ARCHIVE II
Galerie Rudolfinum / Otto M. Urban
Unrealized Exhibition Project (2007–2009)
This archive documents an unrealized exhibition project developed for Galerie Rudolfinum (Prague) between 2007 and 2009, including curatorial writing, artist selection, and planning materials.
The core document presented here is the original curatorial proposal titled Vodou and Contemporary Haitian Art, authored during this period and intended for an international museum context. The proposal outlines the exhibition’s conceptual framework, artist list, and accompanying programming, including film, music, ritual context, and a scholarly catalog.
The archive includes:
Original curatorial proposal (draft)
Artist list and reference images
Project scope and intended collaborators
Project status: unrealized
Surviving planning materials
The project did not proceed to realization following the loss of institutional continuity and changes in visa and employment status. No further development occurred after this period.
Materials are presented as archival records only. No retrospective commentary or interpretation is offered.
All materials are presented for archival and research purposes.
Photograph by: Patrice Douge
Unrealized Exhibition Projects (Archival)
Project entry title
Vodou and Contemporary Haitian Art
Proposed exhibition, Galerie Rudolfinum (Prague)
Co-curation with Dr. Marilyn Houlberg and Dr. Otto M. Urban
Proposed exhibition, Galerie Rudolfinum (Prague)
Co-curation with Dr. Marilyn Houlberg and Dr. Otto M. Urban
Dates
c. 2007–2009 (unrealized)
Vodou and Contemporary Haitian Art was a proposed large-scale international exhibition developed for Galerie Rudolfinum in Prague. I served as lead author and curatorial organizer, working with Dr. Marilyn Houlberg and Dr. Otto M. Urban.
The project centered contemporary Haitian artists working in relation to Vodou as a living, syncretic cultural system, and was conceived as a multi-part program including exhibition, film screenings, music, ritual performance, and a comprehensive scholarly catalog.
Although the project advanced through proposal and artist selection, it was never realized following the loss of my position and visa in the Czech Republic. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Houlberg passed away, and the exhibition was permanently halted.
Surviving materials include the original curatorial proposal, artist lists, and reference images.
Beaded Flag by: Evelyn Alcide
Vodou and Contemporary Haitian Art
Curatorial Proposal (Unrealized)
Rowynn Dumont
c. 2007–2009
Rowynn Dumont
c. 2007–2009
Curatorial Statement
Vodou—also spelled Vodoun, Vodoo, or Voodoo depending on region and language—is not a fixed system of doctrine but a living, evolving spiritual practice transmitted through oral tradition, ritual, and material culture. There is no canonical text or singular authority. Instead, Vodou operates as a meditation of the spirit: adaptive, syncretic, and responsive to its social and historical surroundings.
In Haiti, Vodou is not experienced as separate from Catholicism; practitioners often identify as both. The religion’s roots originate in West African spiritual systems—particularly Yoruba cosmology—brought to the Caribbean through forced migration and subsequently interwoven with Catholic iconography, indigenous practices, and modern influences. Vodou’s intermediaries, known as lwa, function simultaneously as protectors, tricksters, saints, and disruptors—occupying a space beyond binary distinctions of good and evil.
Vodou’s material culture reflects this fluidity. A shrine may hold a human skull beside a saint, a bottle of rum next to a child’s toy, or a pop-cultural figure such as Mickey Mouse or Elvis Presley alongside sacred symbols. These objects are not ironic; they are intentional. Vodou absorbs the world as it exists.
As painter André Pierre once stated: “We are made by magic. All of us are magicians.”
Exhibition Concept
Vodou and Contemporary Haitian Art was conceived as a large-scale international exhibition foregrounding contemporary Haitian artists whose practices engage Vodou not as folklore or spectacle, but as a living cosmology shaping aesthetics, politics, and daily life.
While contemporary Haitian art has been exhibited in cities such as Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Miami, it has historically been framed for Western audiences and rarely presented in Europe at a significant institutional scale. This project proposed to situate Haitian contemporary art within a European museum context while resisting exoticism and anthropological distance.
The exhibition was envisioned not as a static display, but as a multi-modal cultural program incorporating:
A major exhibition of contemporary Haitian artists
Film screenings addressing Vodou and diasporic spirituality
Live music and performance
Ritual demonstration and ceremonial context (presented with cultural care)
A comprehensive scholarly catalog
The intent was to create an immersive, historically grounded, and ethically framed encounter with Vodou as practiced and represented by Haitian artists themselves.
Artists (Selection)
Edouard Duval-Carrié (painting, sculpture)
Eugène André (Atis Rezistans, sculpture)
Frantz Jacques Guyodo (Atis Rezistans, sculpture)
Jean Hérard Celeur (Atis Rezistans, sculpture)
Serge Jolimeau (metal sculpture)
Evelyn Alcide (sculpture)
Maxon (painting)
Patrice Dougé (photography)
These artists represent a generation working both within and against institutional boundaries, often using found materials, ritual symbolism, and embodied labor to address histories of colonialism, religion, survival, and transformation.
Artwork by: Edouard Duval-Carrié
Catalog Proposal
The accompanying catalog was designed as a substantive scholarly contribution rather than a supplemental exhibition document. The proposed volume included:
An introduction by Dr. Marilyn Hammersley Houlberg, with permission to reference works from her collection
Approximately 50 pages of original curatorial and historical text
Individual artist biographies and interviews
Over 100 images documenting artworks, rituals, and studio practices
The catalog was intended to function as a lasting reference point for contemporary Haitian art within global art discourse.
Project Status
This exhibition was developed for Galerie Rudolfinum (Prague) in collaboration with Dr. Otto M. Urban and Dr. Marilyn Houlberg. Although the project progressed through proposal, artist selection, and curatorial planning, it was never realized following the loss of my position and visa in the Czech Republic. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Houlberg passed away, and the project was permanently halted.
Surviving materials include the original curatorial proposal, artist lists, reference images, and planning notes.
Contextual Note
This proposal reflects early curatorial work situated at the intersection of contemporary art, ritual practice, and transnational cultural exchange. It is presented here as an archival document and writing sample, representative of my long-term engagement with Haitian art, Vodou studies, and exhibition-making across institutional and cultural contexts.
Marilyn Houlberg and Otto M. Urban in Houlberg’s studio, Chicago, c. mid-2000s.
Photograph by Rowynn Dumont. Digitally enhanced for clarity; original image retained in archive.
Photograph by Rowynn Dumont. Digitally enhanced for clarity; original image retained in archive.