Aouchem '67: Algerian modernism and Third World revolution

Thesis

This thesis examines how the modern art collective Aouchem (1967–1971) envisioned a multicultural Algerian nation. Previous histories have focused on how successfully, or not, Algerian artists distinguished postcolonial modernism from French influence. Shifting from this ‘vertical’ model of decolonisation to a horizontal framework, this thesis reconsiders modern art as a site of both national and transnational identity formation.

Five years after Algeria’s independence in 1962, nine artists set out to revive what they called the ‘magical sign’: the encoded patterns found in Amazigh textiles, pottery, murals, and tattoos. Aouchem weaved these motifs and their own into painting, sculptures, and performance, blending them with Arab-Islamic abstraction and European traditions of painting. By locating all these forms at the ‘avant-garde’ of modern art, I argue that Aouchem collapsed colonial-era hierarchies of cultural expression.

Theirs was not simply a formal statement. By layering its various legacies, the group sought to represent Algeria’s linguistically and culturally diverse population of eleven million, in contrast to the monolithic Arab-Islamic identity promoted by the state. Moreover, Aouchem included their project within a broader current of modern artists engaging with indigenous sources across Africa, Asia, and the Americas. For Aouchem’s artists, I argue, the dialogue between Algeria’s various cultures was part of a global conversation, firmly situated within the anticolonial context of the Third World movement.

Stretching from 1962 to 1992, the thesis documents the rise and fall of Aouchem’s ‘Third World modernism’. Based on archival research, interviews, and visual analysis of their artworks, it locates the group at a high point of Algeria’s nation-building and international consciousness. It also reveals tensions between Aouchem’s nationalist project and other forms of identity, whether regional or gendered. However, written amid a global resurgence of ethnonationalism, this thesis explores a decolonising vision of the multicultural nation.

Authors: Sjodin, C

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-2rmyarjkb
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Algeria; 1960s; North Africa; modern art; Third World; decolonisation; nationalism
• Subjects: Avant-garde (Aesthetics); Art--History; History, Modern; Modernism (Art); Art; Nationalism and art