Mukenge/SchellhammerLaboratoire Kontempo16.11. - 17.11.2019
Laboratoire Kontempo

The Laboratoire Kontempo brings together artists and Cultural Centers in Kinshasa to create artistic synergy in changing experimental contexts. In a cross-disciplinary approach, urban spaces are transformed into museums, supports and objects of work.

The starting point for this project is a simple observation, one that Barthélémy Toguo also made: „Classical African art is essentially conserved and exhibited in Western museums and collections, and contemporary production tends to follow the same path, mainly purchased by Western collections and institutions“. It’s an observation that leads us to think globally. At present, artists in Kinshasa who consider themselves to be „contemporary“ often operate within a system of codes that have been instituted by the Western art system, while at the same time dealing with „typically African themes“. This represents post-colonial power structures and dominant trends in international contemporary art.