Sammy Baloji
K(C)ongo, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues
© K(C)ongo, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues © Martin Argyroglo ©
© K(C)ongo, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues © Martin Argyroglo ©
© K(C)ongo, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues © Martin Argyroglo ©
© K(C)ongo, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues © Martin Argyroglo ©
© K(C)ongo, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues © Martin Argyroglo ©
© K(C)ongo, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues © Martin Argyroglo ©
© "Rumba Rules. Nouvelles généalogies" de David N. Bernatchez et Sammy Baloji ©
© "Rumba Rules. Nouvelles généalogies" de David N. Bernatchez et Sammy Baloji ©
Production of the exhibition Festival d'Automne à Paris
This project is the result of a collective work in which :
Lucrezia Cippitelli, art historian, for the documentary research on the Italian collections.
Anne Lafont, art historian, author of an essay on the contextualization of these tapestries.
Jean-Christophe Lanquetin, scenographer, for a research and development work around the staging of the exhibition.
Cécile Fromont, art historian, for the documentary researches
In association with les Beaux-Arts de Paris
For Rumba Rules. New genealogies:
Coproduction Festival d'Automne à Paris
Event organized within the framework of the Africa 2020 Season with support from the Comité des mécènes : Fondation Gilbert et Rose-Marie Chagoury, Orange, Total Foundation, Axian, Groupe Sipromad, JCDecaux, Pernod Ricard, Sanofi, Société Générale, VINCI, CFAO, ENGIE, Thales, Thomson Broadcast et Veolia
With support from Cité internationale des arts
With support from Sylvie Winckler
In partnership with France Culture
Rumba Rules. New genealogies:
A film by David N. Bernatchez, Sammy Baloji and Kiripi Ka Tembo Siku - 1h50, 2020
Major figure on the African artistic scene, Sammy Baloji has been invited by the Festival d'Automne à Paris and Beaux-Arts de Paris, as part of the Africa 2020 season, to present his first solo exhibition in a Parisian institution. Resident at the Villa Medici in Rome in 2019, he presents the results of his research on the political, religious and commercial exchanges that took place between the Kongo kingdom, Portugal and the Vatican as early as the 16th century.
The exhibition brings together two groups of works: a set of drawings and objects made from motifs borrowed from Kongo fabrics, and a selection of tapestries that are part of famous Indian hangings.
Whether by the artist's hand or simply borrowed, these works bear witness to the complexity of a history of exchanges, transactions and exploitation. They show the contextual and institutional effects of a narrative written by Europe and which has in turn treated these works as tools of diplomacy, works of art, ethnographic artefacts or simple decorative elements.
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Sammy Baloji is the author of the visual for the 49th edition of the Festival and created the limited edition 2020 that you will be able to discover on our online shop in the autumn.