THE CONGO PANORAMA
Colonial Illusion exposed
For the new temporary exhibition at the Africamuseum (Tervuren, Belgium) The Congo Panorama 1913. Colonial illusion exposed, Kumbukumbu contributed work in the form of archival research, field work and the creation of 3 video works.
This exhibition is a critical examination of colonial propaganda and the realities it concealed.
Its focal point is the Congo Panorama, a monumental painting and megalomaniac example of colonial propaganda. It was shown to thousands of visitors at the 1913 World expo in Ghent, Belgium.
Our archival research consisted of a close examination of the 1913 Congo Panorama, and the archival documents linked to its creation. The field work, focused on collective interviews, was done in Kinshasa and Kongo Central in January 2025. During this field work, we worked closely together with artist Falonne Luamba Mambu and academic Placide Mumbembele.
For this exhibition, we chose to make 3 different video works :
3 different aural & textual responses to close-ups of the painting, from 3 different perspectives.
The red thread running through all 3 works : to use the subversive power of oral history to confront the stubborn silence of colonial propaganda.
Tala Mascarade! is based on interviews recorded in Kinshasa and Kongo Central in January 2025. It aims to transmit a variety of contemporary urban Congolese readings and critiques of the Congo Panorama.
Le Retour des Témoins is based on Kumbukumbu's long-running research on rural oral history from the North-East of Congo and translation work of archival sound recordings.
Histoire esilaka te? is based on a text written by Joëlle Sambi, a Belgian-Congolese Afrofeminist poet and activist.
Tala Mascarade!
Tala Mascarade!
In January 2025, the artists Koenraad Ecker, Haldi Okudheyo, and Falonne Mambu met with Congolese from all walks of life in Kinshasa and Kongo Central.
Their purpose: a close examination of the Congo Panorama. The reactions revealed the many blind spots – ideological, intellectual and emotional – inherited from colonial ideology.
Special thanks :
Prof. Placide Mumbembele, Benjamin Wathum, Patrick Kitete, Spiritus Bogonda,
François Mutamba & the teams of “Ndaku Ya La Vie Est Belle”, “Krithika Art Projects” and “Mokili na Poche”
Full credits can be found here.
Le Retour des Témoins
Le Retour des Témoins
This video work is based on ongoing research by the Kumbukumbu project.
Le Retour des Témoins, brings together various voices across space and time:
Congolese from the early 20th century, residents of present-day northeastern Congo, and excerpts from colonial archives being read out loud.
They are placed in confrontation with close-ups of the Congo Panorama, revealing their subversive ability todeconstruct the mute violence of the Panorama's propaganda.
Full credits can be found here
Histoire Esilaka Te?
Histoire esilaka te?
Joëlle Sambi lifts the veil on what the Congo Panorama silences, conceals, erases.
In fragmented, carnal, and deeply political language, she questions the codes of a propaganda buried in the painting’s glowing imagery. She summons the metaphor of ‘Where’s Wally?’ to deliver another version of Belgian colonial history, rife with contested memories.
The title is lifted from a Lingala phrase used to close a story. The storyteller asks ‘histoire esilaka te…?’ (‘the never-ending story…?’), and the audience replies ‘esili!’ (‘is coming to an end!’).
Is colonial history truly over? "Histoire esilaka te?" leaves the question open.
Joëlle Sambi is an author, poet, slam poet, stage director, filmmaker, and Afrofeminist lesbian activist. Born in Brussels, she grew up between the Belgian capital and the matrix of Kinshasa, whose languages, rhythms, and silences inform her imagination.
Text : Joëlle Sambi Nzeba
Editing : Koenraad Ecker
Research : Kumbukumbu