THE ATLANTIC IS BLACK

René Tavares

11.9.-2.11.

Opening Performance by Monica Mussungo, Daniel “el Congo” Allen, Maelle Fiand.

Frobenstr. 1, 10783 Berlin

Thank you all for coming by and celebrating Rene Tavares and his long-lasting visual research on transatlantic migration and cultural heritage. Far from Western epistemologies, Tavares layers experiences, emotions and associations. A form of knowledge production that opens up an understanding of the contemporary exchanges within the Diaspora communities today. Special thanks to @monicamussungo , @el_congo_allen and @maelle_fiand who took on that idea with their very own musical and performative interpretation.

In cooperation with THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE (Angola/Portugal), ARTCO Gallery is excited to pre- sent the first solo exhibition of São Toméan artist René Tavares in Berlin. The show will be on view from September 11 through November 02.

Tavares‘ practice is an homage to the Austral and Atlantic Africa, which was constantly developing in exchange with the Americas. Islands like São Tomé and Príncipe were used as logistical centers, test laboratories, and production sites and thus became a marketplace for ideas and identities in the “Black Atlantic”. With this understanding, Tavares is in line with Paul Gilroy’s thesis that the cultural history of the African Diaspora is not simply African, American or European, but was created through the brutally enforced trade between these spaces across the Atlantic.

Through his diverse work, René Tavares is re-navigating these ancient routes and proposes narratives that reassess the historical significance of the African continent and its multifaceted cultural heritage. Far from Western epistemologies, Tavares layers experiences, emotions and associations in his creative pro- cess. A form of knowledge production that opens up an understanding of the contemporary exchanges within the Diaspora communities today.

“My aesthetics strive for a timeless universe in which African art can be located in certain historical periods, but is not limited to them.”

René Tavares was born in São Tomé and Príncipe in 1983. He graduated from the National School of Fine Arts in Dakar, Senegal, received a scholarship at the Beaux-Arts in Rennes and studied the ARC / Rennes Project photography course at the same time. Tavares also holds a Master’s in Art and Heritage Sciences from the Fine Arts University of Lisbon.

Tavares’ work is based on a process of research spanning through archives, photographs, and literature while bringing to the forefront themes related to historical and socio-political issues that affected different African countries. By questioning assimilated, neglected, and forgotten heritages and challenging the rigidity of categories and prejudices, the artist’s works are produced in an impulsive and engaged mode to raise awareness and trigger processes of resilience and social empowerment.

“My work reflects on the African diaspora and on the forms of miscegenation that have taken place; it also reflects my creative process as an artist in keeping with the rhythm of a mestization that overlaps times, places, and actors, diluting the watertight borders between domains.” (René Tavares)

Highlights of his career include the selection as a finalist for the EDP Foundation New Artists Award (2022), the Public Vote Prize for the Norval Sovereign African Art Prize (2022), the nomination for Africa’s most influential new artistic talent (FNB Joburg Art Fair, 2018), and the Artist Revelation Prize at São Tomé and Príncipe’s Biennale of Art and Culture (2002). Tavares‘ work is included in various relevant collections.