Sammy Baloji, George Senga, Daddy Tshikaya, Musasa and Jean Katambu are amongst the DRC artists exploring the most important resource for ‘green energy’, lithium. But why are local communities neglected?
A series of new individually and collectively made artworks are part of this project involving the Amsterdam-based Cargo in Context and Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond in collaboration with the Thami Mnyele Foundation and Amsterdam Art Weekend, the Lubumbashi Biennal, Galerie Imane Farès (France) and Contour Biennal Mechelen (Belgium). The research project was initiated by Picha in Lubumbashi and Enough Room for Space in Brussels.
On-Trade-Off follows the trace of lithium from its origin, the mining town Manono in the DRC, where the largest lithium ore supply in the world has been dicovered. Lithium has been named ‘the new black gold’. A diverse group of artrists follows the international trade route via Australia and China to Europe.
Other participating artists are Marjolijn Dijkman and Maarten vanden Eynde.
The exhition The Weight of Wonders will open on Friday 15 November, 2019, at Cargo in Context. The image with this blog is part of a triptech by George Senga (1983) called The Void / Le Vide, developed in and around the abandoned mines and factories of Gécamines, the largest but almost bankrupt mining company in Katanga (DRC). Senga is the winner of the 2019 Thami Mnyele Award.
Artists talks and the screening of Mila Rau’s The Congo Tribunal, at Cargo in Context and De Brakke Grond are also part of the programme.
More information here.
