Sun (W)hole - Piece of cradle 1 Rammed earth, 15,3 x 0,6 x 4 m - Johannesburg, South Africa / 2020
SUN (W)HOLE
The Moroccan artist Amine El Gotaibi, faithful to himself, has opted for difficulty through all his works to construct artistic facts capable of carrying his ideas and assuming their conceptual depth. As a result, he is permanently artistically engaged, which is clearly seen in his vast projects, requiring considerable effort and a lot of time to put them into execution. Furthermore, he stands out with his own vision of the World and of Art; a way of framing his work and defining its contours to build an artistic journey that is both coherent and open to differentiation. Regarding Africa, by starting the project in 2011, El Gotaibi manages to reconnect with the continent and to mark his belonging despite the feeling of distance (Cf. the nationals of North Africa). According to the artist, the project sprouted from the feeling of the unknown that covers this region of the world, deeply impacts its territory, and reaches the habits and customs of its peoples, their beliefs, their existential expressions as well as the images/myths that reach us from this area. Indeed, this dark forest that is Africa, haunted by so many enigmatic stories, laden with intrigue... has always inhabited the artist's imagination. The realization led him in a stubborn attitude to roam Africa to shed light on the darkness that lies in the depths. Artists among the natives intervened during the crossing and participated in the project known as Visite à Okavango. But before that, the author had undertaken several artistic works that lean directly into African, and others that refer to it and weave their threads around Africa.
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SUN (W)HOLE
The Moroccan artist Amine El Gotaibi, faithful to himself, has opted for difficulty through all his works to construct artistic facts capable of carrying his ideas and assuming their conceptual depth. As a result, he is permanently artistically engaged, which is clearly seen in his vast projects, requiring considerable effort and a lot of time to put them into execution. Furthermore, he stands out with his own vision of the World and of Art; a way of framing his work and defining its contours to build an artistic journey that is both coherent and open to differentiation. Regarding Africa, by starting the project in 2011, El Gotaibi manages to reconnect with the continent and to mark his belonging despite the feeling of distance (Cf. the nationals of North Africa). According to the artist, the project sprouted from the feeling of the unknown that covers this region of the world, deeply impacts its territory, and reaches the habits and customs of its peoples, their beliefs, their existential expressions as well as the images/myths that reach us from this area. Indeed, this dark forest that is Africa, haunted by so many enigmatic stories, laden with intrigue... has always inhabited the artist's imagination. The realization led him in a stubborn attitude to roam Africa to shed light on the darkness that lies in the depths. Artists among the natives intervened during the crossing and participated in the project known as Visite à Okavango. But before that, the author had undertaken several artistic works that lean directly into African, and others that refer to it and weave their threads around Africa.
read more
SUN (W)HOLE
The Moroccan artist Amine El Gotaibi, faithful to himself, has opted for difficulty through all his works to construct artistic facts capable of carrying his ideas and assuming their conceptual depth. As a result, he is permanently artistically engaged, which is clearly seen in his vast projects, requiring considerable effort and a lot of time to put them into execution. Furthermore, he stands out with his own vision of the World and of Art; a way of framing his work and defining its contours to build an artistic journey that is both coherent and open to differentiation. Regarding Africa, by starting the project in 2011, El Gotaibi manages to reconnect with the continent and to mark his belonging despite the feeling of distance (Cf. the nationals of North Africa). According to the artist, the project sprouted from the feeling of the unknown that covers this region of the world, deeply impacts its territory, and reaches the habits and customs of its peoples, their beliefs, their existential expressions as well as the images/myths that reach us from this area. Indeed, this dark forest that is Africa, haunted by so many enigmatic stories, laden with intrigue... has always inhabited the artist's imagination. The realization led him in a stubborn attitude to roam Africa to shed light on the darkness that lies in the depths. Artists among the natives intervened during the crossing and participated in the project known as Visite à Okavango. But before that, the author had undertaken several artistic works that lean directly into African, and others that refer to it and weave their threads around Africa.
read more
Processus de réalisation, Amine El Gotaibi perfore le mur, Johannesburg, South Africa 2019
THE WALL
El Gotaibi continues to listen to the call from Africa, this time from the heart of Johannesburg, where he had landed (in South Africa). This country has the privilege of housing the largest artistic park on the continent, (NIROX SCULPTURE PARK), with an area of 47 hectares, 15 of which are reserved for artistic creation. The park has seen a succession of great artists from the African world so that they can freely design their installations and sculptures. They do this by first choosing the right place to create their work. But despite the extent of the area and the seduction of the naturally captivating environment, which would probably have contributed to giving the work other dimensions, the artist opted for another site outside the park which he deemed more suitable for the project in view. And so it sits on a hill that overlooks the park and gives a panoramic view of the area stretching out into the infinity of the horizon. El Gotaibi chose this hill to make a scene in situ. The work consisted of the construction of a wall 15.3 m long and 4 m high. The execution lasted more than a fortnight and involved a whole group of professional engineers, and masons experienced in adobe construction. All of them worked to give shape to the artist's idea with as much precision as possible. As soon as the wall was finished, the artist began to drill a large hole, a kind of skylight that gives access to the rays of the sun that the wall has prevented from passing. Through this skylight, the rays reach the other side.
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THE WALL
El Gotaibi continues to listen to the call from Africa, this time from the heart of Johannesburg, where he had landed (in South Africa). This country has the privilege of housing the largest artistic park on the continent, (NIROX SCULPTURE PARK), with an area of 47 hectares, 15 of which are reserved for artistic creation. The park has seen a succession of great artists from the African world so that they can freely design their installations and sculptures. They do this by first choosing the right place to create their work. But despite the extent of the area and the seduction of the naturally captivating environment, which would probably have contributed to giving the work other dimensions, the artist opted for another site outside the park which he deemed more suitable for the project in view. And so it sits on a hill that overlooks the park and gives a panoramic view of the area stretching out into the infinity of the horizon. El Gotaibi chose this hill to make a scene in situ. The work consisted of the construction of a wall 15.3 m long and 4 m high. The execution lasted more than a fortnight and involved a whole group of professional engineers, and masons experienced in adobe construction. All of them worked to give shape to the artist's idea with as much precision as possible. As soon as the wall was finished, the artist began to drill a large hole, a kind of skylight that gives access to the rays of the sun that the wall has prevented from passing. Through this skylight, the rays reach the other side.
read more
THE WALL
El Gotaibi continues to listen to the call from Africa, this time from the heart of Johannesburg, where he had landed (in South Africa). This country has the privilege of housing the largest artistic park on the continent, (NIROX SCULPTURE PARK), with an area of 47 hectares, 15 of which are reserved for artistic creation. The park has seen a succession of great artists from the African world so that they can freely design their installations and sculptures. They do this by first choosing the right place to create their work. But despite the extent of the area and the seduction of the naturally captivating environment, which would probably have contributed to giving the work other dimensions, the artist opted for another site outside the park which he deemed more suitable for the project in view. And so it sits on a hill that overlooks the park and gives a panoramic view of the area stretching out into the infinity of the horizon. El Gotaibi chose this hill to make a scene in situ. The work consisted of the construction of a wall 15.3 m long and 4 m high. The execution lasted more than a fortnight and involved a whole group of professional engineers, and masons experienced in adobe construction. All of them worked to give shape to the artist's idea with as much precision as possible. As soon as the wall was finished, the artist began to drill a large hole, a kind of skylight that gives access to the rays of the sun that the wall has prevented from passing. Through this skylight, the rays reach the other side.
read more
Realization Process / Construction and Formwork Team, fabrication of the 2nd rammed earth block of the wall, 2019
Realization Process / Construction and Formwork Team
fabrication of the 2nd rammed earth block of the wall, 2019
ARTIST DENOUNCES AFRICAN WALLS
It is by following the great African project adopted by Amine El Gotaibi, this journey to the depths of Africa, towards Okavango, that we can understand the work in which he disapproves of the borders that separate African countries and make them vulnerable. He calls on the other (the White Man) to open up to the other side of Africa, rich in its culture and endowed with a fruitful diversity, "because the most dangerous walls and harder are not of course those built of reinforced concrete, they are rather all the supports for the separation between men on the basis of the color of skin, the typology of values and the forms of cultures" (Abdessalam Benabdelali). The Wall here refers to the representations, points of view, and prejudices that work together to keep human beings in a state of superficiality, unable to get to the bottom of things. Admittedly, El Gotaibi does not evoke borders in his work, since he is aware that these imply the recognition of the Other, his autonomous existence, whereas the walls when they are erected, it is against the Other, they are there to dissuade, better, the walls confirm the remoteness rather than the rapprochement or the neighborhood announced by the borders. The praise of borders by Régis Debray in his conference in Japan reinforces this position, as in his call for "Right to borders to thwart deadly drifts...". The borders are open, as for the walls, they are closed naturally, to oneself and to others.
read more
ARTIST DENOUNCES AFRICAN WALLS
It is by following the great African project adopted by Amine El Gotaibi, this journey to the depths of Africa, towards Okavango, that we can understand the work in which he disapproves of the borders that separate African countries and make them vulnerable. He calls on the other (the White Man) to open up to the other side of Africa, rich in its culture and endowed with a fruitful diversity, "because the most dangerous walls and harder are not of course those built of reinforced concrete, they are rather all the supports for the separation between men on the basis of the color of skin, the typology of values and the forms of cultures" (Abdessalam Benabdelali). The Wall here refers to the representations, points of view, and prejudices that work together to keep human beings in a state of superficiality, unable to get to the bottom of things. Admittedly, El Gotaibi does not evoke borders in his work, since he is aware that these imply the recognition of the Other, his autonomous existence, whereas the walls when they are erected, it is against the Other, they are there to dissuade, better, the walls confirm the remoteness rather than the rapprochement or the neighborhood announced by the borders. The praise of borders by Régis Debray in his conference in Japan reinforces this position, as in his call for "Right to borders to thwart deadly drifts...". The borders are open, as for the walls, they are closed naturally, to oneself and to others.
read more
ARTIST DENOUNCES AFRICAN WALLS
It is by following the great African project adopted by Amine El Gotaibi, this journey to the depths of Africa, towards Okavango, that we can understand the work in which he disapproves of the borders that separate African countries and make them vulnerable. He calls on the other (the White Man) to open up to the other side of Africa, rich in its culture and endowed with a fruitful diversity, "because the most dangerous walls and harder are not of course those built of reinforced concrete, they are rather all the supports for the separation between men on the basis of the color of skin, the typology of values and the forms of cultures" (Abdessalam Benabdelali). The Wall here refers to the representations, points of view, and prejudices that work together to keep human beings in a state of superficiality, unable to get to the bottom of things. Admittedly, El Gotaibi does not evoke borders in his work, since he is aware that these imply the recognition of the Other, his autonomous existence, whereas the walls when they are erected, it is against the Other, they are there to dissuade, better, the walls confirm the remoteness rather than the rapprochement or the neighborhood announced by the borders. The praise of borders by Régis Debray in his conference in Japan reinforces this position, as in his call for "Right to borders to thwart deadly drifts...". The borders are open, as for the walls, they are closed naturally, to oneself and to others.
read more
Face / Profile / Back, 3 x (74 x 110 cm) / 2019
Fine Art Pigment Print
LIGHTING AFRICAS DARK AREAS
I think that the essence of this artistic installation, the depth of its vision lies in the skylight without which the artist's idea, his conception of the work would never have reached this bottom. He would be saying to us: If the walls close the doors, the win- dows and all space in front of the Other, and this is the case of Africa, we must use tricks for the walls. These are embedded in our unconscious and our sensitivity. By opening this skylight al- lowing light to pass and illuminate dark areas, helping to remove visual confusion, the fantasy will give way to truth, distance to rapprochement, cons to with. The skylight, or hole, dispelled the ambiguity that surroun- ded El Gotaibi's Wall. It is based on these ambivalent elements: Presence and Absence, Contenance and emptiness, Interior and Exterior, Opening and Closing, Rupture and Connection... Binarism recalls a text by Borges "the wall and the books" which begins as follows: "... man who ordered the construction of the Great Wall of China, a wall that stretches towards infinity, was himself the first emperor to order the burning of the books that preceded his era."
read more
LIGHTING AFRICAS DARK AREAS
I think that the essence of this artistic installation, the depth of its vision lies in the skylight without which the artist's idea, his conception of the work would never have reached this bottom. He would be saying to us: If the walls close the doors, the win- dows and all space in front of the Other, and this is the case of Africa, we must use tricks for the walls. These are embedded in our unconscious and our sensitivity. By opening this skylight al- lowing light to pass and illuminate dark areas, helping to remove visual confusion, the fantasy will give way to truth, distance to rapprochement, cons to with. The skylight, or hole, dispelled the ambiguity that surroun- ded El Gotaibi's Wall. It is based on these ambivalent elements: Presence and Absence, Contenance and emptiness, Interior and Exterior, Opening and Closing, Rupture and Connection... Binarism recalls a text by Borges "the wall and the books" which begins as follows: "... man who ordered the construction of the Great Wall of China, a wall that stretches towards infinity, was himself the first emperor to order the burning of the books that preceded his era."
read more
LIGHTING AFRICAS DARK AREAS
I think that the essence of this artistic installation, the depth of its vision lies in the skylight without which the artist's idea, his conception of the work would never have reached this bottom. He would be saying to us: If the walls close the doors, the win- dows and all space in front of the Other, and this is the case of Africa, we must use tricks for the walls. These are embedded in our unconscious and our sensitivity. By opening this skylight al- lowing light to pass and illuminate dark areas, helping to remove visual confusion, the fantasy will give way to truth, distance to rapprochement, cons to with. The skylight, or hole, dispelled the ambiguity that surroun- ded El Gotaibi's Wall. It is based on these ambivalent elements: Presence and Absence, Contenance and emptiness, Interior and Exterior, Opening and Closing, Rupture and Connection... Binarism recalls a text by Borges "the wall and the books" which begins as follows: "... man who ordered the construction of the Great Wall of China, a wall that stretches towards infinity, was himself the first emperor to order the burning of the books that preceded his era."
read more
Amine El Gotaibi during the laying of the foundations, Johannesburg / 2019
THE WALL: CONFINEMENT OR LIGHT
The duplication is expressed in this story by the binomial construction / destruction. The cremation of the book, a symbol of openness and civilizational exchange, refers to the wall built to lock itself in, to embrace a blind identity. Here, destruction lives in the construction. We find the same meaning redoubled in "Le Mur" by Jean-Paul Sartre, based on the Loyalty / Treason binomial such as the activist Pablo Iviata behind bars, experienced them vis-à-vis his friend. The Wall is "always physical and spiritual, something which stands independently and which is no less symbolic (...), it goes beyond its spatial reality" (Norbert Heliez). The El Gotaibi Wall, is it not a call to break free from confinement and to aim for deployment rather than confinement. The latter is fatal for any futuristic vision, any vision whose optimism benefits the being in its relationship with the world. The parable of the skylight represents the reality of things, the artist criticizes the walls implanted in the unconscious of men. The light that crosses the Wall is for us only the cry in front of the "Black Hole of our Self" (Gilles Deleuze). The work is presented by its limpid creativity as a signal which pushes the receiver to engage thought within the art and to question himself on the essence towards which the work directs us, because "the line what distinguishes art is that it leads us to the place where the essence of things is hidden" (Philippe Mang). Brahim Oulahyane
read more
THE WALL: CONFINEMENT OR LIGHT
The duplication is expressed in this story by the binomial construction / destruction. The cremation of the book, a symbol of openness and civilizational exchange, refers to the wall built to lock itself in, to embrace a blind identity. Here, destruction lives in the construction. We find the same meaning redoubled in "Le Mur" by Jean-Paul Sartre, based on the Loyalty / Treason binomial such as the activist Pablo Iviata behind bars, experienced them vis-à-vis his friend. The Wall is "always physical and spiritual, something which stands independently and which is no less symbolic (...), it goes beyond its spatial reality" (Norbert Heliez). The El Gotaibi Wall, is it not a call to break free from confinement and to aim for deployment rather than confinement. The latter is fatal for any futuristic vision, any vision whose optimism benefits the being in its relationship with the world. The parable of the skylight represents the reality of things, the artist criticizes the walls implanted in the unconscious of men. The light that crosses the Wall is for us only the cry in front of the "Black Hole of our Self" (Gilles Deleuze). The work is presented by its limpid creativity as a signal which pushes the receiver to engage thought within the art and to question himself on the essence towards which the work directs us, because "the line what distinguishes art is that it leads us to the place where the essence of things is hidden" (Philippe Mang). Brahim Oulahyane
read more
THE WALL: CONFINEMENT OR LIGHT
The duplication is expressed in this story by the binomial construction / destruction. The cremation of the book, a symbol of openness and civilizational exchange, refers to the wall built to lock itself in, to embrace a blind identity. Here, destruction lives in the construction. We find the same meaning redoubled in "Le Mur" by Jean-Paul Sartre, based on the Loyalty / Treason binomial such as the activist Pablo Iviata behind bars, experienced them vis-à-vis his friend. The Wall is "always physical and spiritual, something which stands independently and which is no less symbolic (...), it goes beyond its spatial reality" (Norbert Heliez). The El Gotaibi Wall, is it not a call to break free from confinement and to aim for deployment rather than confinement. The latter is fatal for any futuristic vision, any vision whose optimism benefits the being in its relationship with the world. The parable of the skylight represents the reality of things, the artist criticizes the walls implanted in the unconscious of men. The light that crosses the Wall is for us only the cry in front of the "Black Hole of our Self" (Gilles Deleuze). The work is presented by its limpid creativity as a signal which pushes the receiver to engage thought within the art and to question himself on the essence towards which the work directs us, because "the line what distinguishes art is that it leads us to the place where the essence of things is hidden" (Philippe Mang). Brahim Oulahyane
read more
