‘Mood Indigo’

Blue is the colour of the moment. As BOZAR celebrates the work of Yves Klein, the International Trade Centre’s Ethical Fashion Initiative and the European Commission invite Malian textile designer and master indigo dyer Aboubakar Fofana to share his art in Brussels.

Come experience the unique savoir-faire of dyeing white cotton fabric by hand to endless shades of indigo. To the rhythms of Duke Ellington and working over a vat of magical blue liquid, Aboubakar Fofana will demonstrate his traditional artisanal technique. BOZAR’s Horta Hall will be transformed into a floating indigo forest to fully celebrate the colour blue that was so integral to Yves Klein’s work

Aboubakar Fofana’s art was recently celebrated at the contemporary art biennale, documenta (14), in Kassel and Athens.

His demonstration will be accompanied by Senegalese singer Moussa Niang and Kora player Zouratié Koné.

The jazz trio of Michelino Bisceglia will perform at the event with music inspired by Duke Ellington’s 1930 iconic classic composition, Mood Indigo.

In collaboration with Ecole de La Cambre

 Aboubakar Fofana is a multidisciplinary artist and designer whose working mediums include calligraphy, textiles and natural dyes.  He is best known for his work in reinvigorating and redefining West African indigo dyeing techniques, and much of his focus is devoted to the preservation and reinterpretation of traditional West African textile and natural dyeing techniques and materials. All of his work takes its inspiration as well as its raw materials from the natural world, and revolves around the cycles of nature, the themes of birth, decay and change, and the impermanence of his materials. He is currently deeply involved in creating a farm in conjunction with the local community in the district of Siby, Mali, in which the two types of indigenous West African indigo will be the centrepiece for a permaculture model based around local food, medicine and dye plants.  This project hopes to contribute to the rebirth of fermented indigo dyeing in Mali and beyond, and represents his life's greatest project to date.