The Birth of Stockholm..!

Georges Adéagbo’s exhibition “La naissance de Stockholm..!” at Moderna Museet features installations based on the historic and cultural aspects of Sweden and Benin.

In the exhibition “La naissance de Stockholm..! / The Birth of Stockholm..!” at Moderna Museet Georges Adéagbo (1942 Cotonou, Benin) brings together Sweden and Benin, to generate displacements and new narratives.

One vital aspect of Adéagbo’s method is his examination of how the viewer’s own cultural context explains and invests objects and events with meaning. His complex collages are based on his exploration of the culture and history of a city or place. Books, newspapers and clothes bought in flea markets in Stockholm and Cotonou are combined with illustrations and woodcuts and intertwined with the artist’s hand-written texts.

One of the oldest depictions of Stockholm is found in the Sun Dog Painting in Stockholm Cathedral. It shows the optical phenomenon of halos, an atmospheric event that appeared over the city in April 1535. During one of his preparatory visits to Stockholm, Adéagbo was captivated by this renaissance work of art. He has “translated” the Sun Dog Painting by ordering a woodcut of the painting from an artisan in his hometown of Cotonou. The paintings in Adéagbo’s installations are never made by himself but ordered from local artisans in Benin who make them according to his instructions.

In this exhibition, Adéagbo also explores the history and art collection of the Moderna Museet. Iconic western modernist works have been recreated in new versions. The goat with a car tyre in Robert Rauschenberg’s famous Monogram (1955–59) is reinterpreted in Adéagbo’s installation as Abraham’s biblical sacrifice. The exhibition features paintings based on photos from various pivotal events in the museum’s history, for instance, a photo from 1967 of the Moderna Museet’s former director Pontus Hultén and the artist Lucio Fontana, in the form of a black-and-white painting.

until September 7, 2014
Georges Adéagbo
La naissance de Stockholm..! The Birth of Stockholm..!
Curated by Matilda Olof-Ors
Co-curator Stephan Köhler
Moderna Museet
Exercisplan 4, Stockholm

The Birth of Stockholm..!

Georges Adéagbo’s exhibition “La naissance de Stockholm..!” at Moderna Museet features installations based on the historic and cultural aspects of Sweden and Benin.

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