Revisiting Magiciens de la terre

Abstract

“The common statement that artistic production can only exist in the Western world can be blamed on the arrogance of our culture,”[1] wrote Jean-Hubert Martin, chief curator of the Magiciens de la Terre exhibition, in the catalogue. This unusual catalogue, formatted akin to an atlas, appeared to be a radical manifesto against the iniquities of the Western world, offering a body of political texts, photos, illustrations, and collages. It also included references to the 104 exhibited artists, presented in an unusual manner: the two pages allocated to each artist offered biographies and reproductions of works, as well a small planisphere indicating their geographical location. Interestingly, in each case, the planisphere was reoriented in such a way that the referent dot remained at the center. Among other contributors to the catalogue, Pierre Gaudibert also condemned “the symbolic violence of the Western world”[2] and Mark Francis ironically stigmatized the “condescending position” of those who had excluded non-Western artists from their museums for so long.