A City in Practice

First comprehensive publication on the Biennale of Lubumbashi, tracing the city’s and the art scene’s growth through collective practice.

Launched by the artist collective Picha in 2008, the Lubumbashi Biennale has evolved alongside the city that hosts it—a place that still bears the traces of mining, empire, and the global flow of resources. This book maps the Biennale’s evolution and the collective gestures that inform it. Through essays, images and conversations, it captures an event that renews itself with every edition, balancing the fragility and invention that emerge from collective practice and everyday resilience. The book’s contributions reflect on what it means to create within a landscape marked by extraction and endurance, and reveals an art world sustained by collaboration and the will to imagine alternatives. Featuring a wealth of visual material, A City in Practice combines historical, visual, and first-hand perspectives from artists and curators, connecting art, urban studies, and social history in an accessible, engaging way.

"A City in Practice" was written by Kim Gurney, Bogumil Jewsiewicki, Lotte Arndt, Joseph Tonda, Toma Muteba Lutumbue, Daniela Géo, Simon Njami and Sandrine Colard.

Sandrine Colard is curator and assistant professor of African Art History at Rutgers University, Newark.

"A City in Practice" was edited by Aude Tournaye, Filip De Boeck and Picha Collective.

Aude Tournaye is a curator and PhD candidate at Columbia University, researching art collectives in Africa and engaging in collaborative curatorial projects.

Filip De Boeck is Professor of Anthropology at KU Leuven, whose research explores urban life, art, and imagination in Central Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Picha is a collective of artists and curators based in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, dedicated to supporting experimental artistic practices. The collective has organised the Biennale de Lubumbashi since 2008.

Yes, "A City in Practice" is part of the "KU Leuven A.R.T.S.S. Series" series.

“We must necessarily think of science as art if we expect to derive any kind of wholeness from it.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The KU Leuven Art Research on Technology, Science, and Society  series is an initiative of the KU Leuven Committee for Contemporary Art encouraging close collaboration between leading scientists and contemporary artists. Each volume is the result of an ongoing dialogue in which international researchers from various disciplines engage with artists working across a wide range of media. These encounters  actively shape the questions, methods, and forms of presentation developed in each publication, going beyond mere illustration.

While contemporary societies have reached unprecedented levels of complexity, scientific responses to their most pressing issues are all too often overly diversified and fragmented. The KU Leuven A.R.T.S.S. series explores the common ground between art, science, and technology, approaching urgent societal challenges and global problems in a more integrated manner. By foregrounding processes of exchange, translation, and critical reflection, the series provides alternative frameworks for thinking across disciplinary boundaries and for articulating forms of knowledge and imagination that transcend established academic or artistic categories.

Series Editor

Stéphane Symons

Editorial Board

Sandrine Colard
Catherine de Zegher
Ute Meta Bauer
Michael Newman

For more information about the KU Leuven Committee for Contemporary Art, please visit https://www.kuleuven.be/english/committees/contemporary-art

Proposals

Proposals and enquiries can be sent to Stéphane Symons.
Please make use of the submission form to present your manuscript or proposal to our board.
Authors interested in Open Access can consult the available funding options.

Links & Resources

Yes, "A City in Practice" is published Open Access. It is available under a BY-NC-ND license.

Publication of "A City in Practice" was funded by Open Book Collective
CIFAR (Canadian Institute for Advanced Research)
.

Introduction: The Collective as Method and Instituent Practice
Introduction : le collectif comme méthode et pratique instituante
Aude Tournaye & Filip De Boeck

PART I
GENEALOGIES OF PRACTICE: MEMORY, MATERIALITY, AND EMERGENCE
GÉNÉALOGIES DES PRATIQUES : MÉMOIRE, MATÉRIALITÉ ET ÉMERGENCE

A Season in the Congo
Une saison au Congo
Simon Njami

Representing the World from Katanga: “Reclaiming” Cultural Memory
Représenter le monde à partir du Katanga : reprendre la mémoire culturelle
Bogumil Jewsiewicki

Future Genealogies: Tales from the Equatorial Line
Généalogies futures : récits depuis l’Équateur
Sandrine Colard

Alchemising Toxicity: The Lubumbashi Biennale’s Transformative Work in the Museum and Beyond
Alchimiser la toxicité : le travail transformateur de la Biennale de Lubumbashi au musée et au-delà
Lotte Arndt

PART II
PLOTFORMS AND PLATFORMS: CIRCULATION, COLLABORATION, AND COLLECTIVE WORK
PLOTFORMS ET PLATEFORMES : CIRCULATION, COLLABORATION ET TRAVAIL COLLECTIF

Between Autonomy and Alliance: How the Lubumbashi Biennale Came to Be
Entre autonomie et alliance : la genèse de la Biennale de Lubumbashi
Daniella Géo & Sammy Baloji (2018)

Platform/Plotform: On Doing Things with Art
Platform/Plotform : faire des choses avec l’art
Kim Gurney

Curating Dazzlement
Orchestrer l’éblouissement
Annick M’Kele & Toma Muteba Luntumbue (2015)

PART III
TRANSFORMATIONS: URBAN ECOLOGIES, TOXICITY, AND POSTCOLONIAL AFTERLIVES
TRANSFORMATIONS : ÉCOLOGIES URBAINES, TOXICITÉ ET DEVENIRS POSTCOLONIAUX

Toxicity: Presenting the Lubumbashi Biennale 2022
Toxicité : Présentation de la Biennale de Lubumbashi 2022
Filip De Boeck & collectif Picha

Rethinking the Colonial Library: The Lubumbashi Biennale as an Antidote Against Toxicity
Repenser la bibliothèque coloniale : la Biennale de Lubumbashi comme antidote à la toxicité
Filip De Boeck & Jean-Sylvain Tshilumba Mukendi

Dazzlements
Éblouissements
Joseph Tonda

On the Violence of the Imaginary in Central Africa
Penser la violence de l’imaginaire en Afrique centrale
Toma Muteba Luntumbue & Joseph Tonda (2019)

Such Gentle Ways of Destroying
De si douces manières de détruire
Marynet Jeannerod

Notes
Bibliography
Illustrations
Authors
Index

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for "A City in Practice" is 10.11116/9789461667908.