More than Meets the Eye

Currently adviser to the Director General of the Museum of Black Civilizations, in Dakar, Senegal, Ousseynou Wade has extensive experience in cultural policy and arts management. After several years as a technical advisor at the Senegal Ministry of Culture, he became Secretary General of the Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art. Organizing six editions of the Dakar Biennale gave him the opportunity to follow and support numerous artists from the continent and the African diaspora. He launched the art magazine AFRIK’ARTS with a view to fostering reflection on contemporary art in Africa. Born in Caen, where he also attended university, Jean-Yves Marin was initially an archaeologist. In 1986, he became curator and then director of the Musée de Normandie in Caen. From 2009 to 2019, he was director of the Musées d'art et d'histoire de la ville de Genève (Switzerland). Since then, he has been a consultant in the field of museum management and cultural heritage, as well as an artistic advisor to CBH Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique SA. He is an associate professor at Senghor University for African Development, in Alexandria, Egypt. Célestin Koffi Yao was born in Daloa in 1971 and is a leading Ivorian artist and intellectual, holding a PhD in the Arts (Sorbonne) and diplomas from art schools in Abidjan and Paris. He has developed a technique that combines visual art, writing and research. As a visual artist, essayist, teacher and researcher, he explores memory, black identities and colonial legacies. Founder of the Sankozan cultural centre in Abobo, a suburb of Abidjan, Célestin Koffi Yao works to promote access to art and raise the profile of African skills. His eclectic and committed work draws on African symbols and history to explore social divisions and cultural resilience.