P A U L M A H E K E

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These works are often bathed in colourful lights and set in motion by pulsating soundtracks. They embrace a multiplicity of logics and voices: for instance, they can house a series of public events as well as other artists’ interventions; For I regularly collaborate with music makers and producers, choreographers, performers and dancers.

I intend for these environments I craft to be experienced as poetic yet political spaces where the body is purposed as a site for resilience.In the context of my exhibitions and performances I consistently attempt to adjust the distance between the outside and the inside, the audience and my practice. The use of different forms of speech, words or elements such as curtains, window filters and metal railings, for example, play a significant role in their functioning: one of a permeable membrane or a fluid border that contains as much as it hosts —very much like in a body, most of my work relates to the idea of necessity and coexistence.

My practice is based on simple gestures that once consisted in placing works in public space. It has now expanded to video, sound, installation and performance.

The research is grounded in decolonial and emancipatory thought with a focus on how history, memory and identity are formed and constituted. It considers the body as an archive, a territory with its own cartography, using its physicality as a pathway to information and meaning-making. This manifests more specifically in the performances as an investigation into physical memory.

Through a varied and often collaborative approach I look at the ways in which queer blackness can inform and alter knowledge production.

Exploring with different presentation formats such as open discussions, staged performances or exhibitions, I delineate metaphorical spaces wherein which the body resonates with and echoes the broader socio-political context that have birthed it.

By combining several media and using feminist, post-colonial and queer positions my work intends to confront hegemonic thinking, and explores peripheral discourses in order to address principle of dominance. It’s also a way for me to question social and geographical relationships to power.

With particular attention to dance, the performances and installations speculate on embodied stories and seek to rearticulate systems of representations that emerge from Western imaginations.

s way i n g I d e n t i t i e s

Mbu, 2017performance, 25 min

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Performed at Tate Modern (London, UK) in collaboration with Cédric Fauq (drums), Mbu combines multi-layered video projection with dance, sound and live percussion to speculate about embodied histories. This performance deepens an autobiographical exploration of physical memory by looking at the Black body as an archive, using its waters as pathways to knowledge and information.

https://vimeo.com/236122015

Beyond Beyoncé: Use it Like a Bumper, 2015 documentation of the event

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A public conversation held at Open School East using Hip-Hop as a keystone to question what possibilities are offered to Black womxn bodies in the mainstream as well as in more alternative cultures.

Mutual Survival, Lorde's Manifesto, 2015diptych, vidéo HD, 17:50 min

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While Looking at dance as a practice of resistance, the video diptych narrates Black subjectivities through a fictional manifesto made out of several texts by feminist author Audre Lorde - installation view: The Approach, London, UK

https://vimeo.com/131783598 (headphones recommended)password: lorde

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I Lost Track of the Swarm (TRANSFORMATION), 2016 soundtrack 23:00 min (loop)

composed in collaboration with Nkisi (NON Worldwide)

https://soundcloud.com/paul-maheke/transformation-excerpt

I Lost Track of the Swarm, 2016 South London Gallery, London (UK)

The show I Lost Track of the Swarm looks at pulsating and desiring brown and black bodies as affective and political archives. In shedding a (lavender) ray of light on empowered narratives, it strives to unfold the intricate layers of the production of subjectivity.

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I Lost Track of the Swarm, 2016 South London Gallery, London (UK)

3-channel video installation (endless loop), luminous ceiling, fake rubber cockroaches, synthetic hairs, grass and seeds, digital print on fabric, curtains, window light filters.

https://vimeo.com/192351126password: swarming

As the Water Recalls, 2018Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, EE

Give Up the Ghost, Baltic Triennial XIII

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Tropicalité, l'Île et l'Exote, 2014HD video, 12:50 min

Tropicalité, l'île et l'exote is a silent subtitled video exploring questions relating to othering processes and exoticism. The film ties together the symbolic figure of the island and the body, as well as it investigates with decolonial thoughts which look at the latter as possible sites for resistance.

https://vimeo.com/122039262password: tropic

Dans l'éther, là, ou l'eau, 2018Galerie Art & Essai, 6th Rennes Biennial, FR

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Levant, 2018 Lafayette Anticipations, Paris

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in collab. with Ligia Lewis and Mélika Ngombe Kolongo (aka Nkisi)

59 min video loop, 18 min sound loop, holographic net, wood, vinyl flooring, luminous blobs, resin, synthetic hair, dust and debris.

A Gesture Towards Transformation, 2013-2016performance, 20 min

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While aiming to unsettle the power dynamic between an audience and a performer the work also reconsiders representations of masculinity in the context of exotic dance. Performed at the Rebel Man Standard Festival, London, UK

https://vimeo.com/167917644

In the form of a collage using texts, found footage, sounds and works by visual artists Angel-HO, Minia Biabiany, FAKA and Belinda Zhawi, that curated night of video, music and dance centred on Black Femme subjectivities while exploring the multiplicity of voices coexisting in the global now to engender matriarchal narratives.

SQUAD#1, 2016documentation of the event at South London Galleryin collaboration with Cédric Fauq et Mélika Ngombe Kolongo

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The dance floor could never be a story with one voice.The dance floor is packed with stories all pulsating with their own experiences and needs, 2017

Digital prints on curtains145 x 360 cm (x4) and 145 x 410 cm (x2)

Installation view: Elements of Vogue, at CA2M, Madrid, SP Surrounding works by Ellen Gallagher, Lorna Sipmson and Carl Pope Jr.

Seeking After the Fully Grown Dancer *deep within*, 2016HD video, 13:30 min

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Based on "Authentic Movement" dance techique the work explores notions of performativity and authenticity in the form of an informal conversation with the audience. https://vimeo.com/183213826password: fully grown

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What Flows Through and Across, 2017 Assembly Point, London (UK)

Video installation — HD video projected onto sheer fabric curtains (13:55 min), performances, vinyl dance floor mat, digital prints on fabrics, aluminium fish tank, crystal candle wax, print on paper, glass shelves, resin, glass light fixtures and lighting devices, dried plants.

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What Flows Through and Across, 2017Assembly Point, London (UK)

Sound work composed by Sophie Mallett:https://soundcloud.com/aqnb/sophie-mallett-water-has-other-logics-2017-courtesy-the-artist

The River Asked for a Kiss (to Pateh Sabally), 2017 145 x 410 cm (x4)digital print on fabric

Diaspora Pavilion, Venice

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Acqua Alta, 2017 Galerie Sultana, Paris (FR)

Third and last part of a series of solo exhibitions, Acqua Alta is looking into liquid physicalities and envisages water as a subjective substance. It gives way to a speculation that reconsiders identity through notions such as formlessness and fluidity.

Acqua Alta, 2017 Sultana, Paris (FR)

Sound work composed by Sophie Mallett, wood, vinyl lettering, digital print on fabrics and paper, glass, resin, synthetic hair, light gels and window filters.

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Letter to a Barn Owl, 2018KevinSpace, Vienna, AT

This sound installation (83 min) is based on a psychic reading I was given by artist and playwright Asher Hartman during a residency in the Dominican Republic in 2017. Combining elements of sculpture, text and sound, it explores notions forms of embodiement and looks at the body as both an archive and a territory where socio-political tensions around blackness and queerness are being played out.

audio link: https://soundcloud.com/paul-maheke/barn-owl20

A familiar familial place of confusion, 2018 performance, 30 minin collab. with Alix and Simon Maheke

A collaborative work devised by Paul, Alix and Simon Maheke exploring Kindoki —a form of witchcraft / a system of belief / a magical thinking and practice from Bas-Congo (Bantu). Using words, sound and movement, the work references African cosmologies of the Bantu Congo as well as pop icon Michael Jackson, French writer Guy de Maupassant's "Le Horla" and Alix Maheke's case study about Kindokisme, cannibalism and 'children witches' https://vimeo.com/271153827password: kindoki

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Seeking After the Fully Grown Dancer *deep within* and The River Asked for a Kiss, 2016-2018

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20 min performance, La Tigra, Honduras

A fire circle for a public hearing, 2018Chisenhale Gallery, London

airbrush mural, wrought iron window railings, curtains, HD video on monitor, soundtrack (46 min), 3-part performance. Sound artist: Sophie Mallett Performers: Titilayo Adebayo, Heather Agyepong, Carrie Topley

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S o l o s h o w s 2018 A fire circle for a public hearing, Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK Letter to a Barn Owl, Kunstverein KevinSpace, Vienna, ATDans l'éther, là, ou l'eau, 6th Biennale de Rennes: À cris ouverts, Galerie Art & Essai, Rennes, FR 2017 What Flows Through and Across, Assembly Point, London, UK In Me Everything is Already Flowing, Center, Berlin, DE Acqua Alta, Sultana Gallery, Paris, FR 2016 I Lost Track of the Swarm, South London Gallery, London, UK Green Ray Tuns Out To Be Mauve, Green Ray, Londres, UK

g r o u p s h o w s a n d p e r f o r m a n c e s

2018Le centre ne peut tenir, Lafayette Anticipations, Paris, FRMOVE, Centre Pompidou, FRBaltic Triennial XIII: Give Up the Ghost, Tallinn, ET Kunsten Festival, Brussels, BE (performance)

2017 Live Exhibition: Ten Days Six Nights, cur. Catherine Wood + Andrea Lissoni, Tate Modern, London, UK Diaspora Pavilion, cur. David A. Bailey, 57th Biennale de Venise, IT Frieze London, Galerie Sultana, London, UKElements of Vogue, cur. Sabel Gavaldon + Manuel Segade, CA2M, Madrid, SP(X) A Fantasy, cur. Vincent Honoré + Zoe Williams, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, UK The problem with having a body / is that it always needs to be somewhere, The Approach, London, UK Klub Fiesta, cur. Michal Novotný + Lumír Nykl, Plato, Ostrava, CZ Posthuman Complicities, cur. Andrea Popelka et Lisa Stuckey, Akademie der Künste, Vienna, ATLa Pensée du Tremblement, cur. Diamètre, galerie Jeune Création, Paris, FRHabits of Care, cur. Helena Reckitt, Blackwood Gallery, Toronto, CA

2016 No Ordinary Love, Sultana Gallery, Paris, FR High Arousal, cur. Jonathan P. Watts, Union Pacific Gallery, Londres, UK Seeking After *deep within*, invit. Mathew Parkin, Grand Union, Birmingham, UK HYPERSEA, in collaboration with Sophie Mallett, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK (performance) As Far As You Are Unconcerned, The Showroom, London, UK (performance)TeachBack!, ImPulsTanz, Vienna, ATAnd Then We Came, cur. W. Giovanni Gonzales, The White Cubicle (duo show w/ Vika Kirchenbauer)Festival de l’Inattention, cur. Sophie Lapalu, Glassbox, Paris, FRIn Conversation with Niv Acosta, artist talk, South London Gallery, London, UKI Would Have Done Everything for You/Gimme More, cur. Cédric Fauq, London, UK

E D U C A T I O N

Open School East, London, UK, 2015MA Fine Art, ENSAP-Cergy, FR, 2011

BA Fine Art (Hons), ENSAP-Cergy, FR, 2009BA Etching and Printmaking (Hons), École Estienne, Paris, FR, 2007

R e s i d e n c I e s

Davidoff Art Initiative, the Dominican Republic, 2018Palais de Tokyo, 2017

South London Gallery, 2015-2016 Fonderie Darling, Montreal (QC), Canada, 2015

The Serpentine galleries, London, UK, 2015Centre International d'art et du Paysage, Vassivière, FR, 2014

Résidence de la ville de Montrouge, FR, 2014 Homsession, Barcelona, Spain, 2012

Villa Pan, French Institute, China, 2010

G r a n t s

Fluxus Fund, French Institute, London, 2016-2017French Culture Ministry, ADAGP, Salon de Montrouge, 2014

P u b l i c c o l l e c t i o n s

British Art Council Collection Liverpool Walker Gallery

Frac Aquitaine Frac Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Neues Museum Nürnberg

P A U L m a h e k e

(1985, Brive-la-Gaillarde, FR)Lives and works in London

paul.maheke@gmail.com

Tableaux: a season of screenings and performances, Assembly Point, London, UKSQUAD, night of performance, cur. Paul Maheke + Melika Ngombe Kolongo + Cédric Fauq, South London Gallery, UKA Gesture Towards Transformation, The Rebel Man Standard Festival, Guest Projects, London, UK

201559th Salon de Montrouge, FranceAgenda Salad, Open School East, London, UKRuptures in Places, cur. Katy Orkisz Association of British Insurers, London, UKArtist talk Dissections: Yinka Shonibare, DHC/ART, Montreal (QC), CanadaODRADEK, Les Instants Chavirés, cur. Mikaela Assolent + Flora Katz, Montreuil, FranceBeyond Beyoncé: Use it like a bumper! a public conversation about Black feminism and Hip-Hop cultures, Open School East, London, UKParti(e) du Paysage, cur. Simon Cau, Simon Cau Gallery endorsed by 60th Salon de Montrouge, France

2014Re-former le monde visible, Le 116, cur. Marlène Rigler, Montreuil, FranceFestival of minimal actions, cur. Thomas Geiger, Bruxelles, BelgiquePaysage Sauvage / Wilderness, Les Banquets du Château, CIAP- Île de Vassivière, France

2013VIVA!, Centre CLARK, Montreal, QuebecVideoakt, French Institute, Barcelona, SpainSupermarket 2013, LMDP crew, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden

2012Papier Français, The Poetry Art Club, Brooklyn, New York, USA«Pratiques Furtives» : fragments d’une enquête, cur. Patrice Loubier, Skol art center, Montreal, Quebec

2011Le musée performatif, Patio del Liceo, cur. Liv Schulman, Bueños Aires, ArgentinaMille Feuillets, La Vitrine, Drawing Now Paris I, Paris, France

2010A New Ceremony, Villa Pan, Suzhou, ChinaHautlesmainpeauxdelapins : Les Figures de l’imposture, la Maison de la recherche de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France2010 / 20 ans / Génération Gravure, cur. Françoise Pétrovitch, Paris, France

2009Aides Project, Yvon Lambert Gallery Paris, France

2008Youtube Battle : No Limit, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France2008 sept. 31, Galerie 51, Seoul, South Korea

P r e s s & P u b l i c a t i o n s

Artforum, Arpil 2018 Mousse Magazine 63, 2018

I-D Magazine, 2018Revue 02, Juillet/Août, 2017

Artpress, n°446, 2017 The Perfect School?, The Serpentine Galleries, 2017

Agent Double#2, dir. Olivier Pierre Jozef, 2016 D'un abandon à l'autre, Inter Art Actuel, n°120, 2015

Abandonné.e.s à l'île, CIAP-île de Vassivière, 2014Le Quotidien de l'Art, n°678, by Cédric Aurelle, 2014

59e Salon de Montrouge catalogue, by Daniel Bosser, 2014Arts Magazine, by François Quintin, France, 2014

We Can't Wait for Better Times, Barcelona, Spain, 2013Manuel #3, Glassbox, Paris, France, 2013

Remedy Paper, Brusells, Belgium, 2012Speak Word le Journal de la Triennale #3, as part of LMDP, Abdellah

Karroum, Paris, France, 2012Les artistes en leur monde III, Marie-Paule Nègre, 2012

Drawing Now Paris I catalogue, 2011