The pale little bones of the typical modern African assemblage bespeak the gleaming sunlight of the sand dunes and the bathtub-warm salty ocean, more than death. The African modernism made of poor materials, found objects of quotidian mythologies and a tendency to please finds in Viye Diba its master and is otherwise also self-confidently lived up and cared for. Another parallel exhibition at a branch of the Goethe Institute pays tribute to the small wood and stick objects of Camara, a sculptor from Senegal. Here also, a vain refinement and beautiful harmony on sand. Diplomats, ambassadors and other prominent figures give their offerings.
Red dots suggest the existence of a local art market.
The back street is filled with Mercedes limousines, the house fa ades across the way are wrapped with patterned plastic matting, and the West European guests take snap shots of them as an example of a Senegalese Christo. Logically, in addition to the uncensored art markets and Cultural Village, which offered products of self-help collectives and prisoners, the biennial was also accompanied by a stylish furniture and textile design exhibit. Yet these strident Chaiselongues made of iron and ethno-prints could not be afforded by the locals. For them, the market takes place in the narrow and noisy streets where the European tourist succumbs to the constant bombardment of the consumer war. Every night of this one-week biennial spectacle concluded in a chic restaurant with the strident creations of a fashion show and theatrical performances by young talents from Mauritius to the Ivory Coast.