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Posts tagged Hervé Youmbi

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INTO NATURE: OUT OF DARKNESS

INTO NATURE: OUT OF DARKNESS

Into Nature: out of Darkness is a biennial art route laid out in the ancient landscape of Drenthe showing works by eminent international artists. After the celebrated first edition of 2016 situated in the north of Drenthe, Into Nature returns in 2018. From 1 July to 16 September, visitors discover works by Adrián Villar Rojas, Heather & Ivan Morison, Olafur Eliasson and others set in the landscape of the southwest of the province.

This summer’s theme is ‘Into Nature: Out of Darkness’. Works of art set in various types of landscape, where humankind has been looking for its place in nature for thousands of years. The route starts on one of the darkest places in the Netherlands: the Holtingerveld. Another starting location is Frederiksoord, in the middle of the Koloniën van Weldadigheid (nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage List). The Huis van Weldadigheid, the Sterrenbos and the former Tuinbouwschool – where nature has taken root since it was closed – have been made available as exhibition spaces especially for Into Nature.

The team of curators led by Hans den Hartog Jager has succeeded in attracting an international mix of twenty renowned artists. Argentinian sculptor Adrián Villar recreated dozens of nests of the Hornero, a South-American songbird were placed in the Drenthe landscape. British artist duo Heather & Ivan Morison created an installation that can be booked as a place to stay the night for exhibition visitors. Iceland’s Olafur Eliasson made his mark in this upcoming edition with his radiant work of light art. HerInto Nature: Out of Darkness is an exciting art route that you simply cannot afford to miss. Hervé Youmbi created a dialogue between African funeral monuments, Aloalo, and a Neolithic Hunebed.

Hervé Youmbi talks to Ex_posure about this project.

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Exhibitions / Interviews

Hervé Youmbi, Celestial Masks, Sculpture Projects Münster 2017

Celestial Masks by Hervé Youmbi at Sculpture Projects Münster 2017

Every ten years since 1977, the Skulptur Projekte has been offering a special exhibition experience: Artists develop site-specific works for Münster—sculptures, but also video installations or performances. These projects inscribe themselves in the city’s structural, historical and social contexts while at the same time pointing beyond its boundaries. The artistic explorations are as much concerned with issues of the global present and reflections on the concept of sculpture as with questions about the relationship between public and private space in times of increasing digitalization.

Skulptur Projekte Münster is considered one of the world’s most important exhibition dedicated to sculpture and public art. It was launched in 1977, and its artistic director since the very first edition has always been Kasper König. This year, the co-curators are Britta Peters and Marianne Wagner. From 10 June to 1 October 2017, the fifth edition of the Skulptur Projekte will show thirty-five new artistic productions.

Cameroonian artist Hervé Youmbi (1973-) presents the project Celestial Masks in the area of the Überwasser cemetery, a medieval Christian burial site. His Masks are either suspended among the trees or mounted on them.

In a clear and playful way Hervé Youmbi deals with the long and problematic history of Western modernity with masks from the African continent. He contradicts the idea of a singular identity, using objects and an iconographic, hybrid system of forms taken from Western pop cultures as well as from precolonial and colonial art production in West and Central Africa. At the same time his projects powerfully critique the global art market, the spaces and practices to which it gives rise, and the larger, late-capitalist system to which they collectively belong.

Hervé Youmbi talked to Eleni Zymaraki about his installation currently presented at Sculpture Projeckte Münster 2017 and how this connects with his earlier ongoing projects – Totems to Haunt Our Dreams, Visages de masques – related to African masks.

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