Work of art: Collection, assemblage, and utopia in the work of Georges Adéagbo

  • Valentina Lusini Università di Siena, Italy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7340/anuac2239-625X-3047

Abstract

The article presents the work of Beninese artist Georges Adéagbo, known for his complex displays of found objects, texts, sculptures, elements of pop and high culture, images of the mass-media world, culturally and temporally diverse signs and symbols that converse with local tales, exemplifying the often controversial relationship between conservation and memory. Such archival assemblages include a variety of ethnographic sources and fragments, giving a decentered perspective that evolves to a reflection about global political matters and interrogates dominant and commonsense narratives. Adéagbo’s work advances in that extended area of intercultural contact in which the languages of art and anthropology maintain a close and complex relationship. Analyzing this relationship, the article focuses on the role played by the artist, the museums, the art critics, and the curators in the production of value and consumption of otherness in a globalized cultural context.

Author Biography

Valentina Lusini, Università di Siena, Italy

Valentina Lusini insegna Antropologia dell’Arte e delle Rappresentazioni all’Università di Siena (Dipartimento di Scienze Sociali, Politiche e Cognitive) e Antropologia Culturale all’Accademia Nazionale dei Belle Arti di Firenze. I suoi interessi di ricerca si situano nel campo dell’antropologia dell’arte e del patrimonio, con particolare riferimento all’arte contemporanea, alla storia dei musei etnografici e di comunità e agli studi sui contesti di valorizzazione dell’eredità culturale. Su questi temi ha svolto attività di consulenza e ricerca per enti pubblici e privati e scritto monografie e articoli su riviste scientifiche. Tra le sue pubblicazioni: Gli oggetti etnografici tra arte e storia. L'immaginario postcoloniale e il progetto del Musée du quai Branly a Parigi (L’Harmattan Italia, 2004) e Destinazione mondo. Forme e politiche dell’alterità nell’arte contemporanea (ombre corte, 2013).

 

Valentina Lusini is a lecturer in Anthropology of Arts at the Università degli Studi in Siena. Her main research interests focus on contemporary art and anthropology and include a diversity of fields, from socially engaged art to museum studies. Her books include: Destinazione mondo. Forme e politiche dell’alterità nell’arte contemporanea (ombre corte, Verona, 2013), Gli oggetti etnografici tra arte e storia. L’immaginario postcoloniale e il progetto del Musée du quai Branly a Parigi (L’Harmattan Italia, Torino, 2004), and as editor (with Pietro Meloni) Culture domestiche. Saggi interdisciplinari (Leo S. Olschki, Firenze, 2015).

lusiniva@gmail.com

Published
2018-07-24
How to Cite
Lusini, V. (2018) “Work of art: Collection, assemblage, and utopia in the work of Georges Adéagbo”, Anuac, 7(1), pp. 141-167. doi: 10.7340/anuac2239-625X-3047.
Issue
Vol 7 No 1 (2018)
Section
Articles

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