10 June 2025 - Sint Lucas Antwerpen, Aula
Initiated by Sammy Baloji, with the support of Ruth Loos, Paolo Favero and Bambi Ceuppens
still form the film 'The tree of authenticity' (2025)
This research seminar is organised as part of the artistic doctoral project of Sammy Baloji, on creating new memory devices, based upon two existing ones used by different Luba groups living in the DRC; Kasala, a ceremonial poem and Lukasa, a memory board used in ritual performance. The two groups using these memory devises were divided during the colonial era by boundaries erected between the former provinces of Kasai and Katanga. The artworks created in the context of this research project are meant to bridge these groups back together through a narrative that is part personal, part historical, part fictitious.
The research is divided in three chapters, which will each come to light in this seminar by different guest lecturers.
Programme
- 09:00 - 09:30 Doors open, coffee, tea & pastries
- 09:30 - 09:45 Introduction by Sammy Baloji: short introduction to his research (PhD focused) and the speakers of the day
- 09:45 - 10:45 CHAPTER ONE
Chapter 1: Ditunga - Society - Land: this chapter looks at notions such as land, territory, society and country, according to the Luba peoples and the European colonisers.
Urban planning and colonial politics.
The aim here is to take stock of the emergence of towns and modern structures in the Congo after 1885. The impact of this colonial structure and modern memory on indigenous social and political organisations.- 09:45 ayoh kré Duchâtelet
- 10:15 Johnny Leya
- 11:00 - 11:30 PERFORMANCE – Edson Anibal (tbc) : Le fil sucre-pourpre de Mulohò (Purple sugar thread of Mulohò – Kasala written by Sammy
- 11:40 - 12:40 CHAPTER TWO
Chapter 2, entitled Extracted Ressources (or transformed matter), deals with all the transformations that the various Congolese resources (human, natural, mining, cultural, etc.) underwent from the time of colonial occupation (1885-1960) to the present day.
Folklorisation, retour à l’authenticité et résistance.
The idea here is to explore the various forms of folklorisation of Congolese cultural practices in colonial times (the Changwe Yetu show, Missa Luba, etc), through Mobutu's reign and the future cultural revival of authenticity, and contemporary forms of resistance.- 11:40 Lotte Arndt
- 12:20 Bambi Ceuppens
- 12:50 - 13:20 CHAPTER THREE
Chapter 3, entitled Deconstructing bounderies and narratives, includes the artistic work Sammy produced in collaboration with Jean Kabuta and Fiston Mwanza Mujila. These works are essentially about Luba mnemonic tools that he has brought into an artistic and speculative field.
Kasala et Lukasa comme outils de préservation de la mémoire et de transmission.
The idea here is that this theme should address the historical and geographical aspects of these cultural practices. Understand their physical, poetic and conceptual structure. Comparing these practices with others that exist in other African cultures or elsewhere.- 12:50 Elaine Sullivan
- 12:50 Elaine Sullivan
- 13:20 - 13:40 Small break
- 13:40 - 15:00 Collective walk to The Long Hand, during which participants have time to eat their brought lunch;
Short introduction to the work by Sammy Baloji. - 15:10 - 16:35 Screening TOA (The Tree of Authenticity) at Cinema Lumière
The screening in Lumière will only be accessible for participants of the seminar.
For the purpose of archiving but also for inclusion in the PhD developped by Sammy Baloji, the whole seminar (including the talks and the performance of the Kasala) will be recorded.
Practical
- Location: Aula at Sint Lucas Antwerpen, Van Schoonbekestraat 143 B, 2018 Antwerpen.
During the lunch break (lunch not included in the seminar), we’ll walk from Sint Lucas to 'The Long Hand' (public art sculpture by Sammy Baloji) and to Cinema Lumière for the screening of Sammy Baloji's feature film 'The tree of authenticity' (2025). - Registration is free but mandatory. Please use the button below.