Impossible Is Nothing is a multi-media installation that documents a 2016 archaeological excavation in Allada in southern Benin. In collaboration with archaeological students from the University of Abomey-Calavi, the excavation unearthed pottery fragments, a blade of an axe and a hoe, two musical instruments, a water jug, an empty gin bottle – and the 19th-century royal throne belonging to King Béhanzin of the Kingdom of Dahomey. The discovery of the throne leaves the students somewhat embarrassed because the original throne has been in possession of the French state since the 1890s, when the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin) was colonised. The excavated throne is a replica produced by the sculptor Boko Elias and had been buried into the ground by Oussou himself one year earlier. Oussou’s throne obtained a certain authenticity as a work of art insofar as it became embroiled in a political dispute involving the University of Abomey-Calavi and the government of Benin, who have been asking the French government for the restitution of their original throne.
Oussou’s throne obtained a certain authenticity as a work of art insofar as it became embroiled in a political dispute involving the University of Abomey-Calavi and the government of Benin, who have been asking the French government for the restitution of their original throne.

Impossible Is Nothing is a multi-media installation that documents a 2016 archaeological excavation in Allada in southern Benin. In collaboration with archaeological students from the University of Abomey-Calavi, the excavation unearthed pottery fragments, a blade of an axe and a hoe, two musical instruments, a water jug, an empty gin bottle – and the 19th-century royal throne belonging to King Béhanzin of the Kingdom of Dahomey. The discovery of the throne leaves the students somewhat embarrassed because the original throne has been in possession of the French state since the 1890s, when the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin) was colonised. The excavated throne is a replica produced by the sculptor Boko Elias and had been buried into the ground by Oussou himself one year earlier. Oussou’s throne obtained a certain authenticity as a work of art insofar as it became embroiled in a political dispute involving the University of Abomey-Calavi and the government of Benin, who have been asking the French government for the restitution of their original throne.
Oussou’s throne obtained a certain authenticity as a work of art insofar as it became embroiled in a political dispute involving the University of Abomey-Calavi and the government of Benin, who have been asking the French government for the restitution of their original throne.

Impossible Is Nothing is a multi-media installation that documents a 2016 archaeological excavation in Allada in southern Benin. In collaboration with archaeological students from the University of Abomey-Calavi, the excavation unearthed pottery fragments, a blade of an axe and a hoe, two musical instruments, a water jug, an empty gin bottle – and the 19th-century royal throne belonging to King Béhanzin of the Kingdom of Dahomey. The discovery of the throne leaves the students somewhat embarrassed because the original throne has been in possession of the French state since the 1890s, when the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin) was colonised. The excavated throne is a replica produced by the sculptor Boko Elias and had been buried into the ground by Oussou himself one year earlier. Oussou’s throne obtained a certain authenticity as a work of art insofar as it became embroiled in a political dispute involving the University of Abomey-Calavi and the government of Benin, who have been asking the French government for the restitution of their original throne.
Oussou’s throne obtained a certain authenticity as a work of art insofar as it became embroiled in a political dispute involving the University of Abomey-Calavi and the government of Benin, who have been asking the French government for the restitution of their original throne.

Impossible Is Nothing is a multi-media installation that documents a 2016 archaeological excavation in Allada in southern Benin. In collaboration with archaeological students from the University of Abomey-Calavi, the excavation unearthed pottery fragments, a blade of an axe and a hoe, two musical instruments, a water jug, an empty gin bottle – and the 19th-century royal throne belonging to King Béhanzin of the Kingdom of Dahomey. The discovery of the throne leaves the students somewhat embarrassed because the original throne has been in possession of the French state since the 1890s, when the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin) was colonised. The excavated throne is a replica produced by the sculptor Boko Elias and had been buried into the ground by Oussou himself one year earlier. Oussou’s throne obtained a certain authenticity as a work of art insofar as it became embroiled in a political dispute involving the University of Abomey-Calavi and the government of Benin, who have been asking the French government for the restitution of their original throne.
Oussou’s throne obtained a certain authenticity as a work of art insofar as it became embroiled in a political dispute involving the University of Abomey-Calavi and the government of Benin, who have been asking the French government for the restitution of their original throne.

Impossible Is Nothing is a multi-media installation that documents a 2016 archaeological excavation in Allada in southern Benin. In collaboration with archaeological students from the University of Abomey-Calavi, the excavation unearthed pottery fragments, a blade of an axe and a hoe, two musical instruments, a water jug, an empty gin bottle – and the 19th-century royal throne belonging to King Béhanzin of the Kingdom of Dahomey. The discovery of the throne leaves the students somewhat embarrassed because the original throne has been in possession of the French state since the 1890s, when the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin) was colonised. The excavated throne is a replica produced by the sculptor Boko Elias and had been buried into the ground by Oussou himself one year earlier. Oussou’s throne obtained a certain authenticity as a work of art insofar as it became embroiled in a political dispute involving the University of Abomey-Calavi and the government of Benin, who have been asking the French government for the restitution of their original throne.
Oussou’s throne obtained a certain authenticity as a work of art insofar as it became embroiled in a political dispute involving the University of Abomey-Calavi and the government of Benin, who have been asking the French government for the restitution of their original throne.

Impossible Is Nothing is a multi-media installation that documents a 2016 archaeological excavation in Allada in southern Benin. In collaboration with archaeological students from the University of Abomey-Calavi, the excavation unearthed pottery fragments, a blade of an axe and a hoe, two musical instruments, a water jug, an empty gin bottle – and the 19th-century royal throne belonging to King Béhanzin of the Kingdom of Dahomey. The discovery of the throne leaves the students somewhat embarrassed because the original throne has been in possession of the French state since the 1890s, when the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin) was colonised. The excavated throne is a replica produced by the sculptor Boko Elias and had been buried into the ground by Oussou himself one year earlier. Oussou’s throne obtained a certain authenticity as a work of art insofar as it became embroiled in a political dispute involving the University of Abomey-Calavi and the government of Benin, who have been asking the French government for the restitution of their original throne.
Oussou’s throne obtained a certain authenticity as a work of art insofar as it became embroiled in a political dispute involving the University of Abomey-Calavi and the government of Benin, who have been asking the French government for the restitution of their original throne.