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Stevenson is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Meschac Gaba, Citoyen du Monde. Conceptualised as a sequel to Money, Money, Money which showed at the gallery from February, this group of works pays close attention to globalisation, nationalism and citizenship, among other significant areas of focus in the artist's practice.
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Globalloon, 2013
'And the general terms of his outlook are clearly stated: Gaba, while considering himself a citizen of the world and acting as one, refuses to fall into the globalization trap. At a time when some would have us believe we have entered the era of post-ethnicity – a jarring intellectual absurdity – his work wears its rootedness proudly, and at times even betrays a certain nationalist posture.'
― Simon Njami: Meschac Gaba: The Constant Gardener (2010)
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african unity, 2018
'Thus it would be futile to disconnect the different periods of his life from one another. The Meschac Gaba who is working between Holland and Benin today is no different from the young man grappling with his earliest experiences several years ago. What has changed about him – that is to say, in his perception of the role of an artist in society – is that his horizons have expanded. He has moved beyond the strict limits of a national scene to the globalized complexity of the space that is international art. Like the American writer James Baldwin realizing he was “black” only after leaving Harlem, I would claim that Meschac Gaba became aware of his African identity after leaving Cotonou.’
― Simon Njami: Meschac Gaba: The Constant Gardener (2010)
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project voyage, 2012
'For Voyages, I wrapped flags into bundles, tied each bundle to a wooden cane, and laid these out on the wooden pallets that I often use in installations. The flags, all made by women dressmakers from Cotonou, are from countries and confederations that have worldwide influence: the European Union, United States, African Union, Vatican, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), China, United Kingdom, United Nations, Arabic League, Israel, Brazil and Tibet. The wooden canes can be seen as pilgrims’ sticks or as the defensive weapons of nomadic pastors which metaphorically signify the defensive object of the contemporary traveller: the passport.'
― Meschac Gaba, Le Monde (2013)
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'In Africa, he thought, the human being somehow still manages to claim centre stage as a human being. That had to be reflected in his art. But how? How could he create art about Africa while at the same time leaving African arts tradition behind?'
― Anna Tilroe, Meschac Gaba and the inflation of reality (2001)
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Zimbabwe Survival, 2016
'Regarding globalization, monetization, ecology, migratory flux, non-Western aesthetics, painting, religion, he took notes, brought us his observations. At times with a playful touch, at times in a grave tone, at times with distant humor, but always from the frontlines of news that doesn’t necessarily make the front pages. This entire system of observation is articulated in a quasi-scientific manner. As if the artist disposed of a list of themes that he planned to revisit, update and deconstruct every so often. His Africanism is not related to any flag, nor to a nationality (even though he did play with the idea of flags, even though he does work regularly in Cotonou), but to greater humanity. It is a way of behaving and looking at the world, rather than asserting a claim of identity. The greater the progress he makes in his work, the more appeased he seems, the more reconciled with a world that does not turn, but that one must, nonetheless, love, because it is the only one we have.'
― Simon Njami: Meschac Gaba: The Constant Gardener (2010)
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'Among the greatest representatives of cultural globalisation, of the postcolonial position and of today’s diaspora reality, through all the assorted practices in which he variously engages, Gaba actually achieves a radical deconstruction of the concept of identity. Engaged in a critical redefinition of the new relationships between economic power, migratory flow and local cultures, Gaba’s entire artistic project tends to dismantle the ideological construction of alterity and to undermine “essentialist” principles, along with all the stereotypes of historical-cultural identity. Far from claiming any ideal or “colour based” sense of belonging, his attention is focused entirely upon practices of adaptation and processes of cultural transformation. A true exponent of “migratory” thought, Gaba takes metamorphosis and transformations as his working paradigms… All his objects are versions of altered ready-mades, recycled artefacts, forms deconstructed and reassembled, behaviour patterns which have been manipulated, variants of ordinary objects. The essential metaphorical displacement of things and people in his museum is the work of someone who sees any fully established subjectivity as ideological and illusory.'
― Marco Scotini, Meschac Gaba: Le Maître Sage. Politics of Cultural Representation (2010)
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Memorial for Drowned Refugees, 2016
'Gaba's Memorial for Drowned Refugees reenacts traditional funerary monuments from a contemporary standpoint. Made from a simple pile of blankets and a few lanterns, the installation symbolizes bereavement according to the funeral ritual that families in Benin perform when a loved one drowns at sea. The lamps provide a guiding light for the deceased's lost soul, while the blankets keep her spirit warm. The memorial commemorates the seven thousand plus refugees who lost their lives crossing the Mediterranean. It also honors those who survived the crossing, as they too must mourn those they lost.'
― Massimiliano Gioni and Micola Brambilla, The Restless Earth (2017)
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Détresse, 2017
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'Since the late nineties, Meschac Gaba has investigated constructs of cultural identity. Inspired by his own reality between the Netherlands and his native country Benin in West Africa, his work playfully explores various relationships—between Africa and the West, the local and the global, art and everyday life. He translates themes such as globalization, capitalism, ecology, migration, religion and power into a visual language that is jolting without being shocking, that brings people together without cloaking them in social romanticism.'
― Julia Grosse, There is no originality in my work other than my own: Meeting Meschac Gaba at home (2014)
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Meschac Gaba: Citoyen du Monde
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