Ndayé Kouagou is an artist whose practice stems from written texts that develop into performances, installations, and sculptures. Kouagou’s text-based works are immersive and captivating, often breaking the fourth wall. In his practice, Kouagou subverts the intended function of language, using it to incite confusion as opposed to clarity. Asking a multitude of existential questions, yet giving very few answers, Kouagou speculates whether art can engender real thought or change.
A coin is a coin (2022) is a short video piece that challenges its viewer’s biases, toying with their perception of reality. Dressed in a deconstructed suit, wearing eyeshadow and a single earring, he adopts the persona of an entertainment figure, lip-syncing to his own text read in a feminine voice. Opening with a confrontational statement, “If you were looking for direction this is not the place,” Kouagou spirals into a monologue about a single coin as an allegory of bigger issues such as power, belief, and freedom. Kouagou performs a specific way of wayfinding, manipulating the audiences’ gaze around the video. As a result, the artist emphasises position over direction, communicating that it is not about where one is going but where one stands, or how one sees and perceives.
Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre has been actively developing its Text Art Archive, focusing on language art; through the Contemporary Art Society, Bury Art Museum acquired works by Janice Kerbel and Samson Kambalu in 2015 and 2020 respectively. A significant addition to the Text Art Archive, the acquisition of Ndaye Kouagou’s works also reflect the museum's commitment to addressing the representation imbalance in their permanent collection.
