Robert-Goldwater-Library

Venice Biennale: Blood Diamond?

via Artnet News, 2-23-07 :

ART AND CORRUPTION IN VENICE
by Ben Davis {links/images courtesy GoldwaterLibrary.org}

The 52nd Venice Biennale, June 10-Nov. 21, 2007, makes a historic gesture towards Africa by including a substantial exhibition drawn from the Sindika Dokolo African Collection of Contemporary Art in the impressive spaces of the Arsenale. But now, the unsavory political and business activities of the people behind the collection are raising questions that could well prove an embarrassment to the venerable art fest.

Selected to represent Africa by a panel of international experts appointed by Biennale curator Robert Storr [see Artnet News, Feb. 13, 2007] [see also: Goldwater post, Feb.14, 2007], the collection, based in Luanda, Angola, is explicitly being presented not just for the quality of its 600 works -- which include pieces by artists from 21 African nations -- but "to draw attention to the Sindika Dokolo initiative as a signal undertaking within the context of art patronage in Africa generally." In other words, it is explicitly presented as a feather in the cap for Congolese collector Sindika Dokolo.

But who is Sindika Dokolo? An internet search turns up few references, the most informative being a 1999 Common Ground radio interview about the economic situation in the Congo, in which Dokolo is cited as representing Congolese business interests ("dressed impeccably in a double-breasted suit") blaming the collapse of the country’s banking system on then-leader Laurent Kabila, who had recently toppled the 32-year regime of Joseph Mobutu-Sese Seko.

Le liquidateur Mupepe Lebo, président du Conseil d'administration de la Sggi. PHOTO LE SOFT NUMÉRIQUE.

Further research reveals an alternative story, however. A July 2006 article in the French-language newspaper La Conscience titled "The Dokolo Affair" alleges that under the Mobutu regime, Sindika Dokolo's father, Sanu, created the Bank of Kinshasa, which channeled money to members of his own family -- including his son Sindika, then still a minor -- bilking the state and normal depositors of more than $80 million dollars when it imploded in 1986. Given the scope of the economic devastation left behind by the Bank of Kinshasa, the issue is apparently still very much alive -- the article cites Mupepe Lebo, an independent auditor investigating the Dokolos' legal maneuverings to keep the money, who accuses Sanu Dokolo's heirs of "mafia-like" activity.

Recovered: 650 ancient artefacts smuggled from Mali

Some of the artefacts confiscated may be up to one million years old


via BBC News [thanks Nicole!]:

Mali relics recovered in France
French customs officials say they have seized more than 650 ancient artefacts smuggled from Mali in one of the largest such finds at a Paris airport.

Described as an "archaeological treasure", the objects were thought to be on their way to private US buyers.

Experts say most of the items are from the Neolithic period, but some may be up to one million years old.

The artefacts are thought to have been taken from archaeological sites on the edge of the Sahara desert.

The 669 items - 601 stones and 68 bracelets - were confiscated on 19 January at Charles de Gaulle airport and included axe heads, flintstones and stone rings.

Most of the artefacts date from a few thousand years BC. But others are from the Acheulean period, between one million years and 200,000 years old, and from the Middle Stone Age (200,000 years BC to 20,000 years BC).

The artefacts were shipped in nine parcels from the Malian capital, Bamako, which the accompanying paperwork described as handcrafted objects.

Customs officials look out for artefacts being exported from specific countries such as Mali which may be smuggled, a customs spokeswoman told the BBC News website.

If they have a doubt, they then seize the objects and have them assessed by experts to establish their age - in this case an expert from the Department of Prehistory at the Natural History Museum in Paris, she said.

Growing traffic
This type of traffic was unheard of a few years ago, an airport customs official told the AFP news agency.

"Since 2004 we have observed regular traffic in this kind of contraband. There is a big market and we are pretty sure that these items, which had been neatly sorted and were of very high quality, had been pre-sold," Eric Cailheton said.

French customs officials made two similarly large finds of archaeological items from Niger in March 2004 and December 2005.

The 2005 haul included more than 5,000 stone arrowheads and 90 carved stone artefacts, dating back 5,000 years.

The items were found in the baggage of a passenger who arrived on a flight from Niger's capital, Niamey.