The Electrofetishes series combines readymades, ”anti-folklorism”, classical African art and spirituality.
Bocio, wooden statuettes mass-produced in Benin and Nigeria with the utilitarian purpose of being “charged” during rituals are diverted, or rather “reverted” by the intervention of the artist.
Through the addition of electronic elements, conveyors of both invisible but measurable energies, these statuettes, standing like stylites on columns made of tin cans, a reference both to Warhol and to Marx’s notion of “commodity fetishism”, become receivers and emitters of immaterial connectivities: artistic, spiritual and digital.
Spectators can hold their smartphones close to these works, thus sending them a propitiatory and electronic offering and receive messages, good fortune and wishes in return, thus entering a participative, interactive and experiential process.
The series was begun in 2013.
Saint Selavy, 2015
Wood, metal, NFC tags
Dim: 180 × 20 × 20 cm
Saint Selavy, 2015
Wood, metal, NFC tags
Dim: 180 × 20 × 20 cm
Saint Aditi, 2016
Wood, metal, paint, polypropylene tubes, NFC tags
Dim: 210 × 16 × 16 cm
Saint Aditi, 2016
Wood, metal, paint, polypropylene tubes, NFC tags
Dim: 210 × 16 × 16 cm
Saint Aditi, 2016
Wood, metal, paint, polypropylene tubes, NFC tags
Dim: 210 × 16 × 16 cm
Saint Selmar, 2016
Wood, metal, NFC tags
Dim: 70 × 10 cm
St Théia, 2020
Wood, metal, NFC tags
Dim: 58 × 10 × 10 cm
St Théia, 2020
Wood, metal, NFC tags
Dim: 58 × 10 × 10 cm