Beninese Solidarity with Endangered Westerners

18% social art 59% postcolonialism 23% exchange

Complex migration conditions require a complex understanding of the postcolonial from Europe’s multicultural societies. Postcolonial here is becoming increasingly to denote a fundamental criticism of the modern knowledge order and the unitising hegemony discourse of Western rationalism. As a consequence of this postcolonial criticism of modernism, we are also observing the emergence of an art that no longer wants to be modern. Instead, it lays claim to global contemporaneity – with no borders or history. The origin of an artist becomes less important, while the question of where an artist finds his or her audience becomes more decisive. With his NGO founded in Africa, “Beninese Solidarity with Endangered Westerners”, which is at the centre of the project at Kunsthaus Graz, Romuald Hazoumé’s goal is to help impoverished people in Europe. In doing so, he suddenly reverses the accustomed situation, opening up totally new perspectives on the dynamics of postcolonial relationships.

Exhibition openings

Curatorial dialogues

Guided tours