He was born in 1966, in Sifra, Ivory Coast. He studied Spanish History between 1986 and 1988 at the University of Abidjan. Between 1988 and 1995, he studied at Institut National Supérieur des Arts et de l'Action Culturelle (INSAAC) in Abidjan. In 1997, he won the DAAD scholarship and moved to Germany where he studied at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf with Klaus Rinke.
Works
Jems Robert Koko Bi uses wood as the medium in his sculptures. His production also includes performances.
Works
"Remember – Repeat – Reprocess" Installation by Jems Robert Koko Bi (Germany/Ivory Coast) and Wolfgang Hekele (Germany) for "Forest Art Path Laboratory" in 2006, in Darmstadt, Germany[1]
Some works on the website of Freie Akademie der bildenden Künste, Essen[2]
"Don't Fence Me Out", 2005, Installation for 7th Dak’Art Biennial of Contemporary African Art'.[3]
2014 Jems Robert Koko Bi & Katharina Lökenhoff: Kein Titel – galerie#23, Velbert, "The Divine Comedy. Heaven, Purgatory and Hell Revisited by Contemporary African Artists" -Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK), Frankfurt/Main
2003 "Chemin de l´épreuve", Havana Biennale,[9] Cuba
2002 "Galère" Dakar Biennale Dakar
2002 "Camouflage, The Center of Contemporary Art of Southern, East and West Africa, Belgium
2001 "Return of the children of Gorée", Gorée, Dakar, Sénégal
2001 "On change de terre", Düsseldorf Art Academy, Germany
2001 "Zwei Spuren, ein Weg", Anne Berlit – Koko Bi, Alte Synagoge, Essen, Germany
2001 "Die andere Seite der Kette", Kettenschmiedemuseum, Fröndenberg, Germany
Awards
Francophone Prize, Dakar Biennale 2008
Foundation Art and Culture of North Rhine-Westphalia: Project Scholarship
The Dakar Biennale, Prize, 2000
The Kunstverein Düsseldorf Prize
Bibliography
Fall, N'Gone; Pivin, Jean Loup, eds. (2002). An Anthology of African Art: The Twentieth Century. New York: Distributed Art Publishers. ISBN978-1-891024-38-2.
^"Jems Robert Koko Bi". kunstakademie-essen.de. Freie Akademie der bildenden Künste, Essen. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
^"Jems Robert Kokobi". biennaledakar.org. Dak'Art 2006. 2006. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
^Ausstellungskatalog „Im Wald geboren. Jems Koko Bi & HAP Grieshaber“ ISBN978-3-96912-011-8
^"tiafair.com". tiafair.com. n.d. Retrieved 25 August 2013.