A project to regenerate the cultivation of disgusted, in the Congo: from a place of historical exploitation of a sacred forest multinational

In addition to that of art, it also concerns the sphere of ethics, economy and spirituality the project that will be presented within the Dutch pavilion on the occasion of the next Venice Biennale.

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The collective Cercle d'art des travailurs de Plantation Congolaise ( catpc ), In collaboration with the artist Renzo Martens and the curator Hicham Khalidi , will in fact lead to the gardens a project aimed at freeing and regenerating the cultivation of Listanga , in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (where the first plantation of the Anglo-Dutch society Unilever was built), transforming it into a sort of sacred forest.

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In fact, if yesterday the ecosystems of those areas were rich rain forests, today they have become impoverished soils unable to support the communities that live there. The primary concept that moves the initiative is: art is not only creative expression, but a vehicle for change .

That's why each work on display has been created with the last forest fragments and will bring with it a seed that will be able to give new life to the earth.

"These sculptures will be tools that will open the way to a fair future and shared for everyone, - reveals aven tamasala, spokesperson for Catpc - the project will allow us to claim the Storage lands, refreshing them and transforming them into something solemn”.

That of the collective is a real challenge, also launched against many western museums accused by Catpc of having been financed with profits from these plantations.

Hence the invitation to reconciliation with the indigenous communities who have been claiming their lands for some time.

"We want to transform the work into a impure stain plantation to a repair tool," says Tamasala. The works of the project, commissioned by the Mondriaan Fund, will be exhibited both in the Lagoon and within the Lusanga White Cube Museum inaugurated in 2017 by Martens together with the members of the Catpc.

Here, in addition to the exhibition space, the artist - who became famous for his controversial episode III: Enjoy Poverty, where it is said that the Congo markets his poverty as if it were a natural resource - he also made one School, a conference room, a kitchen, a meeting place for the community and a laboratory where all the works have been built.

Thanks to the proceeds obtained from the sale of these works, the collective has managed to regain over 200 hectares of former plantation lands over the years which are slowly transforming biodiverse into agroforeste. But not only.

In anticipation of the Biennale, the Catpc also presented a petition for the temporary loan of Balot, a sculpture considered sacred by the community, now preserved in the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA).

The African collective, chaired by René Ngongo and composed by the artists Djonga Bismar, Alphonse Bukumba, Irène Kanga, Muyaka Kapasa, Matthieu Kasiama, Jean Kawata, Huguette Kilembo, Mbuku Kimpala, Athanas Kindendi, Anti Leba, Charles Leba, Philomène Lembusa, Richard Leta. , Jérémie Mabiala, Plamedi Makongote, Blaise Mandafu, Daniel Menga, Mira Meya, Emery Muhamba, Tantine Mukundu, Olele Mulela, Daniel Muvunzi, Alvers Tamasala, Aven Art Tamasala, believes that once the sculpture returned the unjustchies of the past will be corrected. The artistic team and the VMFA are currently in contact to make the loan.