Martin Gustavsson

«The Blue Hour» Dak'Art - La Biennale de Dakar Edition 2018 03.05-02.06.2018 Artistic director of Oslo Kunstforening, Marianne Hultman, was one out of five guest curators at the 2018 Biennial of Contemporary Art Dak’Art in Dakar, Senegal - accompanied by Marisol Rodríguez, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Alya Sebti and Cosmin Costinas. The artistic director of the 13th edition of the biennial was Simon Njami. The 2018 edition's main theme, «The red hour», refers to a coming of age - a metamorphosis or transformation marked by both freedom and responsibility. Hultman’s presentation as guest curator was given the name «The Blue Hour». The Blue Hour or l’heure bleue is a poetic description of the mood during twilight and dusk. It symbolizes melancholy but also transformation from one level of consciousness to another. When we look at the world from the North towards the South, the red hour seems alien, perhaps even exotic. When we look at the world from the South towards the North, the blue hour seems as alien and exotic, although it’s the same phenomenon we are experiencing, the daybreak or the twilight hour. The following artists were invited by Hultman to take part in the biennial’s main exhibition: Martin Gustavsson (SE), Gavin Jantjes (ZA/NO), Toril Johannessen (NO) and Tori Wrånes (NO) in collaboration with Ayodeji Adewale Oluwatunmise (NG), Sanusi Taofik Ayomide (NG) and Tone Kittelsen (NO). All artists presented above are based in Norway, Sweden and Nigeria. They each have connections to the continent of Africa, either through their practices or their personal histories. The exhibition was produced by Oslo Kunstforening with artist’s support from the Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA) and Iaspis – The Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual and Applied Artists. 75 artists from 33 countries took part in the biennial's international exhibition, titled «A New Humanity».