125/5

In 2023, the Royal Museum for Central Africa (AfricaMuseum) is turning 125 years old. The museum also reopened its doors 5 years ago after a renovation. For this occasion, many events took place. The museum concludes the 125/5 year programme  with the opening of Afropea, a Gallery that maps the African presence (from Sub-Saharan) in Belgium.

Afropea shows the place and role of Africans from sub-Saharan Africa and persons s of African descent in Belgium since the 16th century. Its name is a tribute to the album Adventures in Afropea 1 by the Belgian-Congolese group Zap Mama.

The Gallery opens to the public on Sunday, December 17, with works by the following artists: Aimé Ntakiyica, John K Cobra, Moke, Henri Logelain, Pierre Muanza and The (in)convenience Store, installation by Rachel Hansoul.

Two guides will be present in the Gallery to inform visitors about the flow and content of Afropea.

Only in Dutch or French

Visual artists, filmmakers, musiciansand performers , will be on site or digitally connected from the African continent to meet and present professionals and the public with their work and research based on the museum’'s many (written, visual and sound archives). They will also discuss their practices and experiences, and to question their relationship with the archive and the museum institution. 
 
Saturday 14 October will be open to the public and will feature three types of encounters. Artists will present their work in three hour-long thematic sessions. There will also be a round-table discussion, at 2:30 pm, on the theme of Appropriating museum archives: practices issues; problems; featuring historian Amzat Boukari and researcher Lotte Arndt.
 
Sunday 15 October will be devoted to networking and discussions with the public, from 2pm in the auditorium. No reservation needed. Teddy Mazina will also be present at the public opening of the MY NAME IS NO-BODY exhibition, for which you do need to register. 
 
Participants include: On Ying Adila Yip, Eric Androa Mindre, Maximilien Atangana, Hilary Balu, Rokia Bamba, Tatiana Bohm, Sarah Carlier, Matthias De Groof, Beau Disundi, Koenraad Ecker, Eddy Ekete, Johan Grimonprez, Stephane Kabila, Kabeya, Victoire Karera, Jean Kamba, Sixte Kakinda, Pytshens Kambilo, Nicole Letuppe, Johnny Leya, Maliza Liebeskind, Emilio López-Menchero, Frédéric Lubansu, Arno Luzamba, Heritier M. Bilaka, Teddy Mazina, Aimé Mpane, Innocent Muhozi, Freddy Mutombo, Paulvi Ngimbi, Precy Numbi, Haldi Nzia Okudheyo, Rosy Sambwa, Prisca Tankwey, Anne-Françoise Tasnier, Fransix Tenda, Jérémy Tshiyembi Koyoka, Eric Van den Abeele, Jonathan Vatunga…

> (Re)-appropriation, artists biographies

Teddy Mazina questions colonial photographic representations of Africa, Africans and non-Europeans, such as the depiction of absolute differences, of radical otherness, of incomplete beings, of bodies without subjects, of ‘impossible subjectifications’. Beings who are necessarily deprived of something, and repeatedly so in labels: NAMES.

MY NAME IS NO-BODY is a video projection of a selection of labels and images from the AfricaMuseum’s colonial photo library. Scientists from the museum present the history and motivations behind colonial photo missions, the fascination with certain subjects and population groups, and the reasons for the recurring and often total absence of the names of those photographed.

Warning
The museum is aware that the images and words used in this exhibition may be shocking or offensive. 

Their choice forms part of the approach by artist Teddy Mazina and his work on the deconstruction of stereotypes found in the discourse of the colonial-era photo archive. 

These images and words in no way represent the current perspective of the AfricaMuseum. 

Your reactions: teddy.mazina@gmail.com

Only in French.

Only in Dutch or French

Information: Dutch or French