Abstract

The establishment of colonial metropolises in Africa was an important step to strengthen the concept of urban and rural areas. Some precolonial cities became cosmopolitan with remarkable change of initial spatial organization with urban and rural areas in town. The cases of Porto-Novo and Cotonou in Republic of Benin are typical. This situation impacted seriously life but also, artistic production and reception. How artists deal with these two spaces and created decolonial aesthetic? Cases studies are useful to understand the process. The first is the experience of Magou in his quest to escape the colonial cultural mediation which continues through Cultural Centers in associating rural context to a contemporary art production. The second is devoted to Eclosion Urbaine’s original experience in Porto-Novo, which allows showing that the interaction between urban contemporary artists and rural social practices could be the way for new aesthetic.