Performances: (Selection - Chronological order)
Bal Pays - Performance at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (France).
April 12, 2025 / As part of Plan D : CND X Palais de Tokyo
Poetic crossing between past, present and future, this original collaborative performance is a tribute to the creolised danced traditions practiced in the West Indies. Imagined in dialogue with the exhibition Somewhere in the night, the people dance, it is composed in three stages, bringing together a traditional association of Guadeloupean quadrille, dancers and musicians.
Bal Pays is a fictionalised night ball, a moment of collective expression where each performer brings their artistic uniqueness to the whole. The quadrille dance and its commands being the backbone of the performance.
This performance questions the history of traditional dance and music practices in the Caribbean, at the crossroads of African and European cultures, and links them to practices that have emerged in recent decades.
In the night, a place of reinvention and all possible creatives, this reconfigured quadrille round opens to the public for its grand finale.
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Artistic direction & Choreography :
Raphaël Barontini et Saïdo Lehlouh
Dancers:
Ndoho Ange, Mackenzy Bergile, Odile Lacides, Mathieu Rassin et l’association Canne à Sucre.
Music :
Mike Ladd and the association Eko-d-z’ile, Hector Ficadière, Pierre Bianay, Félix Brunoy, Celuggi Periac, Annick Albert and the commander, Nita Alphonso.
Costumes :
Raphaël Barontini & Studio
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Special Thanks to Michel Sioul & Nita Alphonso.
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Production : CND X Palais de Tokyo
Photo Credit : Marc Domage & Willy Vainqueur ©
Video Credit : ArtBeats Berlin / Felix Von Boehm, 2024
Déboulé Céleste - Performance in the occasion of the "Nuit Blanche", Paris (France).
June 1, 2024
Driven by the power of the mas, a militant carnival tradition of Guadeloupe to which the accelerated pace gives the appearance of military march, Déboulé céleste is the culmination of Raphaël Barontini’s reflection on the movement of monumental pictorial forms at the service of the collective. With Déboulé céleste, Barontini is fully part of an Afro-Diasporic aesthetic of the collective movement, whose experience has recently been nourished by the Second Lines and Black Indians of New Orleans and freely inspired by the Hosay of Trinidad and Tobago.
Thus, the battle of the Moon and the Sun, at the center of this ritual of Hindu origin, creolized in La Caraïbe, becomes a battle between two groups of mas: the group of skin drums Choukaj and the group with snares Bully Mas. The whole forms a processional performance with an Afro-futuristic Caribbean aura, served by the ambulatory and insular dimension of the Alley of Swans, also known as the Island of Swans.
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Artistic direction & Choreography :
Raphaël Barontini
Dancers :
Mounir Amhiln, Andrège Bidiamambu, Diana De Paoli, Marvin Cita, Baptiste Garraway,
Thomas Gréaux, Tatiana Kiowa, Lekoumson, Fabien Maitrel
Music :
Mouvement Culturel Choukaj & Bully Mass
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Actor :
Bernard Quental
Costumes & Artworks :
Raphaël Barontini & Workshop Ecole Duperré (Paris).
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The festival is curated by Claire Tancons, and supported by the City of Paris.
Photo Credit : Mairie de Paris & Fabrice Gousset ©
Video Credit : ArtBeats Berlin / Felix Von Boehm, 2024
We Could Be Heroes - Solo exhibition and performance / Pantheon (Paris - France)
October 19th 2023 > February 11th 2024
Raphaël Barontini unveiled a major presentation at the Panthéon in Paris on October 19, 2023 and is on view through to February 11, 2024. The show is part of “one artist, one monument” program by the Centre des monuments nationaux.
The Centre des monuments nationaux has invited artist Raphaël Barontini to hold an exhibition in the Panthéon as part of the program titled Histoire & mémoires des combats contre l’esclavage (history and remembrances of anti-slavery struggles). The artist carried out his mission by designing two strong and interdependent components: a monumental installation, visible all throughout the exhibition, and a live performance on the opening day, and on October 22nd 2023.
With this monument of national memory, which honors numerous and important figures in the abolitionist movement (i.e. Condorcet, abbé Grégoire, Toussaint Louverture, Louis Delgrès, Schoelcher, Félix Éboué), Raphaël Barontini aims to shine a spotlight on heroic figures of the fight against slavery. Whether well-known or not, each played critical roles in achieving abolition.
The artist has designed an on-site installation composed of flags and banners in a guard of honor. The north and south transepts host two monumental textile installations. Several large-format textile works are suspended at different heights. Raphaël Barontini created a live performance that was premiered during the opening with carnival band Mas Choukaj and the musician Mike Ladd.
The installation is animated by the performative event taking place throughout the space several times during the exhibition. The artist feels this exhibition must also be “a collective moment of reflection and sharing of a still painful chapter in history, symbolized by the performances.”
The performance occurs in two acts. First, an original sound creation, composed by Mike Ladd, followed by a collective procession by the Mas Choukaj based just outside of Paris in the city of Saint-Denis and the the dancers Thomias Radin, Yonas Perou and Andrege Bidiamambou. Then the parade pays homage to the historic figures honored on the banners that make up the artist’s own imaginary pantheon.
Barontini believes that the symbolic result of fusing visual art with participative performance will allow a blending of “artistic, historical, and societal issues, thus spurring social and cultural connections of great value.”
The project of performance was carried out in collaboration with students from Fashion and Textile Design Master’s degrees at L’École d’Art Appliqué Duperré in Paris.
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Artistic direction :
Raphaël Barontini
Dancers :
Thomias Radin, Yonas Perou & Andrege Bidiamambu
Music :
Mike Ladd et le Mouvement Culturel Choukaj.
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Costumes :
Raphaël Barontini Studio & Workshop Ecole Duperré (Paris)
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The exhibition & performance was commissioned by the National Monument Center (CMN).​
Video Credit : ArtBeats Berlin / Felix Von Boehm, 2023
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Caribbean Fantasia - Solo exhibition and performance / FWCA - T.C.U Art Galleries (Fort Worth - USA)
February 28 > September 26, 2020
The Art Galleries at TCU are pleased to present "Caribbean Fantasia" featuring new work by artist Raphael Barontini. This exhibition runs February 28 – September 26, 2020 at Fort Worth Contemporary Arts and will open with a cowboy parade and reception for the artist on Friday, February 28th, from 6-8 p.m.
Paris-based artist Raphaël Barontini uses photographic imagery on textiles to create installations that conjure spectacle, celebration and ritual. From large-scale colorful banners and flags to items of customized clothing, his vibrant printed fabric work combines pattern and portraiture that is both eye-catching and alluring. His juxtaposition of seductive surfaces playful fringe and tassels against silky drapery and soft leather creates a dynamic gallery environment that suggests performance and improvisation.
In using pre-existing imagery Barontini references the collage work of artists like Hannah Höch or Romare Bearden, and his selection of particular photographic portraits points to his ongoing investigation of African Diaspora, of people and populations overlooked or misrepresented. His work engages with and challenges dominant iconographies of colonial interests. He often draws attention to black hero figures in French history, and as such, his contemporary re-presentation of such historic images explores issues of representation and race.
Barontini is particularly influenced by processes of creolization and hybridity and the philosophies of Caribbean thinkers, such as Édouard Glissant and Stuart Hall who believed there is not a homogenous cultural identity for diasporic people. He also considers his own family history which is infused with personal experiences of participating in community parades and carnival, and tracks a path from Réunion Island (French Territory in the Indian Ocean) to the Caribbean and from Italy to Paris.
For TCU – Texas Christian University, Barontini presents an immersive panorama at Fort Worth Contemporary Arts where visitors will be surrounded by large-scale fabric works, accompanied by an audio piece commissioned by hip hop musician Mike Ladd. Inspired by Barontini’s research on Haitian General Toussaint Louverture (1743-1803) and other leaders of the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), the exhibition engages with a precise historical moment - - the Battle of Vertières - - and the fight independence from French colonial rule. Barontini considers equestrian portraiture as a symbol of identity and power, and in the context of Fort Worth, reflects on the history of the American cowboy, or more specifically, cowboys of color. Understood in this way Caribbean Fantasia represents an imaginary vision of a cavalcade for freedom.
To celebrate the opening of Caribbean Fantasia, Barontini is collaborating with the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth and has invited cowboys of color ride to Fort Worth Contemporary Arts from the TCU School of Art, located in TCU Moudy Fine Arts Building. The cowboys will wear items of custom clothing created by Barontini, which, after the ride, will be installed in the gallery to become part of the on-going exhibition. The parade by cowboys of color is a living tribute to such figures who have been erased from history, but who should be now be reconsidered and explored.
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The exhibition is curated by Sara-Jayne Parsons, head curator of the T.C.U Art Galleries and the FWCA.​
Photo Credit : Lynné Bowman Cravens, The Art Galleries at TCU, 2020
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The Golden March - Solo exhibition and performance / SCAD Museum of Art (Savannah - USA)
October 3rd > January 19th 2020
SCAD Museum of Art presents The Golden March, a new public art commission and the first museum solo exhibition in the U.S. by Raphaël Barontini, an artist known for his dynamic installations that subvert visual tropes and iconographies. Barontini’s works are mostly fiber-based, and he creates images by layering screen prints and paintings, fashioning fantastical environments that evoke pageantry and ceremony. The artist explores ritualized celebration forms espoused by the African Diaspora and offers an ongoing interrogation and challenge to colonial iconographies.
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The project is conceived within the framework of the exhibition Frederick Douglass: Embers of Freedom. Barontini’s work complements the Douglass exhibition while remaining wholly its own experience. The Golden March comprises two parts: a performance in collaboration with the Savannah High School Marching Band and a site-specific installation of new work for the four iconic Jewel Boxes lining the façade of the museum.
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Like an opera in many acts, Barontini approached the commission as a fractional narrative and tribute to the life and work of abolitionist, author and social reformer Frederick Douglass. Each of the four Jewel Boxes is a poetic reflection on Douglass’ life history, in the form of large-scale textile installations based on visual material from the Douglass family archives of Dr. Walter O. Evans. Barontini also invokes the shapes and forms of protest banners, flags and boat sails, references to both Douglass’ legacy as a radical and revolutionary force in American history, as well as a symbol of his escape to freedom.
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The performance entitled The Golden March was staged during the reception of the exhibition, with the marching band revealing each Jewel Box while carrying banners and flags created by the artist in a public parade.
The students and band members learnt different civil right movement songs and music tracks tracing the long march to freedom. From Aretha Franklin, to the Black National Anthem and to the Alright song created by Kendrick Lamar, the parade connected the struggles from the past to the contemporary ones.
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The exhibition is curated by Storm Janse van Rensburg, head curator of SCAD Exhibitions and Ben Tollefson, assistant curator of SCAD Exhibitions.​
Additional funding for the exhibition is provided by Étant donnés Contemporary Art, a program of the French American Cultural Exchange (FACE) Foundation.
Photo credit : SCAD Museum of Art
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