In his solo exhibition Dans le bruit de la ville, Lindou returns to the practice of his early days, when he composed his works from collected objects. By exploring the possibilities offered by the material, mixing techniques and mediums to appropriate the space, Lindou testifies, in this new body of work, to the plurality of his art and reflects the architectural mutations of the urban space.
Noise, smoke, effervescence: in Douala like in Paris, the city teems. Its energy permeates Salifou Lindou's work and materialises through a maze of winding streets, punctuated by buildings with corrugated iron roofs and traversed by cars as voices. While the Place de la République in Paris vibrates in tune with the protests, filling the exhibition space with distant echoes, Lindou transposes the hustle and bustle of the city of Douala into the gallery, responding to the local tumult. The cities, each with its own preoccupations, organisation and routine, whir in unison. Dans le bruit de la ville highlights a universal urbanity and captures both the din and beauty of the city.
Lindou's artistic practice beats with the rhythm of the street. The artist borrows the debates, issues and materials from the street – engraving metal sheets, twisting wire and incorporating fragments of news by pasting newspaper clippings. His art is intrinsically linked to his memories of the slums of Douala and Yaoundé, where he wandered as a young man and where laughter and joy imbue daily life. When he co-founded the Cercle Kapsiki in 1998 - alongside Blaise Bang, Jules Wokam, Hervé Yamguen and Hervé Youmbi - the need to bring art to the public quickly emerged. Then, the group of artists decided to introduce the art into the city, taking it out of the usual exhibition spaces frequented by the elite.
In his solo exhibition Dans le bruit de la ville, Lindou returns to the practice of his early days, when he composed his works from collected objects. By exploring the possibilities offered by the material, mixing techniques and mediums to appropriate the space, Lindou testifies, in this new body of work, to the plurality of his art and reflects the architectural mutations of the urban space.
Buildings emerge from the ground, bordered by a convoluted road, and interact with the engraved metal sheets on the walls. They structure the space and mingle with the architecture of the room, marked by white pillars. During a participative performance (Living Together, 2023), this ecosystem comes to life. The artist walks through the space and covers flowers with red paint before assembling them into a bouquet, soon imitated by the audience. With this action, Lindou creates a link between individuals and symbolises the harmony he seeks in his quest to live together in the urban disorder. When the lights fade, the eye distinguishes some movement by following the strips of light dressing Lindou, which he discards as the procession progresses. In the distance, light boxes glow. Through these torn metal sheets stretched on a frame, the artist evokes the advertising billboards that take over the streets and transform the landscape.
The city arises among the buildings, noises and a cloud of fog. But what about the people who live there? In this torpidity, the inhabitants coexist and impose themselves. Their portraits stand out on the walls. Intense conversations continue in an outburst of colours. Lindou's art explores the depths of human beings, revealing their flesh in an attempt to pierce their secrets. He is interested in social issues and depicts everyday scenes. Since 2022, the Social Game series brings together politicians and citizens. It engages in a conversation and tries to reconnect the political world to the people. The characters blend into the urban chaos. The cacophony and the surrounding movement separate rather than unite them. Lindou shows how politicians manipulate the masses without them even realising it. While everyone carries on with their lives in total innocence, the politicians act in the shadows.
Later, Lindou evokes abuses of power and financial embezzlement in reference to the Albatros affair - related to the financing of the Cameroonian presidential plane, bought in 2001 with funds from the National Hydrocarbons Company - and to Operation Épervier carried out in 2006 in Cameroon to fight against corruption. The artist asks: 'what happens to the victims of corruption?' – because the stolen public money will never be used to maintain the collective infrastructures. Lindou deplores an environment in decay. The city is falling into ruin, but nobody is doing anything to change this. In response, the birds fly away in a message of peace and hope for a better tomorrow. Lindou dedicates his art to the inhabitants of the city. He depicts their daily lives and praises their resilience in the face of social injustice. He invites them to take care of what surrounds them to rebuild the city, together, in benevolence and solidarity.
Finally, Dans le bruit de la ville stands as a performative exhibition that revives and responds to the bustle of city life. A manifesto of Salifou Lindou's work, it revisits his memories and pays tribute to his artistic practice by reappropriating the mediums he used to work with at the beginning of his career 30 years ago.
