OpenArtExchange @ AKAA 2025
23 - 26 October 2026
Sculptural Dialogues from Benin – Exploring material, memory and transformation.
Sculptural Dialogues from Benin
Every material holds a Memory
At the 10th anniversary edition of AKAA Art Fair Paris, OpenArtExchange proudly presents Sculptural Dialogues from Benin — a dual showcase featuring Benjamin Déguénon and Marcel Kpoho, two artists whose practices reveal the spiritual and material richness of contemporary Beninese art.
Through ceramics, paintings, and sculptural works, both artists explore how human experience is shaped by transformation, memory, and belief. Clay and rubber — humble, reclaimed materials — become vessels for storytelling, bridging the ancestral and the modern, the physical and the metaphysical.
In these works, form becomes emotion and material becomes meaning. Déguénon and Kpoho invite viewers to witness how creativity transcends matter — an artistic dialogue between earth and spirit, renewal and reflection — presented as part of OpenArtExchange’s fifth participation in AKAA Art Fair Paris 2025.
A Dialogue Between Earth and Spirit
Through clay and rubber, Deguenon and Kpoho embody the balance between matter and meaning — transforming humble materials into symbols of renewal, reflection, and resilience. Their works invite viewers to sense the invisible dialogue between earth and spirit, where transformation becomes both a creative and spiritual act.
Benjamin Deguenon (1982)
Painter & Sculptor | Benin
A Multidisciplinary Artist from Benin
Benjamin Déguénon merges myth and matter, creating ceramic sculptures, paintings, and drawings that blend human and animal forms into hybrid beings. His work draws on transformation, spirituality, and the sacred, inviting viewers to reflect on what it means to be human in a changing world.
In recent years, Déguénon has expanded his practice into ceramics, developing a powerful new body of work during his residency at Le Terrail in Vallauris, France — presented in his solo show Le Traversé (2024–2025). Rooted in Benin’s rich symbolic traditions, his works channel both ancestral memory and contemporary expression, forming a dialogue between earth and imagination.
Dialogue between Earth and Imagination
Benjamin Déguénon (Benin, 1982) is a multidisciplinary artist whose ceramics, paintings, and assemblages explore the fluid space between the human and the mythical. His hybrid beings — part human, part animal — emerge from clay, fabric, and found materials, blending memory, identity, and transformation.
Rooted in the spiritual and symbolic traditions of Benin, Déguénon’s works channel both ancestral energy and contemporary urgency. His tactile ceramics and expressive paintings evoke stories of becoming — of what it means to live, adapt, and connect in a changing world.
“It is the earth that carries us, that nourishes us — and to the earth we return.” — Benjamin Déguénon
Discover more of Benjamin’s work →
Works Benjamin Déguénon
Marcel Kpoho (1988)
Sculptor | Benin
Marcel Kpoho transforms discarded tires into masks and wall sculptures that reveal the spiritual energy within waste materials. His works are rooted in Vodoun spirituality and ecological awareness, turning remnants of urban life into profound reflections on human nature and balance.
Kpoho’s sculptures emerge from the streets of Porto-Novo, where rubber — omnipresent and non-biodegradable — becomes both medium and metaphor. By reshaping this material, he explores the fragile coexistence between humanity and nature, transforming what was once industrial refuse into forms of spiritual renewal. Each piece embodies duality: raw yet refined, protective yet unsettling. Kpoho’s art reminds us that creation and destruction, faith and resilience, are intertwined forces in the cycle of life.
Read more about Marcel Kpoho →
Reclaiming the Sacred through Recycled Matter
Marcel Kpoho (Benin, 1988) transforms discarded rubber tires into sculptural forms that echo the tension between humanity, spirituality, and the environment. Rooted in Benin’s Vodoun traditions and inspired by the raw realities of urban life, his works balance the sacred and the profane — confronting both the darkness and resilience within us.
Each sculpture carries the mark of metamorphosis: what was once waste is reborn as a vessel of reflection and strength. Through his masks and wall pieces, Kpoho challenges viewers to see renewal in the discarded and spirit in the material.
“God and the Devil are not external entities but energies that reside within us.” — Marcel Kpoho
Works Marcel Kpoho
Frequently asked questions
Find quick answers about OpenArtExchange’s participation in AKAA Paris 2025 and the exhibition Sculptural Dialogues from Benin.
AKAA (Also Known As Africa) will take place from 24 to 26 October 2025 at Le Carreau du Temple in Paris.
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