UNBOUND: PERFORMANCE AS RUPTURE, 2023
group exhibition
Julia Stoschek Foundation (Berlin, Germany)
Curated by Lisa Long and Line Ajan
In Collective Amnesia: In Memory of Logobi, artist and DJ Christelle Oyiri excavates the origin and forgotten history of Logobi, a dance that emerged in the late 1980s in the streets of Abidjan in the Côte d’Ivoire, before being transported to the banlieues (suburban zones) of Paris, home to many Black French communities, in the late 2000s. Drawing on the Ivorian Zouglou dance, as well as on mime, Logobi is characterized by rapid movements that match the fast rhythms of the music, which mixes French tecktonik with French Ivorian coupé-décalé. As Logobi enthusiasts performed on the streets and in subway stations, they filmed their dance battles. These media archives went overlooked, not only due to the wider erasure of Black and Afrodiasporic culture in France and Europe, but also because of a form of amnesia within those Black communities, some of whom dismissed Logobi as a pejorative attribute of “blédards” (a derogatory term in French used against North African immigrants and their customs). Layering 3D animations, staged scenes, and found footage, Oyiri revives the initial digital ecosystem surrounding Logobi, a genre that both occupied public space and had a distinct life online.
Text written by Line Ajan
COLLECTIVE AMNESIA: IN MEMORY OF LOGOBI, 2018–22, HD VIDEO, 14′42″, COLOR, SOUND.
group exhibition
Julia Stoschek Foundation (Berlin, Germany)
Curated by Lisa Long and Line Ajan
In Collective Amnesia: In Memory of Logobi, artist and DJ Christelle Oyiri excavates the origin and forgotten history of Logobi, a dance that emerged in the late 1980s in the streets of Abidjan in the Côte d’Ivoire, before being transported to the banlieues (suburban zones) of Paris, home to many Black French communities, in the late 2000s. Drawing on the Ivorian Zouglou dance, as well as on mime, Logobi is characterized by rapid movements that match the fast rhythms of the music, which mixes French tecktonik with French Ivorian coupé-décalé. As Logobi enthusiasts performed on the streets and in subway stations, they filmed their dance battles. These media archives went overlooked, not only due to the wider erasure of Black and Afrodiasporic culture in France and Europe, but also because of a form of amnesia within those Black communities, some of whom dismissed Logobi as a pejorative attribute of “blédards” (a derogatory term in French used against North African immigrants and their customs). Layering 3D animations, staged scenes, and found footage, Oyiri revives the initial digital ecosystem surrounding Logobi, a genre that both occupied public space and had a distinct life online.
Text written by Line Ajan
COLLECTIVE AMNESIA: IN MEMORY OF LOGOBI, 2018–22, HD VIDEO, 14′42″, COLOR, SOUND.