Magiciens de la terre
Magiciens de la Terre was a
Background
Primitivism
Magiciens de la Terre literally translates to "Magicians of the Earth." In 1989, in the wake of the infamous "
Martin's show worked to confront problems presented by several exhibitions that perpetuated a colonialist mentality, the most recent being the aforementioned show, "Primitivism" in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Many critics condemned "Primitivism", as it fell into a similar Modernist trap of providing only a pure aesthetization of the work of native cultures. "Primitivism" stated that it was only interested in displaying tribal works that influenced Modern artists and studying how this phenomenon functioned within the Modernist discourse. Many of the tribal works were presented vis-à-vis Modernist works when little or no historical evidence of these works drawing inspiration from specific "primitive" works or, in some cases, even a "primitive" idiom. (Varnedoe 13)
L'Exposition Coloniale
In addition to the "Primitivism" show, Magiciens de la Terre worked with the 1931 show, L’Exposition Coloniale as a counter-reference point. This exhibition was organized in a typical colonial fashion, to show the economic and moral superiority of the French country, as well as the products of the grateful colonized. The souvenir medal from the exhibition speaks volumes. The bas-relief features a Western woman on the right (A personification of France with references to allegorical representations of Liberty, Truth, or Wisdom) outstretching her arm to gently comfort and protect her smiling representations of ethnic stereotypes. The Paris Colonial Exhibition is covered within the Magiciens catalog, where this show's colonialist ideology is explained. This show served as a definition of what Magiciens was not.
Paris Biennial
Although Magiciens served to counteract the ideology expressed in the two shows, Magiciens was also meant to resolve some long-standing problems of the format of the
With the failings of the previous shows in mind, Martin organized Magiciens by selecting one hundred artists from around the world: fifty from the so-called "centers" of the world (the United States and Western Europe) and fifty from the "margins" (Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Australia). No specific criteria were set up for the selection of the individual works in the show as long as this numerical ratio was maintained. When selecting artists from outside the Western tradition, the curator claimed to choose artists according to their artworks’ "visual and sensual experiences." Martin explains:
I want to play the role of someone who uses artistic intuition alone to select objects which come from totally different cultures, … But obviously, I also want to incorporate into that process the critical thinking which contemporary anthropology provides on the problem of ethnocentrism, the relativity of culture, and intercultural relations. (Buchloh 122–133)
But let us not forget, after all, I have to think of this project as an "exhibition." That is, if an ethnographer suggests a particular example of cult . . . but the objects of this culture would not communicate sufficiently with a Western spectator in a visual-sensuous manner, I would refrain from exhibiting them. (Buchloh 122–133)
Critical reception
In an interview with
Magiciens de la Terre was reviewed by Jeremy Lewison for The Burlington Magazine in August 1989. Lewison gave examples of how the curation of Western artwork with the "margined' art creates cross-currents impacting viewers perception of the Western artists' attempts:
The ritualistic and religious nature of the Aborigine work endows Long's circle with a meaning which, in another context, it might not have ... Where religion, sex, death and functionalism seem to be the basis for the creation of most forms of 'ethnic' art, art itself is often the only reason for the making of western art ... Baldessari's photographic story-book seems tired and knowing when juxtaposed with the innocence of Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, whose own imaginative tales deal with the language of animals, stones and trees and illustrate the evolution of the nuclear missile from the chicken-bone by way of the arrow, and whose view of history (Caesar and Ulysses, for example), previously known to westerners in a European form seems equally plausible as African history.[3]
Artists featured
- Marina Abramović (Serbia)
- Dennis Adams (US)
- Sunday Jack Akpan (Nigeria)
- Jean-Michel Alberola (Algeria)
- Amidou Dossou (Benin)
- Giovanni Anselmo (Italy)
- Rasheed Araeen (Pakistan)
- Nhuche Kaji Bajracharya (Nepal)
- John Baldessari (US)
- José Bédia (Cuba)
- Joe Ben Jr (US)
- Jean-Pierre Bertrand (France)
- Gabriel Bien-Aimé (Haiti)
- Alighiero Boetti (Italy)
- Christian Boltanski (France)
- Erik Bulatov (Russia)
- Louise Bourgeois (France)
- Stanley Brouwn (Suriname)
- Frédéric Bruly Bouabré (Ivory Coast)
- Daniel Buren (France)
- James Lee Byars (US)
- Seni Camara(Senegal)
- Mike Chukwukelu (Nigeria)
- Francesco Clemente (Italy)
- Marc Couturier (France)
- Tony Cragg (UK)
- Enzo Cucchi (Italy)
- Cleitus Dambi (Papua New Guinea)
- Neil Dawson (New Zealand)
- Baua Devi (India)
- Maestre Didi (Brazil)
- Braco Dimitrijević (Bosnia)
- Nick Dumbrang (Papua New Guinea)
- Efiaimbelo (Madagascar)
- Nathan Emedem (Nigeria)
- John Fundi (Mozambique)
- Julio Galán (Mexico)
- Moshe Gershuni (Israel)
- Enrique Gomez (Panama)
- Dexing Gu (China)
- Hans Haacke (Germany)
- Rebecca Horn (Germany)
- Shirazeh Houshiary (Iran)
- Huang Yong Ping (China)
- Alfredo Jaar (Chile)
- Nera Jambruk (Papua New Guinea)
- Ilya Kabakov (Ukraine)
- Tatsuo Kawaguchi (Japan)
- On Kawara (Japan)
- Anselm Kiefer (Germany)
- Bodys Isek Kingelez (DR Congo)
- Per Kirkeby (Denmark)
- John Knight (US)
- Agbagli Kossi (Togo)
- Barbara Kruger (US)
- Paulosee Kuniliusee (Canada)
- Kane Kwei (Ghana)
- Boujemaâ Lakhdar (Morocco)
- Georges Liautaud (Haiti)
- Felipe Linares (Mexico)
- Richard Long (UK)
- Esther Mahlangu (South Africa)
- Karel Malich (Czech Republic)
- Jivya Soma Mashe (India) *[included in catalog but did not participate in the show]
- John Mawurndjul (Australia)
- Cildo Meireles (Brazil)
- Mario Merz (Italy)
- Miralda (Spain)
- Tatsuo Miyajima (Japan)
- Norval Morrisseau (Canada)
- Juan Muñoz (Spain)
- Henry Munyaradzi (Zimbabwe)
- Claes Oldenburg (Sweden)
- Nam June Paik (South Korea)
- Lobsang Palden (Nepal)
- Wesner Philidor (Haiti)
- Sigmar Polke (Germany)
- Temba Rabden (Tibet) *[included in catalog but did not participate in the show]
- Ronaldo Pereira Rego (Brazil)
- Chéri Samba (DR Congo)
- Sarkis (Turkey)
- Raja Babu Sharma (India)
- Jangarh Singh Shyam (India)
- Bhorda Sherpa (Nepal)
- Nancy Spero (US)
- Daniel Spoerri (Romania)
- Hiroshi Teshigahara (Japan)
- Yousuf Thannoon (Iraq)
- Lobsang Thinle (Nepal)
- Cyprien Tokoudagba (Benin)
- Twins Seven Seven (Nigeria)
- Ulay (Germany)
- Ken Unsworth (Australia)
- Chief Mark Unya (Nigeria)
- Coosje van Bruggen (Netherlands)
- Patrick Vilaire (Haiti)
- Acharya Vyakul (India)
- Jeff Wall (Canada)
- Lawrence Weiner (US)
- Ruedi Wem (Papua New Guinea)
- Krzysztof Wodiczko (Poland)
- Jimmy Wululu (Australia)
- Jack Wunuwun (Australia)
- Yang Jiechang (China)
- (Comunità) Aboriginal community of Yuendumu (Australia)
- Zush (Spain)
References
- ^ Hou, Hanru. "In Defense of Difference: Notes on Magiciens de la terre, Twenty-five Years Later." Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art 13, no. 3 (2014): 7–18.
- ^ Martin, Jean-Hubert. "THE WHOLE EARTH SHOW." Interview by Benjamin H. D. Buchloh. Art in America July 1989: n. pag. Print.
- ^ Lewison, Jeremy. "route:8df418f601cc63bac5a3ebf7a8ecb67c Review: 'Bilderstreit' and 'Magiciens De La Terre'. Paris and Cologne." The Burlington Magazine 131.1037 (1989): 585–87.JSTOR. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.
- Magiciens de la Terre, Editions du Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1989. Catalogue of the exhibition with texts by Homi Bhabha, Mark Francis, Pierre Gaudibert, Aline Luque, André Magnin, Bernard Marcadé, Jean-Hubert Martin, Thomas McEvilley, Jacques Soulillou, Adriana Valdés.
- Okwui Enwezor and Olu Oguibe, Introduction in Reading the Contemporary. African Art from Theory to the Marketplace, (eds.) Olu Oguibe and Okwui Enwezor, Institute of International Visual Arts (inIVA) and MIT Press, London, 1999, p. 9.
- Clémentine Deliss, Seven Stories About Modern Art in Africa, Flammarion, New York, 1995, p. 14/314 (note 6).
- Pierre Gaudibert, Art africain contemporain, Editions Cercle d'Art, Paris, 1991, p. 16; 17.
- Susan Vogel, Foreword in Africa Explores: 20th Century African Art, p. 12.
- Marie-Laure Bernadac in Africa Remix, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2005, p. 11.
- "Third Text", Special Issue Magiciens de la Terre: Les Cahiers, n. 6, Spring 1989.
- Roberto Pinto, Nuove geografie artistiche, chapter devoted to Magiciens de la Terre, postmediabooks, 2012, pp. 63–82.
- Lucy Steeds and other authors, Making Art Global: Volume 2: Magiciens de la Terre 1989 (Exhibition Histories), Walther König, Köln, 2013.
- Hannah McGivern, Art Newspaper Vol23 Issue259: The Artists Featured in "Les Magiciens" 25 Years Ago, Art Newspaper, 2014, p. 37.