Narratives or how we choose to tell a story are indispensable and in certain cases, cannot be dissociated from stories given that we become the stories we are told. Processed by subjectivity and different forms of knowledge, narratives become the stories that make up history. This creates a situation where, for its own relevance, the narratives that make up history need to be reexamined every now and then, otherwise history would fall into obsolescence. To understand the
relationship between narratives, kontempo* as practice and the philosophies that underpin systems of thought in different parts of Africa, it is necessary to acknowledge the role of oral traditions in shaping knowledge production. Drawing from Cletus Umezinwa, among others, who theorize the use of proverbs as analytical frameworks, this project explores the ways in which oral forms of knowledge contribute to the understanding and theorization of art in specific contexts, as well as how these fit into the current discourse on spatiality.

The Lingala proverb “Kokende Liboso Eza Kokoma Te” (to go ahead doesn’t mean you have arrived), which shares a similar philosophy with the African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” becomes an entry point through which to explore the dialectic relationship between narratives and temporalities as well as how these can be questioned and expanded by offering narratives that draw from different epistemological ways of knowing.
Kokende Liboso Eza Kokoma Te: On Contiguous Narratives and Poetic Cosmologies is a continuation of Laboratoire Kontempo’s mission which questions existing power structures, narratives and attempts to develop new spatial strategies for artistic creation, theorisation, and discussion. To this end, this project gathers artistic positions that reflect on, re-signify and expand narratives, philosophies and cosmologies through visual, performative, sonic and poetic
interventions that will take place in different parts of Kinshasa, from the streets to art institutions.

The project will be presented in Kinshasa at the following venues: Mokili Na Poche Cultural Center, Institut Français, At the Académie des Beaux Arts of Kinshasa and Plateforme Contemporaine, and will begin with a series of discursive events starting on 10 December 2024. The exhibition will run
from 13 January to 07 February 2025.

Read the full curatorial statment

*“Kontempo“ is a term that has emerged as a neologism in Kinshasa‘s independent art scene,as a counter-narrative to the Western-influenced academic discourse of the last two decades, with new codes, and as a reinterpretation of the term ‘contemporary‘ in Kinshasa.

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Image credits: Digital painting, Mukenge/Schellhammer, 2024}