In this video, Viyé Diba discusses the transformation of space in Dakar and how his piece Nous sommes nombreux, et nos problémes avec… [We are numerous, and our problems with that…] represents the "new definition" of the streets based on the consumer economy. By distributing local, raw, and recycled materials across the gallery floor, Diba’s installation invites viewers to participate in the same cluttered chaos prevalent in Dakar.

For Diba, the objects we interact with and consume are powerful tools for understanding society: "Everything that touches us in daily life interests me. When I walk in the street, I perceive everything as memory, which is to say that the profusion of objects found everywhere, all the paper, all the wood, all are remnants of human activity. These materials develop a sociological discourse.”

Nous sommes nombreux, et nos problémes avec… was included in the Tang Museum exhibition
Environment and Object - Recent African Art (2011).

CREDITS | Producer/Camera/Editor: Vickie Riley. Interview: John Weber. Translation: Hedi Abdel-Jaouad

©The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, 2011