Georges Adéagbo (born 1942, Cotonou, Benin; lives in Cotonou, Benin, and Hamburg, Germany) is a conceptual artist who has been developing his own style of using found objects since the early 1970s in Cotonou. When out on walks, he gathers items that have been lost or thrown away and incorporates them into his installations. Adéagbo enriches his palette with acquired objects and works he has commissioned himself—sculptures, masks, pictures, and text panels. As a result, episodes from his personal past interface with unusual interpretations of so-called objective historical scholarship, mainstream pop culture is juxtaposed with canonized high culture, and the banal confronts the profound. His work considers the process of coming to terms with the colonial era, explores the imperialistic claims of Western powers in mainland Africa, and poses questions about traces of colonialism still visible in European cities. Adéagbo’s works can be found in important collections, including Centre Pompidou, Paris; Collection Pinault; Smithsonian Museum of African Art; Albertinum Dresden; Galerie Nationale du Bénin; Hamburger Kunsthalle; Museum Ludwig Cologne; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Whitworth ArtGallery, Manchester; Toyota City Museum; Nasjonal Museum Oslo; KIASMA Helsinki; Moderna Museum Stockholm; Contemporary Art Collection of the Federal Republic of Germany, and several private collections.
