The Biennale of Lubumbashi, Rencontres Picha, constitutes one of the most dynamic and experimental artistic events on the African continent. Initiated since 2008 by Picha asbl, Biennale de Lubumbashi, Rencontres Picha is a uniting point for the young arts scene of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Éblouissements
Initiated since 2008 by Picha asbl, Biennale de Lubumbashi, Rencontres Picha is a uniting point for the young art scene of the Democratic Republic of Congo, originally with an emphasis on photographic image practices that have established themselves in the reality of contemporary art today. It provides a platform for artists and cultural actors, and a framework for international exchange and network diversification.
The Biennale of Lubumbashi has been evolving non-stop and seeks to consolidate, and today it constitutes one of the most dynamic and experimental artistic events on the African continent. Four editions of the Biennale have seen the light up till now.
The hopes for the 5th edition of the Biennale, with Toma Muteba Luntumbue once again entrusted as director, is on the one hand to pursue this line from the 4th edition and, on the other, to solidify Lubumbashi as a space where artistic energies converge and as one of the most creative cities in Africa.
The 5th Biennale of Lubumbashi offers a vast array of works, photographs, videos, interactive pieces, performances, installations, films, sculptures, paintings and innovative projects coming from artist-researcher collaborations. The program features monographic presentations, performances, lectures, professional encounters, workshops, film cycles and a variety of learning and outreach activities.
The 5th Biennale of Lubumbashi, Rencontres Picha, is dedicated to Éblouissements and transforming the real. What creative ways do we find to face visible and invisible forces, the symbolic, the imaginary, the mental, or characters and things that govern our world? 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 éblouissements: stunning and being stunned. Multiple meanings that point to 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.
