April 5 › Sept. 25, 2011

AFRICAN VOODOO

The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is pleased to present for the first time an exceptional group of Vodun sculptures from the collection Anne and Jacques Kerchache, in a scenography conceived by Enzo Mari, one of the great masters of Italian design. Bringing together nearly one hundred bocio and including works that now belong to other private collectors, Vodun: African Voodoo is the first major exhibition devoted uniquely to this West African sculptural tradition. Organized in close collaboration with Anne Kerchache (today Mrs Kamal Douaoui), the exhibition also reveals the personal notes, letters and photographs of Jacques Kerchache, that relate his travels to Africa, his research on Vodun, and his projects for presenting the Primitive Arts in French museums. The presentation of archive film footage of the expeditions of Jacques Kerchache situates Vodun within its context, providing the visitor with a deeper understanding of an art that reflects the timeless and universal concerns of humanity.

VODUN: shells, and locks, covered with a thick layer artists behind them. It was at this time, AN ANCIENT RELIGIOUS CULT of matter that may include clay, palm oil during his first trips to the birthplace of and sacrificial materials, these strange and Vodun currently known as the Republic of Few subjects carry as much mystique and uncanny sculptures emanate qualities , that he discovered the aesthetic misunderstanding in the West as Vodun. of tension and foreboding. Indeed these potency and stunning originality of Vodun Vodun is an ancient religious cult and works, with their accumulation of diverse statuary and began to bring together what philosophical tradition originating from the materials, are used for aggressive and has become one of the most significant “Slave coast” of and still active protective ends to effect various changes in existing collections of African Vodun today in the region, as it is practiced by life. They seem to have a force that is both sculpture. Frequently called upon to populations from the coasts of to visual and metaphysical, as indicated by serve as an advisor or curator, Jacques Western . Through the slave trade their name in Fon bocio, which means Kerchache strongly encouraged French of the 17th and 18th centuries, this “empowered (bo) cadaver (cio).” Placed museums to move beyond what was a religious cult was brought to the Caribbean inside in houses and temples or outside primarily ethnographic approach to the as well as North and South America where in villages, fields or at crossroads, their Primitive Arts in order to consider them it mixed with Catholicism as well as other functions are as complex and varied for their universal aesthetic value. It was religious traditions. Vodun cosmology as the problems individuals face. Some under his initiative that the Pavillon des centers around the Vodun spirits and other are intended to protect crops, others to Sessions—devoted to the arts of Africa, elements of divine essence that govern the encourage fertility, still others to keep Oceania and the Americas—was created Earth in a hierarchy that range in power one’s family secure from sorcery. at the Louvre in 2000 as well as the from the major deities that control the An alchemical object, the bocio is made Quai Branly Museum which opened after forces of nature and human society to of specific empowering materials or his death in 2006. The same open-minded, the spirits of individual streams, trees and medicines that are applied to the surface avant-garde spirit also led Jacques rocks. The followers of Vodun believe or included within a sculpted wooden Kerchache to work with the Fondation there is a link between the visible worlds figure, the symbolic cadaver of the owner. Cartier on many occasions, contributing of the living and the invisible worlds Following consultation with the as an advisor to the thematic exhibitions of the spirits. These worlds are allowed to commissioner of a bocio, a diviner À visage découvert (1992) and être nature communicate through sacrifice, prayer, determines the components of which it (1998) and as an author for the exhibition possession and divination. The term has will be made as well as its means catalog of the contemporary Haitian artist carried various spellings in the West of manufacture. Their complex mix of Patrick Vilaire, Réflexion sur la mort (1997). throughout history—vodu, vodou, voudou, additive elements convey the deepest voodoo, voju—but first appeared in print in rawest features of human thought and THE VODUN EXHIBITION 1658 in the Doctrina christiana, a work by emotion such as jealousy, fear, pain, the ambassador of the King of Allada to despair, distrust, love. For example, the Following these collaborations, Jacques the court of Philip IV of Spain. It has been binding of twine around a statuette can Kerchache and the Fondation Cartier translated by scholars in many ways over be associated with feelings of anger and began planning an exhibition devoted to time. Some have linked the term to the imprisonment, the piercing of a statue with African Vodun statuary, but this project Ewe word vo meaning “hole” or “opening,” wooden pegs with the desire to getting was postponed following his passing. which can be related to that which is to the root of a problem, and the inclusion To commemorate the tenth anniversary of hidden or secret, and du a term for Fa of cowrie shells with longing or desire. his death, the Fondation Cartier has divinition “signs” or “messengers.” The ingredients involved in the making of realized the exhibition project that was his This suggests the meaning of Vodun could a bocio are so secret and their significance dream. Organized with Mrs. Kamal be “messenger of the invisible.” More so varied that only a chosen few are aware Douaoui (who was the wife of Jacques recently, Harvard scholar Suzanne Preston of their exact contents and purpose. Kerchache until his death in 2001), the Blier has suggested that its origins lie in exhibition unveils to the general public the phrase “rest to draw the water,” from JACQUES KERCHACHE: the fascinating and mysterious collection the Fon verbs vo (“to rest”) and dun AN ART EXPERT AND TRAILBLAZER of Vodun objects. (“to draw water”), referencing the necessity The exhibition design realized by Enzo to remain calm when facing whatever We looked on the map for places where there Mari allows these mysterious and difficulties may lie in one’s path. were no roads and that is where we went. 2 impenetrable pieces to speak for themselves in a presentation based on THE ART OF VODUN: A trailblazer and self-taught connoisseur, simplicity, sobriety and elegance. BOCIO SCULPTURE Jacques Kercharche (1942-2001) was known for his exacting eye and profound 1. Amadou Hampâté Bâ. Greetings to the one who has just unraveled knowledge of the Primitive Arts. His 2. Jean-Pierre Lang. Excerpt from “ Le Secret intérieur, ” interview with Jean-Pierre Lang, in Jacques Kerchache. Portraits the enigma of the intertwinings. Every time numerous trips to Africa and later to croisés, Gallimard, Paris / musée du quai Branly, Paris, 2003. a knot is undone, a God is released .1 Central and South America, made him one of the foremost experts on as Bocio sculptures are believed to function well as the Art of the Americas. As early in conjunction with the energies of Vodun as the mid-sixties, Jacques Kerchache deities as mediators between the visible began a series of expeditions on the and the spiritual world. Assemblages of African continent in search of rare and composite materials such as twine, bones, remarkable works of art as well as the great

3 THE JOURNEY OF AN EXHIBITION: AN INTERVIEW WITH ENZO MARI

The Fondation Cartier has invited For Duchamp, it was important to consider Enzo Mari, known for his thoughtful not only oil paintings and bronze rationalism and restraint, to create sculptures as having aesthetic value but the exhibition design. also manufactured objects. Looking at the objects of the exhibition, I sometimes Grazia Quaroni: The first time we discussed this found this same aesthetic quality. project, it became apparent that the subject of Particularly among the smallest, simplest Vodun was not one completely new to you. objects that had been reduced to the essential. More frequently, I noticed they Enzo Mari: No, that’s true. I had the were less interesting as objects of formal opportunity to come in contact with Vodun beauty than as objects of medicine. during a trip. Toward the end of the 1990s, I went to Brazil, to the Bahia region, and These statuettes, as well as their visited an extremely poor village with components, function as a grammar. African roots. There, I took part in a The rope, a recurring attribute, affects festival with singing and dancing, in honor the part of the body it’s wrapped around. of a large tree. And while witnessing Remember, each of these objects has a initiation rites, I saw scenes of ecstasy curative, restorative function. It’s a kind of and fainting. A rooster was sacrificed. grammar. That’s how I see it. I wanted to The members of the community lived in tell the story of each object, but they have small, very modest and simply constructed come to us without stories, without dates. houses. They told me about their arrival Each object is invested with a special from Africa. Precisely the same region that power related to the different materials Jacques Kerchache had visited. I even used by the Vodun priest when he made had the opportunity to speak with a it, as well as by the addition of palm oil 100-year-old priestess. They showed me and medicinal herbs. It seemed to me their divinities that held remedies for that it was possible to tell all of this, in the hardships of life, of war… These one way or another, directly through were little, very simple objects. I was very the exhibition design. interested in these fetishes, which for them were closer to a form of medicine than What was the concept behind the exhibition a work of art. When I got home, I read design? What was your approach to the different books and watched films on the subject. spaces of the Fondation Cartier? So, when I started working on the exhibition, Vodun was not totally foreign I imagined I was Jacques Kerchache to me, although my experience with it arriving for the first time in Benin, with was quite limited. some idea of the subject, but no direct experience. I don’t know anyone, I can’t How did you approach the story of Jacques yet enter any home. So the first things I see Kerchache? The subject of the exhibition? are the largest objects, those standing in front of the houses. I wanted the As to the scenography that I was asked to experience to be the same for visitors here. do for this exhibition, I first thought about Then I meet someone from the village, all that you had told me regarding the past listen to stories, visit homes and discover exchanges between the Fondation Cartier other objects. Similarly, visitors to the and Jacques Kerchache. Then I discovered exhibition will then discover the more the hundred or so Vodun objects—mostly secret objects: those kept in the house. small in size—in the collection of Anne and This defined the second stage of the Jacques Kerchache. And finally, I met with journey of Jacques Kerchache, of the a Vodun expert at the Fondation Cartier. development of his knowledge, and thus, So that was the basis of my work. At first, also defines the second stage of the visit. I looked at these objects primarily from In the main room on the ground floor, the point of view of an anthropologist. the sculptures are placed at their post like But Hervé Chandès, the director of the guardians keeping the evil spirits from Fondation Cartier, explained to me that entering the house. There weren’t many Jacques Kerchache had made his choices statues of this kind to exhibit and they based more on aesthetic criteria. were all very similar. I would have loved to show the houses, but the idea wasn’t to The first time I saw the pieces that were create a film set. Just to exhibit the objects. going to be exhibited, I immediately That was the only choice. thought of Marcel Duchamp. The objects that he chose for his readymades were first Thus, the homes are stylized, reduced to the and foremost very beautiful designs. simple form of a house, the idea of a house Each had, in its own way, a great aesthetic without any particular connotation, and quality. This is true with Fontaine (Fountain identifiable as such by Africans, Europeans, or Urinal) and Porte-Bouteilles (Bottle Rack). everyone. And the sculptures are placed in front quite simply because that’s how they are in reality. It’s a scene constructed with basic forms.

4 The second stage of my journey is a room 48 columns. This is the idea I wanted to on the lower level with 48 columns. This convey. That slowly, by getting closer and is the most important room, where the closer to these objects, Kerchache’s passion visitor enters into the mystery found within for them and his desire to collect them was the houses. In most homes, there are only born. Then comes death. Death has its a few examples of these medicinal objects. own, very specific appearance. Only in the home of the Vodun priest, Through the progression of the exhibition where the components needed to create design, I reconstructed the journey of the these objects are kept, is there the sense of man, the collector, Jacques Kerchache. the divine. Similarly, upon discovering this room, the visitor enters into the heart You have always worked by subtraction. of the mystery. While the use of the objects “Per forza di levare,” as Michelangelo said. is unknown, we do know that they are How would you apply this principle in this case? remedies to improve life. I thought it would be interesting to place all the I played down and resolved the small objects at eye level to avoid an compromises. Subtraction was an absolute accumulative effect. And I chose to requirement for me, less so for some others isolate each object as if it were a Greek involved. That’s why, regardless of the or Roman testina. circumstances, there are always compromises to make. To clarify my desire How does the journey continue? to subtract, let me refer to History. The history of all that’s expressive—music, Then come dreams, delirium, death and the arts… I have found that all intellectual its allegory. In the small room on the lower efforts are never anything other than level the Chariot of Death emerges from desperate processes involving subtraction. the dark waters of a basin, just as Jacques It has always been this way. There are no Kerchache had imagined the presentation formulas, it’s a mysterious process. It can of this work. Perhaps it was his way of only be done in fragments. Under the playing with art. And this is how the weight of scientific observation, you try to journey of the exhibition ends. It ends connect all the fragments. That’s what we with death. strive for. Every project is a puzzle. Always. The principle of subtraction is not unique The Jacques Kerchache archive room, to my poetics, it has been there throughout located on the ground floor, is separate. the history of creativity. It’s not part of the journey. It was not designed to be an integral part of the Every project is a journey, with a journey, but merely to make available beginning and an end. This principle is to the public a different kind of document. clear in literature, but it must also have the These are not works, but rather same importance, the same clarity, in an information about the works. exhibition. I abhor exhibitions where the visitor meanders by chance. An exhibition In this room, there are various documents, must have its journey. I strove to create materials that Jacques Kerchache brought back the design of this exhibition in this light, from his travels. Photographs, films, books, with the limits it imposed on me. handwritten letters, objects, catalogs. The public can look at them, consult them, use Interview by Grazia Quaroni, March 2011. them for research. Tables and chairs are known elements of your work, such as in your 1974 Proposta per un’autoprogettazione. This was, in your own words, a “project for making furniture that the user could assemble simply from raw planks of wood and nails. A basic technique through which anyone with a critical mind could address the production of an object.” The showcases, designed for the exhibition, partake of the same vocabulary. In fact, in these four spaces, one finds four very distinct atmospheres but which together, compose a strong, unified project.

The exhibition design is, of course, a set. I superimposed myself onto the journey of Jacques Kerchache, the collector, the man. After first encountering the venues, the exteriors of the houses, the lower level spaces are then defined by the exhibited works. The condition of man, the desire to escape death is inscribed on the

5 ANNOTATED WORKS BY JACQUES KERCHACHE

FIGURES 1 AND 2 FIGURE 4 FIGURE 6 Placed on top of stakes that are to be This little figure is standing up, with its This little bronze monkey is a type of driven into the ground, these statuettes are head slightly tilted forward, a hunched reliquary. In a small round box on the double: in one case, four legs and two back, no arms and one leg that is front of its body, the presence of mica can separate bodies; in the other, two bodies deliberately shorter than the other. be glimpsed; the two little hanging cords on each side of a central rod, their two Its body is bound up in tightly wrapped once held the keys (one of which is now heads joined together at the nape of the fibers tied around the hasp of a lock missing) to the locks. With its two hands it neck. Neck bindings are supposed to cause that sticks out in front of the body. It is is holding an unidentifiable object in its aphasia in the adversary; chest bindings an imported European lock that can mouth. The locks—which are linked to the attack the breath of life, those around the be opened or closed. acts of sorcery—are covered by a thick lower abdomen attack sexual potency and Its position accentuates the sense of patina, while the bronze on its head, which leg bindings lead to paralysis. Slave irons instability that is purposely sought: the is often rubbed, remains shiny and the are represented twice on the second threat is not about an imminent fall; chiseled lines perfectly visible. A necklace statuette. Slavery was widely practiced in rather the idea is that instability will seize containing six strands of beads adorns its this region until the second half of the 19th the mind of the enemy who is likely neck. The two locks are carefully tied century. These vodun are very powerful to be overcome by some sort of madness. together with a series of thin strings. “medications” that ensure the death of When viewed from the side, the hasp Although the body has disappeared under the enemy if the bindings are not broken. plays the role of an arm, and the lock, the sacrificial coating, the little tail which is the same color as the brown continues to rise out of its back where it is patinaed body, acts as a counterweight. formally framed by the locks. There is a FIGURE 3 The hunched back seems to result from lot of elegance in the little details: the two These statuettes with a stake-leg planted in the pull of the weight of the lock. tiny balls for the eyes, the long oblique the ground are typical of variable and The face is well depicted and the piece planes of the face, the two pierced ears. multiple-use objects. The pegs are attached as a whole exhibits an extremely fine The object’s use and function has not together and are inserted into the figure’s quality of expression. obscured the fine quality of the sculpture body near the ears, in the chest and in or its carefully designed exterior. the pelvis. The statuettes are covered with For our own visual pleasure, let us sacrificial blood and are used to induce FIGURE 5 compare this sculpture to Picasso’s work, all kinds of disorders in the adversary: This little figure has its feet positioned on Monkey and Her Baby, bronze, 1952. speechlessness, suffocation, stomachaches, top of a stake to which a metal spike has sterility. The jaw tied to the body signifies been added so that the statue can be the desire to hush up an unwanted witness. planted in the ground without coming into FIGURE 7 When the pegs are removed, the enemy contact with it. The hands hanging at its Double heads are an important recovers the ability to speak or no longer sides, the prognathic chin and globular characteristic; they are aimed at individuals suffers. The little sticks were later replaced eyes deeply embedded in hollow sockets and their doubles who may return after by locks. For this sort of operation to have are all suggestive of a skull. It is covered death. The Fon had a secret society of any effect, of course, the adversary had with a granular crust from the blood and ghosts: some of the deceased would come to be aware of it. oils of the sacrifices. The jaw of a rodent back and, with masked faces, dance among is tied to its back with thick cords. The two the living on specific dates. Obtaining full holes in its abdomen mark the places satisfaction against an enemy meant where pegs that have since disappeared dealing not only with the physical person, could be freely put in or taken out. but also with his or her potential double Speech was thus returned to the enemy. (yè) in order to make sure that it would not come back to haunt the seeker.

6 1 2

3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10

12

11 FIGURE 8 FIGURE 11 FIGURE 12 This female (?) figure is carrying two This statue was used to protect a temple or [This bocio] is severely damaged; it is children on her breast and one on her “convent” reserved for initiates. With its missing a part of its head, but the skill of back. It is probably associated with legs cut off halfway down, it was perched the artist can be seen in its facial features. maternity and female fertility even though on a pile of skulls and jaws and covered He chose a tree and then preserved its an iron nail is embedded in the place in sacrificial matter; it did not, however, irregularities: the hole in the middle, for of the penis. This piece was undoubtedly seem to have the same role as the example, could be a navel. He shaped it associated with several functions: statuettes seen previously that were used so that the absent arms seem to be protecting children or pregnant women, for acts of sorcery. It lacks the usual wrapped in a garment that holds them doing harm to threatening individuals. ingredients (cords, locks, pegs, etc.) and against the body. Below the slightly The small terracotta pot once contained is thus closer to the bocio that protect rounded belly, the trunk was pared down medicines recommended by the fetisher villages or places, although this statue is in order to create the lower limbs. who was consulted and responsible not meant to be seen by the entire The back bulges out below a very short for making them after the Fa community. The thickness of its sacrificial neck and forms a small hump. The face, divination session. Objects of this kind coating suggests that it “worked” for a whose features have been softened by are personal and belong to the fetisher; certain amount of time, but as soon as the wearing of the wood, expresses great depending on their effectiveness, they may it stopped being cared for, it began emotion with its slightly pointed chin, its be used several times and for different to deteriorate around the thighs where it mouth displaying a faint pout on its thick, purposes. The cowries and the kola nuts came into contact with the ground. closed lips, the short triangular nose are related to Fa divination. The duck’s Its double head is face on as if opened up without nostrils, and its eye, a circle in bill, however, “ties up” speech because in the middle, which is relatively rare: relief. Its face was once painted white— ducks are discreet, according to tradition, only ten or so pieces are known to have a few traces remain on its body—but the they do not emit “loud shrieks like this feature. Though it is different from cracks in the wood also play a decisive roosters.” On the other hand, their blood the other Janus figures joined at the nape role in this interaction between man is poisonous, which protects them from of the neck, it is still directly related to the and nature that engenders a work of art.

birds of prey and fish. notion of doubleness that is so important Annotations by Jacques Kerchache first published in Scultura in the Vodun religion. Even greater care Africana. Omaggio a André Malraux, Villa Medicis, Rome / De Luca, Rome /Arnoldo Mondadori, Milan, 1986, was taken with the sculpture itself: the two p. 116-301 (excerpts). FIGURES 9 AND 10 heads have a beautiful oval shape; the face These statuettes were used to cause displays certain traits that are common aphasia or death. In the first statuette, to other pieces from the same region, for we can see that a slave iron has been used example the thick-lidded eyes, the short, to seal its lips, while the second one is straight nose, the prognathic mouth with blindfolded. The wooden peg embedded parted lips, the pointed chin. The eyes, in its chest—the place of breathing, or in lips and fingers marked by horizontal lines other words, of life—brought death, as did create a sculptural caesura in the statue’s the jaw tied onto its back and closed overall verticality. In formal terms, the twice over with cords and a lock. Opening position of the two hands in the middle of it up was all that was needed to release the body reflects the double face. the patient from the spell. The face has Although this object has been removed almost disappeared under the sacrificial from its original context, it still inspires coatings, which proves that this object awe; it seems to allude to the power of worked successfully for a very long time. a religion about which we know very little and from which it would be preferable to keep away.

9 VODUN SYMBOLISM BY JACQUES KERCHACHE

Akloga Hevioso (Shango, in Yoruba) Peg on top of the head Royal minister, keeper of the guardian God of thunder. Its purpose is to cause mental instability vodun and organizer of the great religious - in the adversary. ceremonies. Irons on the feet - - A sign of slavery. Placebo effect Asen - A supernatural power that enables A small parasol in wrought iron Jaw tied to the back and closed the diviner’s words to act, to “take effect.” representing the ancestors. with cords and a lock - - Its purpose is to cause death. Sacrificial coating Chest bindings Opening the lock undoes the spell. The longer the object has “worked,” Their purpose is to interfere - the thicker it is. with breathing. Jaw tied to the body - - Its purpose is to hush up an Sagbata Duck’s bill unwanted witness. God of smallpox. Ensures silence. The blood of the duck is - - poisonous and thus protects from danger. Legba Serpent of - A god who serves as an intermediary The god of a conquered tribe assimilated Eagle’s claw between the earthly world and the into the Dahomean religion Gives strength. supernatural world. - - He also protects houses. Sorcerer Fa - Diviner who also uses poisons. Represents destiny. Associated with Leg bindings - divination practices. Fa is a sort of guide Their purpose is to cause paralysis. Statuette in the form of a stake for the kingdom (in religious as well - Its purpose is to induce various disorders as political, social and cultural matters). Locks (Shango en yoruba) (aphasia, suffocation, stomach aches - They contain the poisons used in or sterility). Fetish casting a spell on the enemy. - Any formal representation of a spirit or - Wooden peg embedded in the chest the power of a god. It is sacred and used Lower-abdomen bindings Its purpose is to cause death. in divination rituals. The ornaments Their purpose is to attack sexual potency. - or elements that cover it are supposed - Yè (two-headed figure) to reactivate the object’s power and Mawu A representation of the spectral double, effectiveness. Supreme deity. a person’s ghost. - - Fetisher Neck bindings Healer. Their purpose is to cause aphasia. - - Gu Off-balanced body God of war and blacksmiths. Its purpose is to cause the enemy to be overcome by madness. - Peg in the throat Its purpose is to control speech.

10

BOCIO GENRE

BOUND OR BONDAGE BOCIO PIERCED OR PEGGED BOCIO SWOLLEN OR PREGNANT BOCIO (BLA-BOCIO) (KPODOHONME-BOCIO) (WUTUJI-BOCIO)

The most common and prototypical of the Kpodohonme bocio are characterized by Swollen or pregnancy bocio (wutuji-bocio) bocio genre, are bla-bocio whose surfaces the holes in their surface into which pegs, are characterized by the inclusion of have been bound tightly with cord, cloth, pins, or other objects are inserted. various bulges, humps or mounds fur, chains, vines or other wrapping The term kpodohonme derives from early of materials that are attached to various materials. The tieing and knotting of cords architectural practices in the area in parts of the body, usually on the stomach or other materials around a bocio serve to which doors, gates and other means of or back. The works of this type draw activate its power and bind other potent access were closed and opened by considerable power from the fact that their additive matter to the work. wooden logs or long sticks. Significantly, surfaces have dense opaque protrusions an important subset of this genre of of rare, secret materials—often including The materials chosen to bind a sculpture bocio includes those objects with padlocks. plants, powders, oils, alcohol—which vary; the most frequently employed are when activated can affect the world in cotton thread, twisted feathers or plant To activate the bocio, one must pronounce significant ways. parts, and strips of animal hide. an incantation in the hole of the kpodohonme The placement of the bondage—usually on bocio, which is then closed with a peg, These works clearly allude to childbearing the stomach, chest, arms or head—affects thus containing a wish, desire or fear that (they are sometimes called “pregnant the meaning of the sculpture, since each the sculpture is supposed to promote or woman of the house”), their swollen shape body part is considered as the seat of negate. Pegs or pins thus secure the spoken recalling pregnancy or the later burden different emotional concerns. word, and have the power of activating of carrying a child on the back. While or deactivating speech. associated with positive ideas such as Bondage is associated with a range of birth and motherhood, body swellings emotionally charged ideas, the most The precise placement of particular are also identified with infections, disease, powerful of which is death. The Fon bind piercing forms within the body is essential death, emotional stress or burden, and their corpses before burial and the cord to the sulpture’s significance. A peg placed acts of sorcery. used in such contexts is called adoblakan in the chest will promote a well-being, An important reference for the previous descriptions (“cord to bind the stomach”). Used and calming of the heart, or conversely is Suzanne Preston Blier’s African Vodun. Art, Psychology adoblakan cord is for this reason frequently asphyxiation. A peg placed in the head and Power, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1995. tied around the waists of sculptures of may cause speechlessness, loss of memory this genre, especially for works intended and lack or awareness. Placed in the to overcome problems related to death. thighs or buttocks, pegs may lead to Bondage is also closely associated with immobility or incapacity of movement. slavery, the term for slave in the area Secured to the arms, pegs may stop being kannumon “the one who remains another’s offensive action. in cords.” Works of this genre are thus also respond to problems such as imprisonment, impotence and DEFORMITY BOCIO (BOCIO-BIGBLE) personal pain. The bocio are characterized by an excess While often related to negative ideas, cords or lack of key body parts. While some such are also identified with positive values such figures show missing legs or arms, by far as life. For example, pregnant women the most common are those incorporating will often wear special cords around their two heads, faces or bodies. In some, facial hips as a protection against miscarriage. features are carved on both front and back; The cords so prominently displayed in others two or more heads are positioned in bocio sculptures can thus also be said to on a single pair of shoulders, in still others allude to similar ideas of security, life, a single pair of legs and hips support and family continuity. two torsos.

Sculptures identified with this genre often are employed as guardian figures to protect the house, compound, temple or city. Janus bocio, named after the Roman god with two heads, play an important role in safeguarding residents from evil because associated with two-directional sight. These sculptures may derive their power from gods such as Mawu, the solar deity or Fa, the deity of geomancy, both said to have multi-eyed sight such. This type of bocio may also counter an act of sorcery or promote a sorcerer’s own malevolent ends.

13 EXCERPTS FROM THE CATALOG

A reference book on Vodun, the catalog of the exhibition Vodun: African Voodoo gathers contributions by specialists such as French anthropologist Marc Augé, Harvard Professor of African Art and Architecture Suzanne Preston Blier, African Historian Gabin Djimassé, and by the Haitian artist Patrick Vilaire.

“VODUN AND FON CULTURE” Legba and Minona, constitute a sort of greatest fulfillment. Rather than simply BY GABIN DJIMASSÉ trinity of the Vodun pantheon. rushing through life, it is incumbent upon This short explanation of Vodun is one to keep one’s composure and to If, around the bend on a Fon path, you necessary in order to understand what a take the time to “breathe.” Following on should suddenly come face to face with bocio is in the context of the culture and the tradition of local women who will a long piece of wood planted deep in the imagination of the Fon. In Fon culture, sit quietly by the side of the spring or river ground, whose upper part, standing at anyone can gain access to the unknowable before collecting the daily water, in Vodun human height, suggests a more or less divine power by using the closest belief one is encouraged to take time for subtly sculpted face, do not be afraid. intermediary at hand, an intermediary reflection. Like the serene, straight-standing It is almost certainly a bocio, the powerful through which breath is manifested. human figure that serves as the base and guardian of that particular place, a sort A bocio is one such object. center of bocio, encumbered often by potent of active and protective sentry. You are in Bocio can literally be translated from additive materials, one is encouraged in fact in the heart of Fon culture, the culture Fongbe (the Fon language) as “cadaver that these bocio and Vodun traditions to draw of the former kingdom of , which possesses divine breath.” Cio is the cadaver. on one’s inner strength and serenity as is now present-day Benin, where a religion Bo is sometimes translated as “evil spell” one pursues one’s course in life. The ethos has developed that, like any religion, or “talisman.” However, we understand of Vodun thus has meaning for all of us. responds to the preoccupations that all the bo in bocio to mean “breath” or “power.” human beings have always had, and A sculpture or a statuette does not at first Also of broader interest, are the specific continue to have, in spite of the possess life: it is thus a cadaver, cio. But aesthetic issues and the means through extraordinary progress of science in every when it is sculpted by a human being, who which these works come into being. Some domain. These preoccupations can be is at the beginning and end of any social artists historically have made a point of summed up in the following questions: or environmental process, it becomes the hiding the processes of their artistic Who are we? Where are we? Where do we presence, the materialization of power. engagement; others highlight the come from? People all over the world try Through the human hands that make it production processes involved. Bocio artists to provide answers to these questions and the words that are pronounced, breath represent the latter group, providing these based on the environments in which they enters into it. A force gives life to the works with key attributes of raw energy live. The Fon call Vodun the original cadaver. Bocio can thus mean “a cadaver and visual primacy that add to their larger formulation of these answers, starting with that contains a force.” significance. Bocio at the same time are the widely shared notion of a force that collaborative arts, the product not only exists above and beyond everything, that is of the carver, but also of other individuals unknowable, and upon which everything “BRUTAL ARTS — POTENT involved in their creation and the user that exists depends; we ourselves are AESTHETICS OF BOCIO VODUN ARTS himself. A close bond necessarily develops nothing but the products of that force IN COSTAL BENIN AND TOGO” between the user and the variant artists which is transmitted through breath. The BY SUZANNE PRESTON BLIER and “activators” of the objects, reinforced kingdom of Dahomey turned this Vodun by the acknowledged risk incurred in the into an official institution by combining in In psychological terms, these works speak very process of creating and empowering an unprecedented way things that already to the challenges and fears of the world these objects. Questions of reception and existed, disparately and without any as it is experienced, a world rife with audience response also are complex. hierarchy, among the Ashanti of circumstances and events of the unknown. Each user’s relationship to a given work is and the Yoruba of Nigeria. During the Such works address the array of emotions different, based on his or her personal expansion of the kingdom of Dahomey that impact humans regardless of status, link to it and the myriad of issues involved. from the mid-16th century to the end of wealth, or personal history. Referred to Some of these sculptures offer a notable the 19th century, Vodun not only became historically in the West by largely sense of security and calm in the face of an institution, it became the second pillar pejorative terms—fetish, idol, gris-gris, real or potential danger; other objects carry of royal power in addition to the rulers’ marmouset, magot, devil—bocio forms speak associations of fear, concern, and mystery worldly power, and dignitaries and priests to potent fears of the unknown. These —their raw aesthetic power being intended were placed under the direct authority works relate to the power of belief at local to convey potent ideas of shock and of the king. level, here specifically the religion and distance—ideas also underscored in philosophy of Vodun, and the array of the specific functions such works are Along the way, Vodun met up with Fa. forces such as gods and spirits that shape seen to fulfill. Fa is a divinatory art that came out of this worldview. While the term Vodun has ancient Egypt, traveled down the Nile been translated by scholars in many ways and ended up in the mythic city of Ife in over time, my sources have suggested that Nigeria. This art of reading the past, its origins lie in the phrase “rest to draw present and future by deciphering the the water,” from the Fon verbs vo “to rest” forces at play in a given situation became and dun “to draw water,” referencing the codifier of Vodun. This was a direct the necessity to remain calm when facing result of its ability to adapt to any kind whatever difficulties may lie in one’s path.1 of human environment. Fa is based on two According to this Vodun philosophy, fundamental pillars: Boko-Legba (a man life is like a pool that humans find in the in possession of all of his biological world into which we are born. Patience capacities, usually represented by a phallus and calm are necessary if we are to in erection) and Minona (a woman in effectively draw from the pool of water possession of all of her biological that defines our lives, if we are to conduct capacities). These three entities, Fa, Boko- our lives in a manner that will bring one

14 “VODUN GODS” “VODUN OBJECTS” fetishes as in Africa.4 “Talismans” and BY MARC AUGÉ 2 BY PATRICK VILAIRE fetishes are unknown. Among the few magical objects specific to Haitian Vodun, Today in southeastern Togo a nearly How are the spirits that populate the world there are the gardes, small cloth bags complete reproduction of the entire of Vodun represented for believers? containing roots and leaves, the medals of [Vodun] pantheon can be found in every Whenever one thinks of Vodun, one thinks guardian saints (St. James or St. Michael) village:3 this means that every god is of fetishes. The importance of fetishes or pinned to garments that come in contact present in every village, but it also means symbolic objects in animist religions is such with the skin and the paquets. And, of that each god can be present several that the word “fetishism” has often been course, the veve that symbolize the deities times over. used to designate animism. Fetishes are of the Haitian pantheon, symbols reduced This reduplication of the whole system, talismans. They are used for protection as to the purity of simple lines drawn along with the multiplication of its well as to cast spells. They protect women on the ground, each one evoking a spirit. individual elements, is linked to the social in labor, enhance sexuality and protect

dimension of the pantheon: a god is from illness and death. 1. Suzanne Preston Blier, African Vodun. Art, Psychology, inherited through agnatic transmission and Power, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, when its installer dies; convents are In Africa, sculpture is a symbolic writing 1995, p. 39-40. 2. First published in Marc Augé, Le Dieu Objet founded and perpetuated on the basis of intended for ritual use. The artist who Flammarion, Paris, 1988. lineage. The vicissitudes of life interpreted makes a fetish has been commissioned to 3. Marc Augé, Génie du paganisme, Gallimard, Paris, 1982, p. 123ff. 4. The Marianne Lehmann collection recently exhibited on certain occasions (usually unfortunate) do so, usually by a fetisher. The artist at the Museum of Ethnography in Geneva gives the opposite are reorganized according to two basic makes the fetish accessible to the Vodun impression; it was created at the demand of the collector, in the same way as anthropological rituals are often created criteria: family ties among men and family user through the things that the object at the demand of anthropologists. ties among the gods. The relationship expresses; there is no functional quest for between men and gods is thus well beauty. Everything is pared down to mediated socially through the institution the essential, dedicated to the purpose of of divination as well as through inheritance the object, which is primarily mystical, rules that impose a father’s obligations on magical. The structural details are there his son. [...] The gods, taken as a whole, to support the sculpture and enhance its constitute an ordered system capable emotional power. Magical elements are of providing guidance amidst the apparent adjoined, based on established codes. chaos of human lives that are so singular The Africans who were brought to the and so diverse. However, the individual Americas stripped of everything that figure of a god (not only such-and-such a constituted their humanity could not, for god in the sky pantheon, but also the latest many reasons, recreate their own ethnic model of that god in the courtyard of such- aesthetics. The Vodun that developed thus and-such a lineage) acquires singularity had no statuary. It incorporated the artistic at the expense of clarity, probably because representations of divinities and other it tends to resemble the person who looks religious figures from the Christian after it. Its symbolic position does not pantheon, beginning with the pictorial and exhaust its complexity. Just like a human sculptural representations of the saints body, it has moods, good and bad and major icons of Catholicism. Thus, moments, whims, is both similar to and Erzulie, in her many different forms—Freda different from the person who considers it Dahomey, Ge Rouge, etc.—embraces to be his god. Although the statue of the different representations of the Virgin god allusively represents a human body, Mary. Legba, who provides access to although it has to eat and drink like one, people and their private lives, is found at and can die like one, this metaphorical the entrance to villages in the Gulf of physiology does not exhaust the mystery Benin in the form of clay statuettes with of its materiality. Gods are things, scarlet phalluses or of a bocio; they are composite objects whose formulas can be protectors as well as scapegoats who are more or less faithfully reproduced or able to take upon themselves the malicious devised for each individual figure; gods are intentions of enemies. In , Legba conceived of as living bodies, but they became St. Peter, the former providing are also matter, and the stories about their access to houses, villages and gods, births, deeds and inventions form a literally the latter to the gates of paradise. problematic reflection on the issues of Haitian Vodun is lacking in objects. And its matter and life. priests have become its artists, so that the religious function and the aesthetic function are both embodied in the same person. Just as Neolithic objects are found in African temples, American Indian “thunder stones” (carved rocks, polished stones, pottery shards) are found on the pe, the Haitian Vodun altars. Bottles, paquets, ritual pottery are very popular, but there are no actual representations of gods, no

15 INTERNET PUBLICATIONS

THE VODUN WEBSITE COLORIAGES AVEC PATRICK VILAIRE THE VODUN CATALOG

In conjunction with the Vodun: African The Fondation Cartier pour l’art The exhibition is accompanied by a richly Voodoo exhibition, the Fondation Cartier contemporain has asked Patrick Vilaire illustrated catalog with more than has launched a website devoted to the to realize a coloring book on the Haitian 150 photographs taken by Japanese Voodoo of West Africa. Available in four Voodoo pantheon. Following the photographer Yuji Ono as part of a special languages, vaudou-vodun.com is the publications of two similar books by commission. Including Jacques Kerchache’s educational website of the exhibition and Takeshi Kitano and Mœbius, Coloriages personal photographs and archives, the a rich and unique online resource. avec Patrick Vilaire is the third in a publication provides a first-hand account of collection of coloring books published his early travels to Benin and his research With archival films of Jacques Kerchache’s by the Fondation Cartier. in this region. The catalog also includes trips, interviews with specialists and artists, Jacques Kerchache’s writings on African photographs of works from the collection Panthéon Vaudou. Art and the Vodun art of Benin. Essays by of Anne and Jacques Kerchache, and texts Coloriages avec Patrick Vilaire Harvard Professor of African Art and from the catalog, this website offers online Fondation Cartier pour l’art Architecture, Suzanne Preston Blier, access to the mysterious and fascinating contemporain, Paris African historian Gabin Djimassé, French universe of the Vodun: African Voodoo Coloring book #3 anthropologist Marc Augé, and Haitian exhibition. 24 pages, 24x34 cm artist Patrick Vilaire explore Vodun art and Price: 6.50 € culture from a variety of perspectives. Find us also on Vodun: African Voodoo Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris On iTunesU, download podcasts and Bilingual English/French exclusives contents to continue the visit Hardcover, 236 pages, 24x32 cm of the exhibition. 200 color and black and white reproductions Price: 49 €

Limited edition of the catalog Limited edition of the catalog presented in a box set. Available at the Fondation Cartier bookshop. Contact: Vania Merhar [email protected]

You can also find all the publications of the Fondation Cartier and order your books online on fondation.cartier.com/publications

16 17

BIOGRAPHIES

Jacques Kerchache Enzo Mari Born in 1942 in Rouen, France Born in 1932 in Novara, Italy Died in 2001 in Cancún, Mexico

A self-taught galerist and connoisseur known for his exacting eye An alumnus of the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera (Milan), and profound knowledge of the Primitive Arts, Jacques Kerchache Enzo Mari has, since the 1950s, pursued a multidisciplinary career was during his life one of the most passionate and vanguard that has involved art, industrial design, graphic design, technical figures of the French art world. Born in 1942 in Rouen, he had innovation and teaching. He is also the author of important precocious beginnings, opening his first gallery in 1960. From theoretical texts. He has worked on numerous projects for large 1959 to 1980 he travelled frequently to Africa, Asia, America and Italian and foreign firms such as Danese, Olivetti, Driade, Alessi, Oceania, venturing in regions few other dealers dared to explore Zanotta, as well as Muji, and has taught at some of the most in search of exceptional works of art. It was during his first trip prestigious universities and academies of Europe in Parma, Milan, to Benin that he became fascinated by Vodun sculpture. This Berlin and Vienna. passion led him to bring together what would become one of the Enzo Mari has defined himself as “a technician serving society.” most significant existing collections devoted to African Vodun. His work is based on research regarding the question Jacques Kerchache would frequently be called upon to serve as an of form, its role in everyday life as well as in art. “Form is advisor or curator, working on such groundbreaking exhibitions everything. It is form that enables me to decipher and understand as the New York MoMA’s Primitivism in Twentieth Century Art ideological and political forces.” (1984), which explored the influence of Primitive art on the work Aside from the creation of objects and furniture, his work as of 20th century artists, or the Musée du Petit Palais’ L’Art des a designer has led him to examine in depth the origins of form sculpteurs Taïnos (1994), which presented for the first time to a large and to take an interest in the “anonymous archetypes of public pre-Columbian art from the Caribbean islands. He is also manufactured products” as he calls them, such as a tube or one of the main authors of the seminal work, Art of Africa a metal bar. It was in this light that in 1953 he created Putrella, published in 1993 by Harry N. Abrams. Throughout his career, a section of a slightly curved industrial beam that he considers Jacques Kerchache strongly encouraged French museums an “allegory of design.” For each commissioned object, Enzo Mari to move beyond what was a primarily ethnographic approach attempts to trace the history of its archetype from its origins, to the Primitive Arts in order to consider them for their universal drawing information both from the latest examples of international aesthetic value. In 1990 he launched a manifesto entitled design, as well as from ancient civilizations, a process that led him “The masterpieces of the World are Born Free and Equal,” to define two broad categories of objects—“signed” and promoting with great conviction the entry of Primitive Arts into “anonymous.” However, many of his projects, while attracting the collections of the Louvre. It was thus under his initiative that much admiration, have not met commercial success, as they have the Pavillon des Sessions—devoted to the arts of Africa, Asia, been deemed too simple, too poor. In order to provide the public Oceania and the Americas—was created at the Louvre in 2000. with the experience of manual labor and increase their awareness He also promoted the creation of the Quai Branly Museum, of what he considered the serious issues regarding form, Enzo which opened its doors following his death in 2006. His wife has Mari came out with Autoprogettazione? (1974), a series of objects since donated many works of their collection to the museum. and simple, functional furniture to be made at home from detailed The interests of Jacques Kerchache were not limited to the arts technical instructions. of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. His universalist approach Enzo Mari has received numerous prizes and distinctions, to art and aesthetics also led him to support the work of primarily in the field of design, including the Compasso d’Oro contemporary artists as well, developing close friendships with in 1967, 1979, 1987 and 2001. In 1997, he received the Barcelona Sam Szafran, Paul Rebeyrolle and Georg Baselitz. The same award for design and in 2000, he was named Honorary Royal open-minded, avant-garde spirit also led Jacques Kerchache to Designer for Industry in London. In 2008, the Galleria Civica work with the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain on many d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin mounted the occasions, contributing as an advisor to the thematic exhibitions exhibition Enzo Mari—L’Arte del Design. In spring 2011, the Italian À visage découvert (1992) and être nature (1998) and as an author publisher Mondadori will publish Enzo Mari’s autobiography, for the exhibition catalog of the contemporary Haitian artist 25 modi di piantare un chiodo, edited by Barbara Casavecchia. Patrick Vilaire, Réflexion sur la mort (1997). The above information has been extracted from the biographical notes edited by Francesca Jacques Kerchache received two of France’s highest decorations, Giacomelli in the exhibition catalog Enzo Mari—L’Arte del Design at the Galleria Civica d’Arte the Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite and the Chevalier Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin (Federico Motta Editore, Milan, 2008). de la Légion d’honneur.

19 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND FILMOGRAPHY

General Works about Vodun Exhibition Catalogs Works Edited by « Nature démiurge », in être about Vodun Jacques Kerchache nature, Fondation Cartier pour Auguste Le Hérissé, L’Ancien l’art contemporain, Paris / Actes Royaume du Dahomey. Mœurs, Mary H. Nooter (ed.), Secrecy. Scultura africana. Omaggio a Sud, Arles, 1998. religion, histoire, Larose, Paris, African Art that Conceals and André Malraux, Villa Médicis, 1911. Reveals, Prestel, Munich / Rome / De Luca, Rome / Nature démiurge. Insectes, The Museum for African Art, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milan, Fondation Cartier pour l’art Maximilien Quénum, New York, 1993. 1986. contemporain, Paris /Actes Sud, Au pays des Fons. Us et coutumes Arles, 2000. Introduction. du Dahomey, Larose, Paris, 1936 Donald J. Cosentino (ed.), Jacques Kerchache, Jean-Louis (reprinted by Maisonneuve Sacred Arts of , Paudrat, Lucien Stéphan, Works about et Larose, Paris, 1999). UCLA Fowler Museum of Art of Africa, Abrams, New Jacques Kerchache Cultural History, Los Angeles, York, 1993. Melville Jean Herskovits, 1995. Martin Béthenod (ed.), Dahomey. An Ancient west African Suzanne Preston Blier, “Vodun. L’Art des sculpteurs Taïnos. Jacques Kerchache. Portraits croisés, Kingdom, J. J. Augustin, West African Roots of Vodou,” Chefs-d’œuvre des Grandes Antilles musée du quai Branly, New York, 1938 (reprinted by p. 61-87 ; Karen McCarthy précolombiennes, Paris-Musées, Paris / Gallimard, Paris, 2003. Northwestern University Press, Brown, “Serving the Spirits. Paris, 1994. Evanston, 1967). The Ritual Economy of Haitian Jacques Kerchache. Itinéraire Vodou,” p. 205-223. L’Art africain dans la collection d’un chercheur d’art, musée Bernard Maupoil, La Géomancie de Baselitz, Salon international du président Jacques Chirac, à l’ancienne côte des Esclaves, Geest en Kracht. Vodun uit des musées et des expositions, Sarran, 2004. Institut d’ethnologie, Paris, West-Afrika, Afrika Museum, Paris, 1994. 1943. Berg en Dal, 1996. Films about Vodun Picasso – Afrique. État d’esprit, Gert Chesi, Voodoo. Africa’s Secret Magies, musée Dapper, Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Marc Augé, Jean-Paul Colleyn, Power, Smithmark Pub, 1996. Suzanne Preston Blier, Paris, 1995. Catherine de Clippel, New York, 1985. “Le Roi Glèlè du Dahomey,” Jean-Pierre Dozon, Vivre avec p. 89-143. Botchio. Sculptures Fon, Bénin, les dieux II. Les dieux-objets, Claude Rivière, Anthropologie Espace Paul Rebeyrolle, 51 min, France, Belgium, 1989. religieuse des Evé du Togo, Vaudou, Centre culturel abbaye Eymoutiers, 1996. Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, de Daoulas / Hoëbeke, Paris, Marc Augé, Jean-Paul Colleyn, Lomé, 1981. 2003. Sculptures. Afrique, Asie, Océanie, Catherine de Clippel, Jean- Amériques. Musée du Louvre, Pierre Dozon, Les Filles du Marc Augé, Le Dieu Objet, Jean-Dominique Burton, Pavillon des Sessions, Réunion vaudou, 27 min, France, 1990. Flammarion, Paris, 1988. Vaudou, Voodoo, Vudù, des musées nationaux, Paris / 5 Continents Editions, musée du quai Branly, Paris, Marc Augé, Jean-Paul Colleyn, Laënnec Hurbon, Les Mystères Milan / Fondation Zinsou, 2000. Catherine de Clippel, du Vaudou, Gallimard, Paris, Cotonou, 2007. Jean-Pierre Dozon, Sortie de 1993. Articles and contributions masques, 24 min, France, 1990. Jacques Hainard, Philippe by Jacques Kerchache Suzanne Preston Blier, African Mathez (eds), Le Vodou. Un art Alberto Venzago, Voodoo. Vodun. Art, Psychology, and Power, de vivre, MEG, Genève / Infolio, Primitivism in 20th Century Art. Mounted by the Gods, 86 min, University of Chicago Press, Gollion, 2007. Affinity of the Tribal and the Germany, 2003. Chicago, 1995. Modern, Abrams, New York, Dieux, rois et peuples du Bénin. 1985. Christoph Henning, Voodoo. Suzanne Preston Blier, Arts anciens du littoral aux savanes, Die Kraft des Heilens, 70 min, The Royal Arts of Africa. Somogy éditions d’art, « Pour que les chefs-d’œuvre Germany, 2010. The Majesty of Form, Laurence Paris / conseil général de du monde entier naissent libres King Publishing Limited, la Vendée, La Roche-sur-Yon, et égaux… la huitième section Documentaries about London, 1998. 2008. du Grand Louvre », in Jacques Kerchache Libération, 15 mars 1990. Jean-Paul Colleyn, Catherine de Pierre Amrouche, De fer et Michel Propper, Detroit Clippel, Secrets. Fétiches d’Afrique, de bois. Hwé Li, un vodun en pays À visage découvert, Fondation et les trésors du Nigeria, 52 min, La Martinière, Paris, 2007. Fon, Espace Berggruen, Paris, Cartier pour l’art contemporain, France, 1980. 2009. Paris / Flammarion, Paris, 1992. Edna G. Bay, Asen, Ancestors Michel Propper, Le Blues and Vodun. Tracing Change in Recettes des dieux. Esthétique du « Derain et la découverte de du décrochage, 26 min, France, African Art, University of Illinois fétiche, Actes Sud, Arles / musée l’art nègre », in André Derain. 1986. Press, Champaign, 2008. du quai Branly, Paris, 2009. Le peintre du trouble moderne, Paris-Musées, Paris, 1994. Jean-Claude Bartoll, Jacques Laurent Omonto Ayo Gérémy Arts et traditions d’Afrique. Kerchache. Indiana Jones au pays Ogouby, Les Religions dans Du profane au sacré, Hazan, « Métamorphoses d’Ogún », du Grand Louvre, 23 min, l’espace public au Bénin. Vodoun, Paris, 2010. in Patrick Vilaire. Réflexion sur France, 1989. christianisme, islam, L’Harmattan, la mort, Fondation Cartier pour Paris, 2008. l’art contemporain, Paris / Actes Jean-François Roudot, Sud, Arles, 1997. Jacques Kerchache. Portrait, 16 min, France, 2003.

20

NOMADIC NIGHTS

In conjunction with the Vodun: African Voodoo exhibition, from April through June 2011, Nomadic Nights is pleased to present a series of events based on the theme of mystery. Enigmas, secrets and the cult of the strange will all be scrutinized.

Miracles, apparitions, paranormal PROGRAMMING PRACTICAL INFORMATION activities, spells, psychic powers: inexplicable occurrences that defy reason GHEDALIA TAZARTÈS, “HÄXAN: Information and reservation (essential) have always lain behind a belief in the WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES” every day except Monday, occult and mysterious or supernatural BY BENJAMIN CHRISTENSEN from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. forces. Since ancient times, these Thursday, April 21 at 9 p.m. Tel. +33 (0)1 42 18 56 72 phenomena have been publicly staged (film-concert) Admission: 9.50 €/reduced rate*: 6.50 € and exploited for either healing, ritual * Students, under 25, “carte Senior” holders, unemployed, or ceremonial purposes, or merely as DAVID GIRONDIN MOAB, ÉDITH ICOM members, “Maison des Artistes.” entertainment. Magic shows became quite SCOB, “BOOK OF POISONS” the craze at the turn of the 20th century, BY ANTONIO GAMONEDA Programming: Isabelle Gaudefroy and demonstrations of hypnosis as well Thursday, April 28 at 9 p.m. Artistic adviser: Françoise Lebeau as séances, both of which featured broadly (performance/shadow art) Acknowledgments: Grazia Quaroni in the literature of the time, proliferated. Production manager: Camille Chenet While the evolution of scientific knowledge CHRISTINE REBET, assisted by Daphné Panacakis has progressively diminished the place of “POISON LECTURE” magic in our culture, the irrational remains ASTA GRÖTING, fondation.cartier.com/nomadicnights a subject of intrigue, as evidenced by “THE INNER VOICE / I AM BIG” an unending fascination with mediums Thursday, May 5 at 9 p.m. and UFOs. (performances in English) EXCEPTIONAL EVENTS

Works of art, across the disciplines, have “ZOMBIE ZOMBIE AND ALAN NO AGE explored the mysterious, using its power to HOWARTH PLAY JOHN CARPENTER” Monday, April 11, at 9 p.m. frighten and amaze. Nomadic Nights takes Thursday, May 12 at 9 p.m. (concert) on this theme through a series of events (concert and video projection) that unfold in a part-carnival, part-mystical Information and reservation (essential) atmosphere which is by turns dark, strange CABARET MYSTÈRE every day except Monday, and dreamlike. Magic, spells, tarot, Monday, May 16 at 9 p.m. from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. hypnosis, witchcraft, mind control and (show) Tel. +33 (0)1 42 18 56 72 even ufology will be addressed by artists Admission: 9.50 € of all disciplines in shows, films, ARTIST’S VIDEOS ON THE THEME Reduced rate*: 6.50 € performances, as well as audiovisual OF MYSTERY * Students, under 25, “carte Senior” holders, unemployed, and musical works. Thursday, May 19 at 9 p.m. ICOM members, “Maison des Artistes.” (projections)

PATRICK MARIO BERNARD, ARCHIE SHEPP “EXORCISNE” AND JOACHIM KÜHN, DUO Thursday, May 26 at 9 p.m. Friday, May 13, at 9 p.m. (performance) (concert)

JORIS LACOSTE, “HYPNOGRAPHIE” Pre-selling from Wednesday April 13, Thursday, June 9 at 9 p.m. on digitick.com or at the Fondation (Illustrated conference) Cartier, every day except Monday, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. JEFF MILLS PRESENTS Admission: 25 € “SOMETHING IN THE SKY” (retailer’s commission not included) Thursday, June 16 at 10 p.m. Weather permitting, the concert will (concert and video projection) take place in the garden and 500 additional tickets will be put on sale at LAURENT GRASSO the Fondation Cartier on May 13. Thursday, June 23 at 9 p.m. Please check fondation.cartier.com (conference) on the day of the concert for details.

23 ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN

In conjunction with the Vodun: African Voodoo exhibition, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain invites children to partake in original workshops and family visits every Wednesday and Saturday at 3 p.m.

PROGRAMMING PRACTICAL INFORMATION

FAMILY VISITS TALES OF VODUN Information and required registration Saturday, April 23 and 30, May 7, 14, 21 Wednesday, May 4, June 8, July 20 and (available one month prior to date of and 28, June 11, 18 and 25, July 2, 9, 23 September 14 workshop) every day except Monday, and 30, August 20 and 27, and September Tales by Gabriel Kinsa, Kongo storyteller from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. 10, 17 and 24 (age 6 and older, duration: 1:00) Visitors Department: (age 7 and older, duration: 1:30) A mysterious encounter with spirits in a Tel. +33 (0)1 42 18 56 67 Children and their parents go on a fun world where the breath, gestures, eyes and [email protected] and creative visit of the exhibition with a voice of the Vodun gods take you on a special guide. fantastic journey. Admission: 9 € gabrielkinsa.com POP-UP MYSTERY Programming: Wednesday, April 13 and July 13 SMALL VODUN ICON Vania Merhar and Marine Drouin Pop-up workshop with graphic artist Wednesday, May 11, June 1 and 15 fondation.cartier.com/enfants Clémence Passot Painting workshop with Aurélia Fronty, (age 8 and older, duration: 1:30) illustrator With the help of a pair of scissors, Vodun (age 8 and older, duration: 2:00) statuettes spring up from sheets of colored Children create a portrait of the statuette of paper to make pop-up cards. their choice, bestowing on it African colors clemencepassot.com using a paint-on-glass technique. aureliafronty.com AMULET POUCHES Wednesday, April 20, May 25 and July 27 VODUN MONTAGE Textile workshop with Stéphanie Brunet, Wednesday, May 18 and June 22 children’s artist Collage workshop with Éric Fourmestraux, (age 7 and older, duration: 1:30) artist and art teacher Using African fabrics and an array of small (age 7 and older, duration: 1:30) accessories, children make small pouches Children create designs by overlapping for their lucky charms that can be worn pieces of paper printed in black and white. either on a shoulder strap or a belt. Amulets and objects are incorporated to form a statuette on a color background. SECRET STATUETTE eric.fourmestraux.free.fr Wednesday, April 27, June 29 and September 21 PAPER FETISH Sculpture workshop with Elsa Maurios, Wednesday, July 6 costume and marionette artist Making a booklet with Clémence Passot, (age 8 and older, duration: 1:30) graphic artist The young sorcerers’ toolbox teeming with (age 7 and older, duration: 2:00) odds and ends will be used to make To protect themselves from the small fears individual statuettes, each holding a of everyday life, children create and personal secret safeguarded by the inscribe the story of their statuettes in a protective magic of the group. little book filled with surprises. clemencepassot.com

24 VODUN: AFRICAN VOODOO APRIL 5 > SEPT. 25, 2011

EXHIBITION PRACTICAL INFORMATION PRESS INFORMATION

General Curators The exhibition is open to the public every Matthieu Simonnet Anna Douaoui and Hervé Chandès day except Monday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tel. +33 (0)1 42 18 56 77/65 Open Tuesday evenings until 10 p.m. Fax +33 (0)1 42 18 56 52 Curators Admission: 9.50 € Images on line: fondation.cartier.com Grazia Quaroni and Leanne Sacramone Reduced rate*: 6.50 € assisted by Philippine Legrand and Admission free** Anna Milone Free entry for visitors under 18 on Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Lighting Design Ticket sales: Fnac stores, fnac.com Julia Kravtsova and Vyara Stefanova * Students, under 25, “carte Senior” holders, “Amis des Musées,” (conception), Nicolas Tauveron unemployed. ** “Laissez-passer”, children under 10, ICOM members. (realization)

Audiovisual Design and Production Group Visits Blowout Studio Guided tours, Tuesday to Friday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (min. 10 people). Installation Coordinator Adults: 10 € per person Christophe Morizot Students and “Carte Senior” holders: 5 € per person Registrar (free admission for group leaders) Corinne Bocquet and Alanna Minta Jordan Self-guided tours, Tuesday to Sunday, assisted by Annette Borla from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (min. 10 people). Adults: 8 € per person Installation Students and “Carte Senior” holders: Gilles Gioan 4 € per person (free admission for group leaders) Advance booking essential Visitors’ Department: Tel + 33 (0)1 42 18 56 67 [email protected]

Laissez-passer The Laissez-passer offers free and unlimited priority access to the Fondation Cartier, free access for a guest accompanying the cardholder on Wednesdays, guided visits to the exhibitions, invitations to Nomadic Nights events, and reduced prices for special events (limited number of tickets available, reservation only), a 5% discount at the bookstore, as well as privileges in numerous other cultural institutions in Paris (museums, theatres…). Annual membership: 38 € Reduced rate (students, “carte Senior” and “carte famille nombreuse” holders): 25 € Youth rate (under age 25): 18 € Visitors’ Department: Tel. +33 (0)1 42 18 56 67 [email protected]

Access 261, boulevard Raspail 75014 Paris Tel. +33 (0)1 42 18 56 50 Fax +33 (0)1 42 18 56 52 Metro Raspail or Denfert-Rochereau (lines 4 & 6) / Bus 38, 68, 88, 91 RER Denfert-Rochereau (line B) Vélib’ 2, rue Victor Schoelcher Disabled parking at 2, rue Victor Schoelcher

25 MEDIA PARTNERS

“Showing here what’s Direct Matin is pleased to “We at Le Point find ‘culture’ RFI, the top French radio happening there, showing there partner with the Fondation exciting. In its literal sense: station for nonstop international what’s happening here.” Cartier pour l’art contemporain film, music and art forms push news, is pleased to support the The place for pluralism, in conjunction with the Vodun: us to broaden our perspectives, Vodun: African Voodoo exhibition multiculturalism and diverse African Voodoo exhibition. nourish us with beauty for the both on our airways points of view, TV5MONDE, Direct Matin, launched in 2007 soul. But also in the plural and Internet stream: rfi.fr. the leading global, general- by the Bolloré and Le Monde sense of the term. Because in RFI broadcasts around the interest channel in French, joins groups, is a free general-interest life, there’s not just one emotion world 24 hours a day in 13 the Vodun: African Voodoo daily newspaper. Largely due to feel, but an entire range languages on the FM channel exhibition with the production to its partnership with PQR to explore. We want to give you (in Paris, at 89FM), as well as of a multimedia module that (Regional Daily Press), Direct our world, for you to see and on cable, satellite, Internet and will allow all Internet users to Matin is available in 13 regional to understand, because it is true phone connections. Through delve into the mesmerizing and editions. These editions deliver that great artists have always our team of journalists based mysterious world of Vodun art. breaking news, as well as created in reaction to their in Paris and a network of practical and local information time, and in terms of their 600 correspondents, RFI offers The module is to see on for each region and the Île-de- time.” Christophe Ono-dit-Biot, listeners immediate access tv5monde.com/Afrique, the France. Deputy Editor of Le Point. to world news and feature first 100% African web TV. reporting. Press contact Le Point is thrilled to partner Press contact Élodie Lerol with the Fondation Cartier pour Press contact Thomas Legrand Tel: +33 (0)1 46 96 48 93 l’art contemporain and present Anthony Ravera [email protected] [email protected] to the public an opportunity Tel: +33 (0)1 56 40 29 85 to discover the fascinating anthony.ravera@rfi.fr and poorly understood art of Vodun.

Press contact Sophie Gournay Tel: +33 (0)1 44 10 13 56 [email protected]

CAPTIONS AND CREDITS

Cover, page 8 (figure 11) Pages 7 (figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7), Page 8 (figure 12) Fon Vodun Sculpture, Benin. 8 (figures 8, 9), 11, 18, 21, 22, 27 Fon bocio, Benin. Courtesy Robert T. Wall Fon Vodun Sculptures, Benin. Collection Françoise Propper. Family. Photo © Yuji Ono Collection Anne and Jacques Photo © Yuji Ono - Kerchache. Photo © Yuji Ono Page 2 - Archives Anne and Page 7 (figure 5) Jacques Kerchache. Fon Vodun Sculpture, Benin. Photo © Marcel Arbouy Private collection. - Photo © Yuji Ono Pages 4 and 5 - Preparatory drawings for Pages 8 (figure 10), 12 the exhibition design. Fon Vodun Sculptures, Benin. © Enzo Mari Collection Michel Propper. Photo © Yuji Ono

The exhibition Vodun: African Voodoo is presented with support from the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, under the aegis of the Fondation de France, and with the sponsorship of Cartier.

“Artists have always had a privileged relationship with works of art based on their experience of the sensual. I have endeavored to make that unique way of seeing mine, a way of seeing that creates strangely familiar bonds between humans and works of art. It has accompanied me throughout my career.”

JACQUES KERCHACHE

fondation.cartier.com vaudou-vodun.com