Named after Jamaican dance halls or party venues where popular music is played via sound systems, this genre emerged in Kingston in the 1970s and is characterized less by its style than by its ability to bring groups together. Dancehall offers a space for cultural creation that reflects the social reality of Jamaica. Though it emanates from reggae, it diverts from pacifist ideals and pride of black cultures and moves towards darker concerns: poverty, police brutality, political and sexual violence.
By recreating a Malian nightclub for her exhibition, in which a sound collage of dancehall hits is broadcast, the artist Aïda Bruyère bears witness to the circulation and displacement of this culture, which has become for her a vector of empowerment.