Bródno Sculpture Park. Chapter III
Youssouf Dara and Paweł Althamer

  • Bródno Sculpture Park. Chapter III

    projekt plakatu noviki.net
  • Bródno Sculpture Park. Chapter III

    projekt plakatu noviki.net

„Toguna” is a project of Paweł Althamer in the Bródno Sculpture Park, tied with the fascination of the artist in the Dogon culture, an African ethnic group inhabiting the south-center of Mali in the west of Africa.

Althamer underwent his first journey to the Dogon land in the year 1991, recognizing that this experience „awoke and changed his awareness.” The ethnic group believes that it came from space, landing several thousand of years ago next to lake Debo in a galactic ark. During his second journey to the Dogons in 2009, accompanied by a couple of the inhabitants from Bródno, Althamer met a sculptor called Youssuf Dara. He decided to invite him to Warsaw with a special mission-building an African toguna in Bródno.

Toguna – a wooden hut with a thick roof, leaning on carved columns-is an essential place for the Dogon people, being a place designed for gatherings and discussions of the villagers. The construction, which is rising next to he Bródno Park, is not only a potential place for community integration, it is supposed to undergo a prosaic function of a bus stop. An integral part of the Althamer's new Bródno project is likewise another journey – a pilgrimage of the artist and his friends to Mali, from where they will return accompanied by the Dogon sculptor.

Youssouf Dara

Author of the Bródno toguna will be a newcomer, the messenger from another world, landing in Bródno, almost like in the Dogon beliefs, aboard a cosmic ship in the midst of the African savanna. Art plays an very important role in the Dogon life – due to the magical skills of the artists the Universe is kept alive. Once in 60 years in the Dogon villages is Sigui, an eight year lasting ritual of the „renewal of the Universe”. The key role during the ritual is played by the Mother of Masks-a several meters wooden structure built, every time anew, by the tribal sculptor.

See also:

Exhibition and other archival events connected:

DzieńGodzinaNazwa wydarzeniaMiejsce wydarzenia
16:00 Exhibition Bródno Sculpture Park. Chapter IVJens Haaning Bródno Park
Kondratowicza/Chodecka, Warsaw
11:00 Excursion Golden BusTrasa: Museum - Bródno Sculpture Park Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
16:00 Exhibition Bródno Sculpture Park. Chapter V\"Guardian Angel\" by Roman Stańczak Bródno Park
Kondratowicza/Chodecka, Warsaw
16:00 Event Bródno Sculpture Park. Chapter 6Ai Weiwei: „To be found” Bródno Park
Kondratowicza/Chodecka, Warsaw
20:00 Event Draftmen’s Tent of Ghosts Bródno-Podgrodzie Park
Bródno-Podgrodzie, Warsaw
12:00 Event True art- true prison Remand Centre Warszawa-Grochów
Chłopickiego 71a, Warsaw
Event Bródno Sculpture Park. Chapter 7Honorata Martin: „Make yourself at home” Bródno Park
Kondratowicza/Chodecka, Warsaw
11:30 Workshops A PICNIC IN BRÓDNOguided walk and workshops for children Bródno Park
Kondratowicza/Chodecka, Warsaw
10:00 In public space 12th edition of the Etonliga football tournamentin the Bródno Sculpture Park Bródno Park
Kondratowicza/Chodecka, Warsaw