The Mondriaan Fund is responsible for the Dutch entry at the International Art Exhibitions of La Biennale di Venezia. For the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC) collective – in collaboration with artist Renzo Martens and curator Hicham Khalidi – will present new artworks as part of their ongoing commitment for the plantation of Lusanga to be freed, regenerated and transformed back into sacred forests, as well as their commitment to a greater project of spiritual, ethical and economic reckoning. The exhibition will be on display from 20 April 2024 until 24 November 2024 at the Rietveld Pavilion in Venice and simultaneously in the White Cube in Lusanga (DRC).
For both the Venice and Lusanga exhibitions CATPC will create new artworks from the earth of the last remaining patches of forest surrounding the plantation which will subsequently be cast in the raw materials extracted from the plantation.
Ced’art Tamasala, on behalf of CATPC: ‘Each sculpture carries the seed that will bring back the sacred forest. Ultimately functioning as conduits, these sculptures will allow for a shared equitable future for all humans, making it possible for us to reclaim our stolen lands, to reforest them and to welcome the post-plantation and sacred forest.’
Next to that, CATPC, in anticipation of the simultaneous exhibition in Venice and Lusanga, are petitioning for the temporary return of Balot, a sculpture held sacred to their community originally made to protect them against the plantation regime. CATPC believes in restoring balance and correcting past injustices once the sculpture has been returned. The sculpture is held in the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA). The artistic team and the VMFA are currently in contact to make the loan happen.
And, in CATPC’s latest, as yet unreleased performance film The Judgement of the White Cube, the White Cube – all white cubes- is taken hostage and judged. As it stands trial before the community, the white cube is sentenced to ask for forgiveness and to bring back the ancestral sculpture of Balot.
For more (background) information about the exhibition, visit our Biennale page on our website now.