Curated by Pierre Beaudoin
April 14 – May 20th, 2016
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 14, 2016, 5-7pm
Guy Wouete & Pierre Beaudoin in conversation, Saturday April 16, 11:30am-1pm
With his extensive knowledge of contemporary African art and artists, independent curator Pierre Beaudoin has been an excellent collaborator for us at Vtape. Over a year ago, we invited him to put together a program of media works by an artist unfamiliar to Toronto audiences. The result is Guy Wouete. Being Awake, an entrancing selection of short works by Cameroon-born, Belgium-based Guy Wouete, looking at migration and displacement, borders and non-places in the era of advancing globalization and told with an economy of beauty.
THE PROGRAM:
Next week, 2010, 4:00
D’ici là, 2015, 7:10
Volcano, 2008, 5:06
Echo Between, 2009, 5:13
After Walls, 2009, 3:50
La liste est longue, 2006-7, 2:26
Burka… (No, you have to ask the questions…), 2013, 3:15
Ouidah Return, 2007, 1:10
image above from After Walls by Guy Wouete (2009)
Guy Wouete divides his time between Antwerp and Douala. Born in Douala in 1980, he is a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He has also studied Arts and Multimedia at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.
A video artist, sculptor and painter who also embraces installations and photography, Wouete creates his images following a conceptual artistic approach similar to that of a reporter, albeit leaving behind the reporter’s obligation to refer to familiar images. He confronts the paradox that as an artist he materialises and represents things that can only be experienced as contradictions and transitional situations.
Wouete’s work is shown worldwide at biennials, festivals, museums and galleries.
Curator, performance artist and consultant, Pierre Beaudoin has been active in the visual and media arts for 30 years. Since 2001, he has travelled regularly to Africa. Since then, he became interested in African contemporary art in all its forms. From this perspective, as a curator, he organized Temps – Dialogue sur l’art contemporain du Sénégal, bringing together six artists presented in Montreal in 2011. He also curated Africa in Movement, a program of experimental videos and films by African artists that was presented in 2012 and 2013. His most recent project, a solo exhibition by Congolese artist Moridja Kitenge Banza shown at Joyce Yahouda Gallery in March 2015. Pierre Beaudoin lives in Montreal.
This exhibition is presented in partnership with the 29th Images Festival.