The 5th Biennale de Lubumbashi, Rencontres Picha – Éblouissements

From 7 October until 12 November 2017 the 5th Lubumbashi Biennial, Picha Encounters will take place in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its title “Éblouissements” refers to bedazzlements, glares, or even astonishments offered by the current state of the world. It evokes how limitless and how vivid the artistic creation is in D.R. Congo.

In his book, L’impérialisme postcolonial (2015), Joseph Tonda evokes the violence of the imaginary, which exerts itself on contemporary life by way of what he calls Eblouissements : stunning and being stunned. Multiple meanings that point the overwhelming, the seductive, the fascinating, and the blinding which, under special circumstances or in situations of brutal change and upheaval, or in ritual experiences of transition, cause visions, hallucinations, illusions that seem thoroughly real to those who live them.

This fifth edition of the Lubumbashi Biennial will turn the mining town into a crossroad for contemporary art. With its status of first visual art biennial in Central Africa, the Lubumbashi Biennial offers a large choice of artworks: from those testifying the current situation of artistic practice in D.R.Congo to the productions of invited artists from different geopolitics places.

The fifth Lubumbashi biennial artists will occupy several places across the town including the Lubumbashi National Museum, the Fine Arts Institute, the Halle de l’Etoile, the Hangar Picha , the Atelier Picha. On top of a major exhibition of international contemporary art, the programme features monographic presentations, performances, lectures, professional encounters, workshops, film cycles and a variety of learning and outreach activities.

This biennial ambition, driven by Toma Muteba Luntumbue (visual artist, art historian, independent curator), is to reaffirm that Lubumbashi is a place where artistic energies converge and to show that it is one of the most creative African town.

Find the full list of participating artists here

Venues :
Musée national de Lubumbashi,
Institut des Beaux-arts de Lubumbashi,
Halle de l’Etoile,
Institut français de Lubumbashi,
Atelier Picha-Centre d’art et de recherches,
Hangar Picha.

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www.biennaledelubumbashi.org

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