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Kunsthaus Graz >  Exhibitions >  Famakan Magassa

Famakan Magassa

22.01. - 02.03.2025

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Duration

22.01. - 02.03.2025

Opening

21.01.2025 18:00

Location

Kunsthaus Graz, Foyer

Curators

Katia Huemer, Alexandra Trost

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About the
Exhibition

Over the holidays, Kunsthaus Graz invited visitors to take part in a project with the artist Famakan Magassa, who had temporarily relocated his studio to the Needle of the Kunsthaus for this purpose. The large-format work created in this context will now be exhibited in the foyer of the Kunsthaus.

 

Famakan Magassa combines the everyday with current socio-political issues in his large-format, intensely coloured acrylic works. His works speak of the need for individual fulfilment and emotional connection, the universal desire for freedom, but also of violence, oppression and displacement. His grotesque, rather gender-neutral figures are an allusion to the Kôrêdugaw - a ritual community in Mali.

 

Magassa develops his expressive figurations in texts and sketches, which he then in a final step transfers to canvas surfaces on the floor. His targeted use of humour and irony pointedly highlights the contradictions and complexity of social structures. Personal experiences and conflicts are also reflected in his art.

 

 

 

Famakan Magassa (* 1997, Mali) received his BFA from the Conservatoire Arts et Metiers Multimedia Balla Fasséke Kouyaté in Bamako, Mali, in 2018. He has exhibited at L'Institut-Français du Mali, the Fondation La Maison de l'Artiste in Assinie, Ivory Coast (2019), in the Hotel Sahara exhibition at the BETC, Paris, France (2021). In 2022, he had his first solo exhibition SOIFS at the Albertz Benda Gallery, New York. In 2023, Magassa was awarded the Grand Prize of the Norval Sovereign African ArtPrize.

Curator Katia Huemer, Luise Grinschgl from Kulturvermittlung Steiermark, artist Famakan Magassa, curator Alexandra Trost and Kunsthaus director Andrja Hribernik in front of the artist’s work at the exhibition opening.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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Visitors to the opening of artist Famakan Magassa’s exhibition in conversation with Kunsthaus director Andreja Hribernik.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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Artist Famakan Magassa at the opening of his exhibition in the foyer of the Kunsthaus Graz.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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Visitors to the opening of the exhibition by the artist Famakan Magassa are discussing the works.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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The artist Famakan Magassa at the opening of his exhibition in the foyer of the Kunsthaus Graz. He is engaged in a friendly conversation with a visitor.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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Visitors to the opening stand in front of the artwork by Famakan Magassa, which was created through a participatory process. It depicts silhouettes of people whose bodies are made up of splashes of colour. In the centre, a blue figure wearing a Santa hat is drinking a glass of wine.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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Artist Famakan Magassa chatting to visitors at the opening of his exhibition in the foyer of the Kunsthaus Graz.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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Director Andreja Hribernik speaks at the opening of the exhibition by the artist Famakan Magassa in the foyer of the Kunsthaus Graz.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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Director Andreja Hribernik speaks at the opening of the exhibition by the artist Famakan Magassa in the foyer of the Kunsthaus Graz.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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Speech at the opening of the exhibition by the artist Famakan Magassa.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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Speech at the opening of the exhibition by the artist Famakan Magassa.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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The team of curators and the artist Famakan Magassa at the exhibition opening in the foyer, surrounded by the audience.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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The artwork by Famakan Magassa on the curved wall in the foyer of the Kunsthaus Graz. Grotesque, gender-neutral figures in bright colours stand out against the dark background of the canvas.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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Famakans Magassa, a large-scale work, is displayed on the curved wall of the Kunsthaus Graz foyer. Colorful figures stand out against the black background; in the center stands a blue humanoid figure wearing a Santa hat.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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The artist Famakan Magassa at the opening of his exhibition at the Kunsthaus Graz.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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Artist Famakan Magassa at the opening of his exhibition at the Kunsthaus Graz. In the foreground are curators Alexandra Trost and Katia Huemer.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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The artist Famakan Magassa at the opening of his exhibition in the foyer of the Kunsthaus Graz.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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The large-scale work by artist Famakan Magassa in the foyer of the Kunsthaus Graz. Gender-neutral and grotesque figures stand out in bright colors against the black background.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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Close-up of Famakan Magassas’s work in the foyer of the Kunsthaus Graz. Short, thick strokes of paint overlap. The colors are mostly yellow, red, black, and white.
Opening: Famakan Magassa, Foyer, Kunsthaus Graz 2025

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A play of shadows on the blank canvas. Artist Famakan Magassa transfers his sketch onto the canvas with loose strokes.
Famakan Magassa: Riez et faites rire car trop sérieux n'est pas très sérieux. Laugh and make others laugh, because too serious is not very serious, 26.12.2024 - 05.01.2025, Kunsthaus Graz, Needle

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The artist Famakan Magassa at work. Using short, thick brushstrokes, he shapes his silhouette-like figures bit by bit.
Famakan Magassa: Riez et faites rire car trop sérieux n'est pas très sérieux. Laugh and make others laugh, because too serious is not very serious, 26.12.2024 - 05.01.2025, Kunsthaus Graz, Needle

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Artist Famakan Magassa and visitors are painting together in the Needle at the Kunsthaus Graz. They are all crouched on the floor, in front of or on top of the large canvases lying there.
Famakan Magassa: Riez et faites rire car trop sérieux n'est pas très sérieux. Laugh and make others laugh, because too serious is not very serious, 26.12.2024 - 05.01.2025, Kunsthaus Graz, Needle

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A Glimpse Inside the Needle—artist Famakan Magassa at work. The Schlossberg can be seen in the background.
Famakan Magassa: Riez et faites rire car trop sérieux n'est pas très sérieux. Laugh and make others laugh, because too serious is not very serious, 26.12.2024 - 05.01.2025, Kunsthaus Graz, Needle

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The artist at work on his vibrantly colored acrylic painting. He is crouched on the canvas lying on the floor and is currently working on a bird of prey at the edge of the painting.
Famakan Magassa: Riez et faites rire car trop sérieux n'est pas très sérieux. Laugh and make others laugh, because too serious is not very serious, 26.12.2024 - 05.01.2025, Kunsthaus Graz, Needle

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A large-scale, vibrantly colored acrylic painting by Famakan Magassa. Among the silhouettes, which are made up of small strokes of paint, is a light blue figure wearing a Santa hat.
Famakan Magassa: Riez et faites rire car trop sérieux n'est pas très sérieux. Laugh and make others laugh, because too serious is not very serious, 26.12.2024 - 05.01.2025, Kunsthaus Graz, Needle

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Famakan Magassa in the Needle as the sun sets; the light reflecting off the acrylic piece is just as golden.
Famakan Magassa: Riez et faites rire car trop sérieux n'est pas très sérieux. Laugh and make others laugh, because too serious is not very serious, 26.12.2024 - 05.01.2025, Kunsthaus Graz, Needle

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