What knowledge is hidden in objects? What memories are archived in them? What do they have to tell us and how do we make them speak? The event "Le Langage des Objects" at the Musée Théodore Monod in Dakar brings together artists and experts from different disciplines to discuss the identities of objects and their inherent knowledge.

During a three-week residency, artist Viyé Diba, together with artist Caroline Gueye, enters into a dialogue with the objects in the collection of the Musée Théodore Monod. In particular, he explores the question of how to re-establish the link between the objects and modern Senegalese society. The artists will present the works created during the residency and discuss with El Hadji Malick Ndiaye (art historian, curator Musée Théodore Monod), Hamady Bocoum (archaeologist, director of the Musée des Civilisations Noires), Mamarame Seck (linguist, curator at the musée historique de Gorée, IFAN, Ch. A. Diop, Dakar) and with the curators of the project TALKING OBJECTS Isabel Raabe and Mahret Ifeoma Kupka (Germany).

The think tank, exhibition, and event series TALKING OBJECTS LAB explores forms and practices of knowledge from the African continent and tests strategies of mediation and visualisation. The LAB accompanies the development of the TALKING OBJECTS ARCHIVE, a digital archive for decolonial knowledge production, which is scheduled to go online in 2024. The Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire (IFAN Ch. A. Diop), to which the Musée Théodore Monod belongs, is a partner of the project in Senegal.

The event is supported by the Federal Foreign Office.

Image in the digital flyer: Helm mask from the Sandé Society, Sierra Leone, Mende, Kénéma region. Courtesy Musée Théodore Monod - IFAN, Dakar.