Global(e) Resistance

Resisting through a practice that is both artistic and political, even activist, has often been the prerogative of artists living in situations of oppression or inequality. The end of colonisation prompted the upsurge of many voices that were raised in order to open up new pathways of resistance, whether on a purely political level or in order to question histories, memories that refuse to be silent or are threatened with annihilation. Resistance has also been organised thanks to art itself, in a poetic or discursive manner. 

The project gives pride of place to political protest in the era of decolonisation and the collapse of communist ideologies after 1989, while tackling current reinterpretations of history by excavating and recording memory. It takes as its point of departure two foundational works from the 1990s in the collection of the Centre Pompidou: the film The couple in the cage (1993), in which Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gómez-Peña question the contemporary persistence of colonial reflexes, and the video Partially Buried (1996), in which Renée Green brings to light the role of subjective memory in the writing of history. In a period of tumult and emergency, it is important to explore how these protests participate in the transformation of thought systems and modify perception of the world. 

Visitors are welcomed to the forum by the sculpture Rédemption [Redemption] by Barthélémy Toguo, revealed in the Centre Pompidou for the first time since its acquisition. The work evokes the North-South encounter, pan-Africanism and the question of the redemption and salvation of peoples. The project is then deployed over nearly 1500m2 on the fourth floor of the permanent collections (museum gallery, Galerie d'Art Graphique, Galerie 0). The layout is punctuated with slogans printed on the walls, taken from works by Barthélémy Toguo. These manifesto-works open the exhibition: Guy Ben Ner and Khalil Rabah evoke the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Teresa Margolles examines the Mexican border, Yin Xiuzhen armed conflicts and Nadia Kaabi-Linke the wandering of migrants and the homeless. 

Inspired by Robert Smithson, the work of Renée Green initially structures a polysemic resistance strategy considered on the scale of landscape and region, but also attached to a private memory. The complex imaginary world of certain cities like Braddock (LaToya Ruby Frazier), Johannesburg (Subotzsky and Waterhouse), Dakar (Cheikh Ndiaye), marked by economic decline, socio-political protest or urban recomposition, haunts many works. 

At the same time, artists support the fervour and anxiety arising out decolonisation (Kiluanji Kia Henda, Abdoulaye Konaté), especially in South Africa where apartheid persisted until 1991 (Penny Siopis, Kemang Wa Lehulere, Sue Williamson). The questioning of communist theory introduced by The Propeller Group and the progression of an authoritarian world reflected by Pratchaya Phintong's installation, are the point of departure for committed works that attempt to reconcile individual narratives and collective traumatisms. The works of Chim↑Pom and Yin Xiuzhen denounce the ecological threat. In a more contemplative section, literature and philosophy act as receptacles for a more underground resistance, as in the work of Mohssin Harraki, M’barek Bouhchichi or the emblematic work Facing the Wall by Song Dong, blending Zen and spiritual combat. 

In a second stage, following on from the Amerindian masquerade of Fusco and Gómez-Peña, certain residues of the colonial world awaiting a multicultural reconfiguration are brought to light: the ethnographic "circus" of the "good nigger" in Brazil (Jonathas de Andrade) is brought into negotiation in a world bowed with the weight of scars (Otobong Nkanga). Further on, the idea is to envisage the question of mobility in the heart of the contemporary capitalist system: migrations (Younès Rahmoun, Halil Altindere), the body as a tool for resistance (Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Ming Wong) sustain a series of works seen as crossing points. Feminist struggles are activated in the work of Susan Hefuna and Marcia Kure, along with new considerations of questions relating to gender. 

In order to present an account of the commitments and strategies of the artists, a Salon and documentary showcases envisaged as a discursive space welcome visitors at the entrance to the 4th level. They also shed light on the commitments of certain "scenes" of activism based in France. 
A catalogue was made with essays by Christine Macel, Alicia Knock and Yung Ma on problems dealing with aesthetics and politics, based on the works in the collection, thanks to the support of the Friends of the Centre Pompidou.