Epokä

A sequential publication

Epokä is a collaborative and evolving publication: From booklet to booklet, following encounters and dialogues, each contribution can be appropriated, commented, augmented or transformed. It’s motto being “to be exposed –– to expose oneself”, Epokä looks into underpinnings and conditions allowing art to exist through exhibitions and exposures, in particular in the Afro-European space.

From where we talk

The first booklet of this pilot is exposing the editor’s starting point, outlined by a personal and (auto)biographical approach, calling for reactions. Answers will then be published in the following issues by using the actual one as basis: drawings, texts, notes, coffee stains or displacement traces will create a polylogue movement, transforming ideas and discourses in a continuous manner.

Becoming the author of one’s own image

Assessing a renewed interest on “contemporary art from Africa”, situated in Clermont-Ferrand, connected to Cotonou and Ouagadougou, Epokä has been sparked by Figures de transition, a research group at the École supérieure d’art Clermont Métropole (ÉSACM). It has been initiated by Jacques Malgorn, J. Emil Sennewald, Camille Varenne and Farah Clémentine Dramani-Issifou. By placing ourselves at the crossing of artistic practices that aim to become their own image’s author, we are wary of the “contemporary” condition of art. This condition is perceived as a source of immobilism and dead ends, reproducing the political and social asymmetries it is originated in.

Towards an art to come

We question “pacification” and reconciliation policies through exhibitions that conceal forms of post-colonial imperialism. On the opposite of condescendence, Epokä wants to deconstruct cosmetic politics. It aims to overcome the idea of an unassigned, neutral point of view in order to assess hybrid terrains where conditions of co-existence and cooperation are reinvented. Targeting an art to come, we are looking for a shared ground –– shaped by live, living and action –– by the means of encounters, discussions, critiques.

Polylingual

To question the territoriality of languages is Epokä’s core activity. Therefore, Epokä is polylingual: instead of pursuing the translation into a dominating, levelling and unifying language, we attempt to decolonize thinking by publishing some texts in their original language. Dialogue and encounter will allow to understand, to answer and to interpret these contributions.

Upcoming

The second booklet of Epokä’s pilot will be issued in April 2020. Based on Jacques Malgorn’s artwork, who has laid out an inventory of exhibitions of African art in France between 1855 and 2000, this poster will be commented and augmented by Yaëlle Biro, curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, author of „Fabriquer le regard“, Les Presses du Réel, Paris, 2019.

Epokä – être exposé – s’exposer