The Opening Week of the Biennale de Lubumbashi is accompanied by several Forum Days that offer arenas of exchange between local and international scholars, thinkers and artists. In an effort to decenter the production of knowledge about Africa on the continent itself, the Biennale wishes to attract to Lubumbashi various expertises with different geopolitical origins. Importantly influenced by the phenomenon of the Ateliers de la Pensée de Dakar, the Forum Days will develop several thematic axes through a series of guest lectures and roundtables that will ramify with the artists’ practices presented in the exhibitions.
Saturday 26 October 2019 — Forum Day 1
10:00 Introduction and welcoming words by Sandrine Colard (Artictic Director, Biennale de Lubumbashi)
10:30 New Genenalogies of the Arts
Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi (MoMA, New York) and Koyo Kouoh (Zeitz MOCAA, Johannesburg) in conversation with artists of the biennale
12:00 Anthropocene, Geo-Capitalism and Indegenous Knowledge
Elizabeth Povinelli (Columbia University, New York) and Emmanuel Kasongo Yakusu (Ghent University, Belgium) in conversation with artists of the biennale
15:00 Global African Feminisms
Maguy Watunia (Université de Likasi) in conversation with artists of the biennale
Monday 28 October 2019 — Forum Day 2
10:00 Introduction and welcoming words
10:30 The Restitution Debate
Sarah Van Beurden (Ohio State University, USA) and Augustin Bikale (Culture Programme, UNESCO, Kinshasa)
12:00 Africa-Asia in the Arts
Dominique Malaquais (Institut des mondes africains, CNRS, Paris) and Henri Kalama (Académie des Beaux-Arts, Kinshasa)
15:00 Urbanisms and Architecture in Africa: Lubumbashi, the Congo and Beyond
Yves Robert (Faculté d’Architecture La Cambre Horta, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium), Marcel Yabili (Musée Yabili, Kamalondo, Lubumbashi) and Filip De Boeck (IARA, KULeuven, Belgium) in conversation with artists of the biennale
Tuesday 29 October 2019 — Forum Day 3
11:00 History of The Congo in Photographs
Donatien Dibwe Dia Mwembu (Université de Lubumbashi), Pedro Monaville (New York University Abu Dhabi) and Sandrine Colard (Biennale de Lubumbashi, Rutgers University, USA)
12:30 Forum Days Conclusions
The Forum Days are organised with the support of Africalia, Institut Français, EUNIC and the universities KU Leuven, UNILU, Université Libre de Bruxelles and Ohio State University.