Abstract More Than Meets the Eye, an exhibition of contemporary African art at Geneva's Musée Rath, exemplifies the paradoxes inherent in decolonial exhibition making within Western institutions. This article examines how the exhibition negotiates the tension between aesthetic refinement, institutional authority, and historical accountability. Through its scenography, including softly lit alcoves, bespoke display panels, and carefully controlled sight lines, the show constructs an atmosphere of reverence and beauty, translating political and historical charge into visual harmony. Artists assert presence and agency within this carefully orchestrated environment. Yet, despite the power of these works, the exhibition simultaneously enacts containment, mediating visibility through corporate sponsorship and the aesthetics of neutrality. The curatorial framework highlights universal themes: spirituality, intimacy, everyday life, rendering African modernities legible to Western audiences but risking the depoliticization of trauma. By foregrounding the interplay between artistic autonomy, corporate mediation, and institutional display, the article interrogates the limits of decolonial practice in the museum context. It argues that the exhibition illuminates rather than resolves the contradictions of contemporary representation: liberation exists alongside structural complicity, visibility is inseparable from containment, and the glow of aesthetic care can both reveal and obscure historical realities.
Camille Moreno (Fri,) studied this question.