the artist's discursive, collaborative and para-curatorial activity of the past four years.
This bilingual book was published following Vincent Meessen's solo exhibitions Sire, je suis de l'ôtre pays at WIELS, Brussels (2016) and Omar en mai at Centre Pompidou, Paris (2018). The fourth volume in the artist's publication series Prospectus, it is structured around four major installations that made up these shows (One.Two.Three, SIISIS, Wild Architect, and CinémaOmarx), which are placed in parallel with newly commissioned essays by scholars Pedro Monaville, Stefano Collicelli Cagol and Ruth Baumeister, and an in-depth conversation between Tom McDonough and Vincent Meessen.
At the heart of these contributions are the untold histories and unexpected topicality of the Situationist International, modernity's last international avant-garde, which reconsidered so radically the relationships between art, politics and everyday life. Previously unpublished texts and reprints by Guy Debord, Lungela Diangani and Omar Blondin Diop explore in particular the Situationist International's influence in black African countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal. Installation views of the exhibitions show furthermore how Meessen uses original documents in order to re-evaluate their political potential in the present. As such, the publication generously reflects on the artist's discursive, collaborative and para-curatorial activity of the past four years.
Published following the exhibitions “Sire, je suis de l'ôtre pays” at WIELS, Brussels, from February 19 to April 24, 2016, and “Omar en Mai” at Centre Pompidou, Paris, from March 28 to May 28, 2018.
Vincent Meessen (born 1971, Baltimore, lives and works in Brussels) is interested in the influence of realism and colonial rhetoric on the development of Western modernity. Through the use of various media (video, installation, prints, music and others) he re-animates hidden narratives and traces of the
colonial. Meessen questions the operational capacity of interpretation, refers to the friction between fact and fiction and researches the potential of the speculative narrative, both in his work as an artist and in his para-curatorial activities.
Edited by Vincent Meessen.
Texts by Pedro Monaville, Stefano Collicelli Cagol, Ruth Baumeister, entretien avec Vincent Meessen par Tom McDonough.
Graphic design: Speculoos.
published in July 2018
bilingual edition (English / French)
21 x 29,7 cm (softcover)
128 pages (color ill.)
ISBN : 978-3-95679-402-5
EAN : 9783956794025
sold out
