**Fatshimetrie: a dive into the heart of contemporary art and African traditions**
In the heart of Kinshasa, an artistic movement emerges like a phoenix from the ashes, defying time constraints to impose its unique vision of contemporary art. It is within the Kontempo Laboratory that this aesthetic revolution takes place, through the flagship exhibition “Kokende Liboso Eza Kokoma Te”. This unmissable event, under the leadership of Dzekashu MacViban, aims to be a poetic and philosophical odyssey, a journey into unknown lands where oral traditions, African cosmologies and avant-garde artistic practices intersect.
The Lingala proverb “Kokende Liboso Eza Kokoma Te”, literally “Moving forward does not mean having arrived”, resonates like a mantra within this exhibition, inviting visitors to meditate on the profound meaning of constant progression and collective construction. The invited artists, drawing inspiration from stories passed down from generation to generation, boldly explore the concepts of time, space and identity, thus offering a new decolonized perspective on art and culture.
The quest for new artistic narratives, in the absence of written documents on the history of contemporary art in Kinshasa, is structured around oral stories, proverbs and African cosmologies. These elements become fundamental pillars for weaving a new artistic narrative, honoring traditions while challenging the limits of the contemporary.
Because “Fatshimetrie” is much more than a simple exhibition: it is a manifesto for the reconciliation of different creative temporalities, for dialogue between artistic disciplines, for the celebration of the diversity of artistic practices. This artistic journey, deployed in different emblematic places of Kinshasa, invites spectators to a true initiatory journey to the heart of African artistic expression in all its splendor and complexity.
In parallel with the exhibition, a series of discursive events, captivating performances and participatory workshops will enrich the visitor experience, plunging them into the very heart of the creative process. These moments of exchange and sharing will be an opportunity to question together the challenges of theorizing contemporary art in Africa, to explore the place of oral traditions in artistic creation and to actively support the emergence of new talents.
The Kontempo Laboratory, founded by visionaries Chris Mukenge and Lydia Schellhammer, embodies the spirit of reinvention and renewal of the Congolese art scene. Driven by a resolutely committed and innovative approach, this laboratory of ideas is a melting pot where local and international perspectives intersect, to offer the public a total immersion in the teeming universe of contemporary creation.
In this period of reflection and exchange, where the boundaries between past and present are fading to make way for a new artistic language, “Fatshimetrie” stands out as the symbol of a new era of Congolese art, where the diversity of voices and artistic expressions unfolds in all its richness and evocative power. An invitation to travel, to discovery, to contemplation, in a timeless journey where words mingle with colors, where sounds merge with silences, to create a resolutely modern and elusive artistic universe.
Ultimately, “Fatshimetrie” is much more than a simple exhibition: it is an endless exploration, a perpetual quest for meaning and beauty, a vibrant celebration of art in all its diversity and universality. A true immersion in the creative soul of Africa, between tradition and modernity, between past and future, between universal and singular. A unique, unforgettable experience that will resonate for a long time in the hearts and minds of those who have had the chance to immerse themselves in it.