The African Biennale : envisioning ‘authentic’ African contemporaneity
Date
2009-03
Authors
Mauchan, Fiona
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
Abstract
This thesis aims to assess the extent to which the African curated exhibition,
Dak’Art: Biennale de l’art africain contemporain , succeeds in subverting
hegemonic Western representations of African art as necessarily ‘exotic’ and
‘Other.’ My investigation of the Dak’Art biennale in this thesis is informed
and preceded by a study of evolutionist assumptions towards African art and
the continuing struggle for command over the African voice. I outline the
trajectory of African art from primitive artifact to artwork, highlighting the
prejudices that have kept Africans from being valued as equals and unique
artists in their own right. I then look at exhibiting techniques employed to
move beyond perceptions of the tribal, to subvert the exoticising tendency of
the West and remedy the marginalised position of the larger African artistic
community.
Description
Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
Keywords
Dissertations -- Art, Theses -- Art, Dissertations -- Visual arts, Theses -- Visual arts