ABDOULAYE KONATÉ
Abdoulaye Konaté was born in Diré, Mali in 1953. He lives and works in Bamako. He has participated in different Biennials including Venice Biennale, Venice; Documenta, Kassel, and Dak’art Biennale de l’Art Africain Contemporain, Dakar, Senegal. He has shown works in solo and group exhibitions throughout Africa, and internationally in Japan, Italy, France, USA, UK, Germany, and Cuba among others. His work is in the permanent collections of several institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Tate Modern, London; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Musée National du Mali, Mali; the Bargoin Museum, Clermont- Ferrand, France; the Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC; the Uli Sigg Collection, Luzern, Switzerland; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Fondation Guy & Myriam Ullens, Geneva, and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Other honours include being named an Officer of the National Order of Mali as well as a Chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters.
Konaté is the Founding General Director of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers Multimédia Balla Fasseké Kouyaté in Bamako, which is a testament to his commitment to arts education and nurturing creative talent across many disciplines including fine art, theatre, dance and music. It opened in 2004, with the ambition that having taught the students the concepts and techniques behind their own culture while simultaneously being informed about global developments in the arts, they would be encouraged to remain in their home country to seek employment and to serve their country’s cultural heritage. To maintain the international dialogue, foreign artists and musicians are invited to do workshops and give classes and presentations.