‘EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE SO THAT EVERYTHING STAYS THE SAME’
May 2024, Bonifacio
Above the Bonifacio coast lies the abandoned Montlaur casern, or former military barracks. A 5000 m2 exhibition space that was closed for three decades, but reopened two years ago for the first edition of the Biennale de Bonifacio by De Renava. This year, the art collective hosts the art of AES+F, Basquiat, Eneri, Nabil Youssef, and more offering a dialogue between local and international contemporary artists.
De Renava is the attempt by Corsican childhood friends Prisca Meslier and Dumé Marcellesi to reclaim and promote their cultural and artistic heritage. For this exhibition, the 2nd edition of the Biennale de Bonifacio, head curators Prisca and Dumé focused on the idea of ruins and conquest, exhibiting the work of 18 creatives in an array of mediums. The exhibition titled Roma Amor: The Fall of Empires takes place in 5 locations throughout the citadel of Bonifacio. The title is a palindrome which mimics the itinerary of the exhibition. The use of a ‘palindromic’ course is not random as no matter what itinerary is chosen, the finality will be the same: programmed collapse.
The path chosen for the exhibition reflects the ambivalent nature of history according to De Renava, where chaos, creation and destruction are not only in conversation but intertwine and feed each other. The space is a mirror to the themes it presents. Whilst we’re often used to digesting and consuming art in clean, white cube, polished galleries, here the setting is quite the opposite and feels as though it is also trying to convey a message. For example, walls covered in half-torn wallpaper with Camel cigarette prints surround the photographs of the Egyptian artist Nabil Youssef. As we follow the exhibition course, there is sensory stimulation: auditory and visual, but also respiratory (as we breathe in the fog and debris of the installation). Alexandre Bavard’s Temps Mort presentation engulfs the visitors in fog on a slowed and reverbed Booba soundtrack.
What the collective successfully does with this exhibition is creating a dialogue: between past and present, between the art and the spectator, between the artists and the curator, but also between the art and the landscape of Bonifacio. The circuit is spread throughout the city, making us understand that Bonifacio is a part of the exhibition, a part of the story, and understanding the city and its history is the key to better apprehending the art that is presented. Coordinating Kehinde Wiley’s bronze The Death of Two Soldiers with Bill Vola’s Tristan’s Ascension video installation or with the art of a young Corsican who uses abandoned deer horns to create a life-size crown of thorns, transports the visitor from location to location through common themes of decadence - emancipation; vandalism - heroism; and ruin - foundation.
What’s surprising is the accessibility of the art in the exhibition. There we were, as visitors, watching Brazilian artist Eneri spray paint the finishing touches of her work Untitled. This isn’t some pretentious exhibition, it's a way to “democratise contemporary art by incorporating local heritage”, which UNESCO highlights. The artwork which was carefully chosen, was also done so with the location in mind, which shows how according to the whereabouts and the location, the meaning of the art takes a different sense. Hosting this exhibition in Bonifacio isn’t random either: the citadel was for long a victim of multiple invasions and imperial impositions. However, Bonifacio’s culture and language still lived on through oral transmission, and now through exhibitions like the Biennale where local artists are showcased to promote the island, and the Mediterranean cultural scenery, collectives like De Renava offer multiple and alternative readings of its legacy.
Text by Gabrielle Valda Colas