Talking Objects in Conversation: Viyé Diba

Viyé Diba in Conversation with Malick Ndiaye

During a three-week residency, Viyé Diba, together with artist Caroline Gueye, entered into a dialogue with the objects in the collection of the Musée Théodore Monod. In particular, he explored the question of how to re-establish the link between the objects and modern Senegalese society.

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" on Dec 4, 21 at the Musée Théodore Monod in Dakar brought together artists and experts from different disciplines to discuss the identities of objects and their inherent knowledge.

In the context of Le Langage des Objets, the Viyé Diba and Caroline Gueye presented the works created during the residency and discussed with El Hadji Malick Ndiaye, Hamady Bocoum, Mamarame Seck and with the TALKING OBJECTS curators Isabel Raabe and Mahret Ifeoma Kupka.

About Viyé Diba

Viyé Diba was born on 31 December 1954 in Karantaba, Senegal.
He graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure d'Education Artistique in Dakar and from the Villa Arson International Pilot School of Art and Research in Nice, as well as obtaining a postgraduate degree in geography at the University of Nice on the theme of "urban health and aesthetics". He was a professor at the National School of Arts in Dakar where he participated in the training of several generations of artists.
His work is presented in numerous exhibitions around the world and is included in several individual and institutional collections.
Winner of the Grand Prix Léopold Sédar Senghor at the Dakar Biennale in 1998, Viyé Diba has nevertheless continued his quest for meaning in an environment where the natural environment and public space are threatened by various forms of aggression. Giving new life to domestic and industrial waste, restoring discarded materials becomes an action of public health. Viyé chooses to show how transformation can be socially or economically useful and how it is possible to derive a clear aesthetic value from it. Viyé Diba lives and works in Dakar.

Before the event, artist Viyé Diba and Malick Ndiaye came together to discuss his work.
Videography by Kerry Etola Viderot. Video in French with English Subtitles.

© Talking Objects and Kerry Etola Viderot. Talking Objects in Conversation: Viyé Diba