Benoît Martin

Biographie

Benoît Martin is the director of the Museum of African, Oceanian and Native American Arts (MAAOA) in Marseille. He leads, in partnership with the TELEMe-CNRS laboratory and with the support of the INHA, a working group dedicated to the study of non-Western collections in the French Mediterranean basin. This work led to the organisation of the international conference “Mediterranean Ports and Territories: Circulation of Cultural Goods, Formation of Extra-European Collections (17th–21st century)” in 2025, and is currently contributing, with the support of the French Museums Service, to the development of a mapping of these collections. Benoît Martin participates as an expert member in the work of the Prefiguration Mission on provenance research led by the French Museums Service. He has been heard by the French Senate and National Assembly in the context of the draft law “relating to the restitution of cultural property originating from States which, due to unlawful appropriation, have been deprived of them.” As head of the MAAOA, Benoît Martin leads strategic thinking on the future and visibility of the museum. Through the development of its Scientific, Cultural, Educational and Social Project, he promotes an approach based on dialogue with the communities of origin of the collections, as well as on principles of openness, transparency, and international cooperation. He is also involved in several academic and scientific partnerships in France (Ministry of Culture – Provenance Mission Service – Museums of France Department, National Institute of Art History, Aix-Marseille University, EHESS, CREDO, IMAF, CNRS), as well as across Europe, South America, Oceania, and Africa (African Heritage School, Museum of Tahiti and the Islands, etc.).