Black and Animist Passion According to Brett Bailey

An Experience and Critical Re-exploration of Exhibit B. - This paper begins with a description of the performance-installation Exhibit B by South African artist Brett Bailey, which was inspired by the phenomenon of human zoos and produced for the first time in July 2013 at the Avignon I heater Festival (France). Then it describes the experience of this work of art and its interdisciplinary role as a curator-conservator of cultural heritage. It re-explores the artistic properties that upset artistic paradigms while also being of prime didactic interest. Indeed, the intermedial process employed by the young artist of Afrikaans origin who now lives in a post-Apartheid rainbow nation questions the artistic genre and intention of a work of art exported to a Europe still blind to the worst horrors of its colonial past. The artist's approach redistributes the roles of author, performer and spectator/voyeur, to the point of triggering passion and controversy.