Abdoulaye Armin Kane is a painter, sculptor and video artist. In his video work, which he develops over long periods of time, he engages with current issues of social, economic, political and cultural life. He has created a signature animation style, each film framed like an analogue TV screen with coloured buttons at the bottom.

On first glance the film The Event (Yaatal Kaddou/L’Evènement) 2007 resembles a video game in its use of unnaturalistic colours and graphic representation. Using a static viewpoint of blocks of flats lit up at night, we see and hear the flow of urban life quietly unravelling. The drama which unfolds starts off inside the flats, hidden from our view but we can hear the residents watching a football game as traffic passes outside. Suddenly a power cut disrupts this harmony and there is a clamour of frustration. People leave the building and get into their cars in the now darkened streets. The ensuing accident demonstrates the dramatic consequences of power cuts. Kane does not lay the whole blame on the electricity company but encourages people to take responsibility for their own actions and not to behave dangerously when the lights go out.

In Dakar there can be four or five power cuts every day. The Senegalese Electricity company Senelec ‘has been unable to satisfy demand for electricity for years’1 and there were riots in June 2011 over continuing power shortages. At the end of the film, the sun rises heralding a new day, for it all to begin again.

1 ‘Senegal: Buildings toured in powercut riots’, www.bbc.co.uk/news/worldafrica- 13938217, 28 June 2011. [Accessed 23/03/12].

Biography

Born in 1965 in Dakar, Senegal. Lives and works in Dakar, Senegal.

Studied at the Academy of Arts in Dakar from 1988 to 1992.

Exhibitions include Dak’Art, 2008, Festival du Film de Dakar, 2009; Festival Bouillants Numeriques, Rennes, France, 2012; Galerie Nationale d’Art, Dakar, 2011 and 2008; CRUNCHTIME2010, international visual arts festival, York, UK.

Solo shows include Galerie Nationale d’Art, Dakar, Senegal, 2006.