Marie-Cécile Zinsou

Marie-Cécile Zinsou (born 1982) is a French-Beninese art historian and entrepreneur, She is president of the Fondation Zinsou, founded in 2005 in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, West Africa,[1] which promotes contemporary art in Africa and leads cultural, educational and social initiatives.[2] In 2014 she opened the first museum of contemporary art in Benin.[3]

Marie-Cécile Zinsou
Born1982 (age 40–41)
Paris, France
NationalityFrench-Beninese
EducationL'Ecole Alsacienne;
American University of Paris
OccupationArt historian
ParentLionel Zinsou (father)
RelativesÉmile Derlin Zinsou (great-uncle)

Early life and education
Zinsou Art Center in Ouida

Marie-Cécile Zinsou was born in Paris in 1982 and grew up in France and England.[4][5] She comes from a family of Beninese politicians and intellectuals and has dual French and Beninese nationality. Her father is Lionel Zinsou, an economist, who after years working in France returned to Benin, where he became Prime Minister from June 2015 to April 2016, being beaten in the second round as presidential candidate in the 2016 election. She is also the grand-niece of Émile Derlin Zinsou, former president of Dahomey (now Benin), and of the prominent Beninese cardinal Bernardin Gantin.

Zinsou studied partly at L'Ecole Alsacienne in Paris, and did further studies in the history of art at the American University of Paris.[1][6][4]

Career

In 2003, Zinsou worked at SOS Children's Villages in Abomey-Calavi, Benin, an Austrian non-governmental organization.[1] In 2005, she launched CSEB, a business services company in Benin,[4] and in June that same year with funding from her family was involved with setting up and running the Fondation Zinsou, based in Cotonou[7][8] as an art centre with on-site or travelling exhibitions, publishing books, and also providing libraries and training.[6]

In 2013, Zinsou opened the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ouidah, the first museum of contemporary art in Benin.[3][9][10] She has said: "The Fondation Zinsou was created to make a space for dialogue between artists and the public. I was working with children and I wanted them to find out about their culture and try to give them an idea of the time we’re living in. Of course, art is the best way to do that. In the end, we thought we couldn’t just focus on contemporary art and so have been working on heritage projects and the heritage building that hosts the museum."[11] She was one of the first people to be featured on IRAWO, a social media platform created by Beninese entrepreneur Mylène Flicka to inspire the next generation of West African young people.[12]

Other activities

In 2020, Zinsou was a member of the jury which selected Kapwani Kiwanga as winner of the Marcel Duchamp Prize.[13] In October 2021, she was appointed president of the board of directors of the Villa Medici in Rome.

Awards

In 2014, the Fondation Zinsou was awarded a young artists grant from the Japan Art Association's Praemium Imperiale.[14] Also in 2014 she was made a Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres.[4]

References
  1. Pierre Cochez, "Marie-Cécile Zinsou, une jeune mécène en Afrique", La Croix, 1 October 2010 (in French).
  2. "Marie-Cécile Zinsou", World Policy Conference.
  3. "Marie-Cécile Zinsou: she opened the first museum of contemporary art in Benin!", Africa Top Success, 13 February 2014.
  4. "Marie-Cécile Zinsou", at Leaders-Afrique.com (in French).
  5. Frédéric Schneider, "Bénin : 'L’accès à la culture' est une priorité, selon Marie-Cécile Zinsou", Afrik.com, 5 October 2015 (in French).
  6. Nicolas Michel, "Collectionneurs – Bénin: Lionel Zinsou, jamais sans mes filles", Jeune Afrique, 9 November 2012 (in French).
  7. HenriRobert, "Marie-Cécile Zinsou: Celebrating art in Africa", Happening Magazine, 6 June 2015.
  8. Magali Lesauvage, "Voyages en Afrique de l'Art", Libération, 29 January 2017 (in French).
  9. Philippe Dagen, "Benin blazes a trail for African modern art with opening of museum in Ouidah", The Guardian, 6 January 2014.
  10. Diane-Audrey Ngako, "Marie-Cécile Zinsou: Pourquoi ouvrir une fondation culturelle dans un pays pauvre?", Le Monde, 29 January 2015 (in French).
  11. "Marie-Cécile Zinsou: founder of the first contemporary art museum in Africa", TrueAfrica, 15 October 2015.
  12. "Irawo Talents : Mylène Flicka porte la voix des jeunes étoiles africaines – Jeune Afrique". JeuneAfrique.com (in French). 21 November 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  13. Alex Greenberger (19 October 2020), Kapwani Kiwanga, Artist Who Centers African Histories, Wins France’s Top Art Prize ARTnews.
  14. Léa Desrayaud, "Art: l'encouragement du Praemium Imperiale à la Fondation Zinsou basée à Cotonou", Le Point, 18 July 2014 (in French).

Further reading
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