Dak'Art 92 Where Internationalism Falls Apart

The Biennale des Arts held in Dakar, Senegal, in Dec 1992, which had several exhibitions and a two-day-conference, revealed the emergence of a new find of African art. Representation was mainly from Senegal, and lacked pan-African dimensions. Artists were not given their due importance because the bureaucrats and critics from Europe and America engaged all the attention. Senegalese art revealed the poet Leopold Senghor's influence. A wall-hanging of mammoth dimensions, which recreated the Legend of the Spoken Word, expressed the colorful and exuberant spirit of African art. Moustapha Dime and Yetmguta won the 12,000-pounds-prize. The exhibited artwork expressed a different kind of visual expression, using wood, metal and fabric apart from paint and canvas. The next Biennale is expected to be site-specific and held all over the continent.