Kenny Dunkan at basis

Artist: Kenny Dunkan

Exhibition title: BIDIM BLO!

Venue: basis, Frankfurt, Germany

Date: February 9 – April 14, 2024

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and basis, Frankfurt

basis e.V. presents BIDIM BLO!, Kenny Dunkan’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany. Through sculpture, photography, video and large-scale installations, the artist creates a diverse and visually powerful world in which established categories are questioned and objects and rituals are revitalised in new ways. His exhibition features immersive spaces in which materials and mystical elements coalesce into a microcosm. Upon entering the building, there is already a visual disjunction that leads visitors into a blue environment reminiscent of an under-water world, which in the course of the exhibition then transforms into mainland natural landscape and finally vanishes into lava.

The works are driven by a critical and conceptual exploration of social, politi-cal, sexual, and ethnic themes. By linking these themes with the visual culture of the Caribbean and the aesthetics of the carnival in particular, Dunkan addresses French colonial heritage and its enduring influence on perceptions and forms of representation. This complexity also characterises the aesthetics of his works, which are defined by dichotomies that move between craftsmanship and design, pop and high culture, fetish and playfulness, detail and entirety, minimalism and overloaded execution. By adapting his works to site-specific conditions, the artist also rewrites histories of violence and oppression. This is particularly significant in the context of the history of the basis building at Gutleutstraße 8–12. The building was the seat of the regional NSDAP party headquarters from 1933 to 1940. Through his artistic intervention, Kenny Dunkan literally writes over the ‘brown’ history of the building on the exterior façade and in the foyer with his ‘brown’ skin colour right at the entrance to the exhibition. This therefore enables him to take over the building with his own visual language.

The exhibition title BIDIM BLO!, like many of Kenny Dunkan’s work titles, is Gua-deloupean creole. The title is a form of onomatopoeia, meaning words that are formed by the sounds they are describing, and relates to a sudden movement, the sound of a fall or a sudden appearance. This linguistic phenomenon is an important constituent of the Creole language and stems from the passage of traditions, values and knowledge through storytelling, since the language was for a long time based solely on oral tradition and is a mixture of the French colonial language with the spoken languages of the people of Guadeloupe.

KENNY DUNKAN (*1988, Guadeloupe) graduated from the École nationale des Arts Décoratifs de Paris in 2014 with the distinction of the jury and won the ADAGP Prize for Fine Arts at the Salon de Montrouge in 2015. From 2016 to 2017, Kenny Dunkan was a fellow at the Villa Médici, Académie de France in Rome. In 2021, he was selected by Rashid Johnson for the „Mentor and Young Talent“ program of Reiffers Art Initiatives. His works have been featured in national and international group and solo exhibitions, including venues such as Accademia Di Belle Arti, Rome; Art Brussels; Lafayette Anticipations, Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Palais De Tokyo, Paris; Postmasters Gallery, New York; Studio des Acacias, Reiffers Art Initiatives, Paris; RUARTS Foundation; Villa Medici, Rome.

Kenny Dunkan, STRUGGLE, 2019 / 2024, print on paper, 281 x 184 cm © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, BIDIM BLO!, 2024, installation view, © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, LE CRI, 2019 / 2024, print on fabric, 500 x 153 cm © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, BIDIM BLO!, 2024, installation view, © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, CARBET, 2019 / 2024, (detail), print on fabric, 500 x 153 cm © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, CHARM #015, 2021, oxidized metal chains, rubber, tassels, nylon cable ties, burnished steel nuts, 190 x 18 x 18 cm © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, CHARM #015, 2021, (detail), oxidized metal chains, rubber, tassels, nylon cable ties, burnished steel nuts 190 x 18 x 18 cm © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, BIDIM BLO!, 2024, installation view, © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, BELIEVE, THEY SAID!, 2020, (detail) metal, pvc, 45 x 15 x 12 cm © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, BIDIM BLO!, 2024, installation view, © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, AM I WISE ENOUGH?, 2022 Insect inclusions in resin, metal rings, 150 x 30 cm © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, AM I WISE ENOUGH?, 2022, (detail), Insect inclusions in resin, metal rings, 150 x 30 cm © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, SOLID BOI, 2022, copper, PVC, cable ties, shoes of the artist, and leather, 195 x 70 cm © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, SOLID BOI, 2022, (detail), copper, PVC, cable ties, shoes of the artist, and leather, 195 x 70 cm © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, MALFOUTI, 2022, metal eiSel towers, dried squash, engine, 120 x 60 x 60 cm © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring

Kenny Dunkan, MALFOUTI, 2022, (detail), metal eiSel towers, dried squash, engine, 120 x 60 x 60 cm © basis e.V., photo: Bernd Euring