May 15th - July 27, 2024

Export-Import

Younes Baba-Ali

Mbaye Diop

Hamedine Kane

 

Export-Import

 

Selebe Yoon is pleased to present "Export-Import", a collective exhibition with the artists Younes Baba-Ali, Mbaye Diop, and Hamedine Kane. "Import-export," a term widely used in international trade, suggests a dynamic exchange between two territories, a transcontinental transactional relationship often asymmetrical and unbalanced. Beyond economic globalization, the importation of cultures, customs, forms, and knowledge has occurred long before the liberalization of trade exchanges in this century, from the colonial era to the present, sometimes imperceptibly. The export of goods, as well as of oneself, continues to be perceived as a necessity to exist, even survive, in the global arena, both collectively and individually. 

From maritime routes in oceans, aerial circuits, through industrial and urban environments, certain territories and their natural resources have become places of predation, economic speculation, and rivalry. By observing certain sports, leisure activities, or economic sectors, each artist reveals unexpected networks and invisible trajectories that conceal  mechanisms of subordination and dynamics of power. While their works are tied to historical narratives or contemporary events, they offer possibilities of revolt and spaces for reverie in the face of the unending dialectic of import-export.


Younes Baba-Ali conceived "Loft DKR" around pigeon racing, the art of training and racing carrier pigeons. A military spy or a messenger of love, adored by some but vilified by others, the carrier pigeon has accompanied humanity throughout its history, from peace to war through leisure, financial speculation, the delivery of illicit products, and colonization. Pigeon racing is a recreational activity originating from Belgian royalty, nowadays popular and booming in Senegal - while pigeons were once used as a means of communication between the metropolis and the colony, today they are real competitors and entertainers. It is from this history that Younes Baba-Ali imagines the development of this project in several locations: a few meters from Selebe Yoon, on the esplanade of the Dakar City Hall, "LOFT DKR - Gëstukaay bi (Laboratory)", an experimental pigeon loft designed with a new animal architecture, has been installed for several month. The data of the birds, equipped with a tracking chip, is collected by the artist (GPS coordinates and flight dynamics) and used as material to generate and create sound compositions during flight performances by the pigeons at the loft. On the façade of the gallery, wooden branches are placed like perches, evoking ancient Egyptian dovecotes with their circular shape. 




At the entrance of the building, in a spatialized journey, a sound resembling the rustling of seeds and whistling welcomes visitors: it is the call used by pigeon fanciers to summon their avian groups. The works sensitively and experimentally conveys the experience and process of the project through the choreographed movements of birds, now transformed into sound and motion performers, using images captured during the breeding and training period at the dovecote. Another work from a different series is also presented in the exhibition. "Daily Wrestling" (2018) is dedicated to the national sport: Senegalese wrestling. Surrounded by mystical preparations, this sport also develops a connection with global capitalism through its entry into corporate sponsorship. In this scenario, athletes are not engaging in combat against other wrestlers, but rather with ordinary items in a struggle for survival.  Birds, shown as adept at crossing borders for long distances without obstruction, embody freedom in collective thought, while these wrestlers serve as a reminder of the challenges confronted by various other communities. 


Mbaye Diop, on the other hand, is particularly interested in a key activity in the global history of colonization that tried to establish itself in the Dakar territory with the arrival of French officials but without real success: tennis. He imagines the city of Dakar and its hybrid architecture - from traditional housing, colonial architecture, to the latest towers - as a perpetual match between different opponents. A quintessential and bourgeois European sport, tennis tries to fit into the Senegalese landscape through the construction of equipped courts to make Dakar more attractive. For the artist, this sport acts a a metaphor for the aggressive game led by States, palpable in the over-urbanization of the city In Mbaye Diop's paintings and drawings, the characters are portrayed in iconic public settings, holding the racket as an accessory that each person adapts to their liking. Younes Baba-Ali's wrestlers, the ball and the opponent remain unseen, alluding to the seemingly fictitious competition. It's as if the artist's characters were fighting against the city itself, its old colonial buildings, its precarious infrastructure and certain emblems of the informal economy. An interactive work, designed for the exhibition, invites the public to participate in a tennis match and confront an unclothed  man standing in a pose of anticipation. Using motion tracking technology, the black and white image of the player moves according to the opponent's strike. A playful game for the audience, this moving image resembles the ghostly shadow of the artist inserted within an environment of urban decay. As Olympism is on the agenda between Paris 2024 and the forthcoming Youth Olympic Games in Senegal in 2026, the artist questions the contrasts between the infrastructure of grandeur required by state games  and the collective sports practiced in the public spaces of Dakar. 



In 2023, Hamedine Kane was contacted by ClientEarth, a legal expertise organization to document the repercussions of international fishing on the fishing community of Senegal. Artisanal fishing is confronted with the overwhelming rivalry of industrial fishing, overexploitation of resources, and environmental degradation. The artist traveled along the Senegalese coast to record the extraction and transformation processes of marine species, collecting testimonies from the different communities and recording the state of the Senegalese coast. At the  gallery, he decided to transform this legal documentation into an artistic proposal to lend a  voice to the ocean and its users. In collaboration with Boris Raux, one of the members of The School of Mutants, he designed a pontoon from fragments of wood from the pirogues recovered from the coastline. An open space for visitors like a walkway inviting contemplation, the pontoon is strewn with red gas cans used for boats, arranged like a battalion.  Inside the exhibition, Kane presents  filmed sequences: the daily life of fishermen is juxtaposed with satellite images tracing maritime traffic of ships, followed by archive images, contemporary scenes of a shore deserted by its population, and an exhausted fishing industry. The works simultaneously embody the voice of the ocean and its fishing communities, evoking endangered species, marine confrontations between boats and migratory departures to Europe with these same pirogues. Around this installation, Kane presents paintings made from reclaimed materials: doors, window shutters, wood. These heterogeneous assemblages display written texts and evoke cabins and precarious structures reminiscent of his famous film "The Blue House," and the question of inhabiting the world in a situation of exile in transitional spaces.

In between poignant testimonials and humor, recreational space and position-taking, the three artists reveal the political complexity, economic burden, and social weight that exist in activities such as pigeon racing, wrestling, fishing, or tennis, as innocuous and harmless as they may seem. But they remind us above all, that faced with systems of power that are difficult to penetrate, thrre exists the incorruptible and active force of poetic possibility.

Notes:

Younes Baba-Ali’s project, "LOFT DKR - Gëstukaay bi (Laboratory)," is realised in partnership with l’Hôtel de Ville de Dakar, with the support of Werktank and the Federation Wallonie Bruxelles and Wallonie Bruxelles International. A third episode, "LOFT DKR- Li jot a am (State of Affairs)", held at the Delegation Wallonie Bruxelles, is dedicated to archival work in collaboration with exhibition curator Aude Tournay and the implementation of online mapping in collaboration with architect Carole Diop.


Mbaye Diop's work is produced with the support of the City of Nyon, Switzerland and the Region of Nyon, Switzerland.


Text copyright: Selebe Yoon

 

Public Program

17/05 at 6PM - Selebe Yoon

Conversation with the artists Younes Baba-Ali, Mbaye Diop, Hamedine Kane & Jennifer Houdrouge, moderated by Aude Tournaye at Selebe Yoon

21/05 at 5PM - Hôtel de Ville

“Architecture of the living and urban biodiversity”, with Jean Charles Tall (Architect), Angel Montero (Architect), Oumar Johnson (Former President of the Fédération Colombophile Sénégalaise) moderated by Carole Diop (Architect & Founder of Afrikadaa)

26/05 at 5PM - Hôtel de Ville

Discussion around pigeon-fancying with Samba Gueye (President Fédération Colombophile Sénégalaise), Dr René Karim Ndiaye (Doctor Veterinarian), Dr Abdoulaye Soumboundou (Doctor Veterinarian), Alioune Ngom (Colombophile ABCZ7), moderated by Oumar Johnson (Colombophile & Former President of la Fédération Colombophile Sénégalaise)

 

Artists biographies

©Morel Donou

 

 

Younes Baba Ali (b.Oujda, Morocco, 1986) is an interdisciplinary artist working with sound, multimedia installation, photography and the public space. He graduated from l’Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg in 2008 and from l’Ecole Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence in 2011.

He had several solo exhibitions such as: « Bodies of Identities », Casino Luxembourg (2022); « Dégrisement », Galerie Talmart, Paris, France (2022); « Connexion#1 » Toison d’Or Gallery, Brussels, Belgium (2022); “Vu’Cumprà/Paraboles”, Bozar, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels, Belgium (2016).

He has participated in several international group exhibitions: Survival kit 14 Festival, Centre for Contemporary Art, Riga, Latvia (2023); « Dérive en Péninsule » at L’Atlas, Paris, France (2023); « Le pas suspendu » Irène Laub Gallery, Brussels, Belgium (2022); « Time Is Going » 14th Biennale of Contemporary African Art, Dak’Art, Dakar (SN) (2022); Operation Corruption & Dilution, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris (2021); “Généalogies Futures”, Lubumbashi Biennale, Congo RDC (2019); “Material Insanity“, curator Janine Gaëlle Dieudji & Meriem Berrada, MACAAL, Marrakech, Morocco (2019); “Digital Imaginaries - Africas in Production“, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany (2018); “One place after another“, curator Viktor Misiano, The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, Moscow, Russia (2018); “Commissions“, curator Bernard Blistène & Yves Goldstein, KANAL - Centre Pompidou, Brussels, Belgium (2018); “Second Life“, curator Janine Gaëlle Dieudji, MACAAL, Marrakech, Morocco (2018); “Every Time A Ear di Sound”, the Documenta 14 Radio Program, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin (2017); “Marseille Résonance”, MuCEM, Marseille, France (2015); Dakar Biennale, curated by Christine Eyene & Nadira Laggoune, Dakar, Senegal (2012); “Higher Atlas” 4th Marrakech Biennial, curated by Carson Chan & Nadim Samman, Marrakech, Morocco (2012); just to name a few. 

Younes Baba-Ali’s work is part of different collections, both private and public, such as Kanal – Centre Pompidou, Brussels in Belgium; Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium; Middelheim, Antwerp in Belgium; FRAC PACA, Marseille, France; M Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

He was rewarded by the “Léopold Sédar Senghor” prize at the Dakar Biennale, Senegal in 2012 and the “Boghossian” prize during the Belgian “Art’Contest” in Brussels, Belgium in 2014. Winner of the 1rst Prize Eurovideo, Liège, Belgium (2015); 

He also had several residencies, namely at La Villa Albertine, New York (2024); Pioneer Works, New York (2023); “Digital Imaginaries”, Research Residency, Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa (2018); Moussem, Nomadic Arts Center, Brussels, Belgium (2016); MAAC, Maison d’Art Actuel des Chartreux, Brussels, Belgium (2014); Pas de deux, Villa Romana, Florence, Italy (2013); Vive voix, Dakar, Senegal (2013), etc.

He lives and works between Belgium, Morocco and Senegal .

©Morel Donou

 

 

Mbaye Diop (b.1981, Richard-Toll, Senegal) is a multidisciplinary artist based between Senegal and Switzerland. In 2010, he graduated from the National School of Arts in Dakar and taught visual arts in the city of Saint-Louis until 2019. He graduated from a master's degree in contemporary art practices at HEAD Geneva (Haute école d'art et de design) in 2022.

He works with various media, including drawing, painting, performance, sculpture, and video, creating site specific installations. Mbaye Diop’s work has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions, including : “Balle de Match” at Selebe Yoon, Dakar, Senegal (2022); "De l'arbre à palabre à l'arbre numérique", La Becque, Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland (2020); "Colobane", Espace eeeh! Nyon, Switzerland (2020); "Chaussures Usées", Centre culturel Blaise Senghor, Dakar (2019); "Autour du poisson" Galerie Skopia, Geneva, (2019); “Int rospection", Institut Français, Saint Louis (2018); Wagni Diour espace eeeeh, Nyon, Switzerland (2018); "Mame Coumba Bang",Théâtre de l'Orangerie, Geneva, Switzerland (2018); espace d'art EEEEH!, Nyon, Switzerland (2018); "Le bon mouton", Institut Français, Saint-Louis, Senegal (2017); Galerie Ethiopique, Saint-Louis, Senegal (2016).

His work has also been selected for group shows: "Color Line", Printemps Culturels, Quartier Général (QG), Neuchâtel, Switzerland (2023); "Dérive en Péninsule", L'Atlas, Paris, France (2023); The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize, Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa (2023); "Ĩ Ndaffa#/Forger/Out of fire", Dakar Biennale, curated by El Hadji Malick Ndiaye (2022).

He has held several artist residencies, including at Selebe Yoon, Dakar (2022); Espace d'art Eeeeh, Nyon, Switzerland (2021); La Becque, La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland (2020); Résidence Trelex, Switzerland (2020).

He receives the UEMOA prize for the Dakar Biennale in 2022; and the URTI/UNESCO prize for his radio project "Maam Kumba Bang" in 2023. He has also been nominated for the Norval Sovereign African Art Prize in Cape Town, South Africa in 2023. `

He presented performances and screenings at numerous events, conferences and festivals, notably for "Neuchâtel empreintes coloniales" organized by the City of Neuchâtel (2024); "Ecrans Urbains", Lausanne (2023); "Apprendre de Dakar" at Plateforme 10 and "Construire Dakar”, both organized by FAR (Forum d'Architectures, Lausanne), Lausanne (2023 & 2022); the Canadian Center for Architecture at the Musée Théodore Monod, Dakar (2022); "Thiof" at Paris Internationale, Paris (2021).    

Mbaye Diop is in numerous important public and private collections across the US, Europe and Africa namely, Musée de Nyon (Switzerland), CAAC - Jean Pigozzi Collection (Switzerland), JOM collection (Senegal) to name a few.

© Morel Donou

 

 

The Senegalese-Mauritanian artist and film director Hamedine Kane (born in 1983 in Mauritania) lives and works between Brussels, Paris and Dakar. Trained as a librarian in Nouakchott, he made his first trip to Europe in 2004 after obtaining a scholarship for book professions in Paris. Shortly after, he decided to base himself in Brussels where he developed his practice, based on his own experience of migration and itinerant trajectories but also that of those he came into close contact with.

Hamedine Kane has participated in numerous festivals, biennials and exhibitions in internationally. His solo exhibitions include: « Inhabitable | Re-imaginer les devenirs », Pointculture, Brussels, Belgium, curated by Aude Tournaye (2019-2020) and et «Salesman of the revolt», Clark House Initiative, Mumbai, India (2018).

His work was also part of several group exhibitions such as the 35th Ljubljana Biennale of graphic arts, with the School of Mutants, Slovenia (2023); « Dérives en Péninsule », L’Atlas, Paris, France (2023); « Maa ka Maaya ka ca a yere kono », Les Rencontres de Bamako, artistic director: Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Mali (2022); "When Nature Feels", Momenta Biennale, Montreal, Canada, curator: Stephanie Hessler (2021); "What is Forgotten and What Remains," Museum of Immigration History, Paris, France (2021) and Macaal Museum, Marrakech, Morocco (2021); "Words Create Images," Casablanca Biennial, Morocco, curator: Christine Eyene (2021); "Genealogies Futures," La Biennale de Lubumbashi VI, Congo, curated by Sandrine Colard (2019); "Salesman of the revolt," Clark House Initiative, Mumbai, India (2018); "Every Time A Ear Di Sound," Documenta 14, Kassel, Germany curated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Elena Agudio and Marcus Gammel (2017).

In 2018, he co-initiated with Stéphane Verlet-Bottero, « The School of Mutants » a collaborative art and research platform that was presented in numerous Biennials and institutions including « N-daffa - Forger », curated by Malick El Hadji Ndiaye, Dakar Biennale (2022); « Still Present! » Curated by Kader Attia, Berlin Biennale, Germany (2022); « You and I don't live on the same planet », Taipei Biennale, curated by Bruno Latour, Martin Guinard, Eva Lin, Taiwan (2020); « UFA-Universities of African Futures »; Lieu Unique, Nantes, France (2020); "The Architecture of Degrowth", Architecture Triennial, Oslo, Norway (2019) to name a few.

His video works have been shown at the Tate Modern in London, England; Kanal Centre-Pompidou in Brussels, Belgium; Kunsthalle Trondheim in Trondheim, Norway; the Sainsbury Center, Norwich, England, among others.

As a filmmaker, his film "The Blue House" has been screened at numerous festivals namely OpenCity Film documentary, London; Biografilm Festival, Bologna; Millennium Documentary Festival, Brussels; RIDM, Montreal. His film The Blue House received a special jury mention at the IDFA in Amsterdam in 2020.

Prior to Villa Médicis, he had several residencies including at the Cité des Arts in Paris (2022), Clark House Initiative, Mumbai, India (2018); Centre d'Ecritures Cinématographiques, Moulin Andé, Normandy, France (2018); Villa Vassilieff, Paris, France (2016) and Kawkaw Residence, le 18, Marrakech, Morocco (2016)

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