The Fire of Origins - BISO 2023 Celebrates Contemporary African Sculpture
The International Biennial of Sculpture of Ouagadougou (BISO) unveils the diverse world of contemporary sculpture. BISO is becoming a central cultural event on the continent; its 2023 edition, titled "The Fire of Origins," invites us to celebrate African creativity.
Detail of Shaka Fumu Kabaka’s (RDC) work for BISO 2023.
© Mélinda Fourn
First biennial devoted to contemporary sculpture on the African continent, the International Biennial of Sculpture of Ouagadougou (BISO) is a key artistic event in Africa initiated by photographer Nyaba Léon Ouédraogo and gallerist Christophe Person.
After the success of the first two editions, in 2019 with Dare to Invent the future, and in 2021 with The Ambiguous Adventure, the BISO biennial returns in 2023 with The Fire of Origins, strengthening its position as a platform for the promotion of artists and contemporary sculpture through exhibitions and residencies.
Artist-in-residence Evans Mbugua (Kenya / France) bronze casting at Centre National d’Artisanat d’Art (CNAA) - Ouagadougou. © Mélinda Fourn
Artist-in-residence Evans Mbugua (Kenya / France) bronze casting at Centre National d’Artisanat d’Art (CNAA) - Ouagadougou. © Mélinda Fourn
Through his novel The Fire of Origins, Congolese author Emmanuel Dongala is a keen observer of the new African intellectual and spiritual paradigm, a synthesis of holistic sapience specific to Africa, augmented by the sum of globalized knowledge.
We find this alliage in the arts, where ancestral craft techniques - sculpture, beading, metal casting, textiles, ceramics, painting - are perpetuated with technical developments by artists from the Continent (Sadikou Oukpedjo, Hamidou Koumaré, Mohamed Keïta, Shaka Fumu Kabaka, Samuel Nnorom…), its diasporas (Mélinda Fourn, Evans Mbugua…) and Elsewhere.
Artist-in-residence Sadikou Oukpedjo (Togo / Ivory Coast) woodworking at Centre National d’Artisanat d’Art (CNAA) - Ouagadougou. © Mélinda Fourn
Artist-in-residence Hamidou Koumaré (Mali) welding in the Dapoya neighborhood of Ouagadougou. © Mélinda Fourn
BISO 2023’s co-curator and residencies coordinator, Louise Thurin, in the exhibition space (FESPACO’s headquarters in Ouagadougou). On the background, is the work of Malian artist, Hamidou Koumaré. © Mélinda Fourn
Detail of Mohamed Keïta’s (Mali) work for BISO 2023. © Mélinda Fourn
View of the exhibition space being set up. With upfront an installation by artist Barthélémy Toguo (Cameroon) and on the background, one by Samuel Nnorom (Nigeria). © Mélinda Fourn
BISO Biennale will return for a fourth edition in 2025. Applications will open in the following year.
For more informations, please follow : https://www.instagram.com/bisobiennale/