City SALTS: Quilombo. Sharing Perspectives with Artists from DRC, Brazil and Switzerland
Video screening with the Centre for African Studies Basel in the Box
2 Apr – 3 Mar 2022

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• Saturday April 2, 2022, 5–7 pm: Video screening with drinks at Kunstverein City SALTS in Birsfelden – in collaboration with the Center for African Studies, University of Basel
• The screening takes place within the program of the Art Weekend Basel, April 2 & 3, 2022, 11–6 pm. These are also the last days of the exhibition «Quilombo - Tricontinental research and exhibition project» before it moves on to Lugano, where it opens on April 13 at the Lago Mio artist residency.

The Visual History Lab at the Centre for African Studies, University of Basel, is a yearly learning format, which allows students to spend one week working intensively on a particular topic, ending with a self-organized public event.

The Visual History Lab 2021 took place in September 2021 at City SALTS in Birsfelden/Basel in the context of the tricontinental research and exhibition project «Quilombo». Students produced a video based on interviews with participating Brazilian, Congolese, and Swiss artists and curators – reflecting on the artistic project and on the role of Quilombos, Brazilian settlements of African descent, as places of resistance.

The video is presented to the public at the Basel Art Weekend on April 2-3 at City SALTS. It can also be viewed online on the various websites of the participating institutions.

www.artweekendbasel.ch

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Video credits

Quilombo – Sharing Perspectives with Artists from DRC, Brazil and Switzerland / HD Video, 35:55 mins. / Produced by Visual History Lab 2021: Elisa Da Costa, Kaue Crimabellini, Randy Mwatondange, Michael Rubaba / Interviews with Maya Quilolo, Joseph Kasau, Patrick Mudekereza, Samuel Leuenberger / Languages: French, English, Portugues, German; English subtitles

Project credits

Quilombo – Tricontinental research and exhibition project with the artists Carolina Brunelli, Joseph Kasau & Stéphane Kabila, Paulo Nazareth, Maya Quilolo, Wisrah Villefort, and contributions by Denise Bertschi and Orakle Ngoy. Curated by Samuel Leuenberger, Patrick Mudekereza and Benedikt Wyss. / The tricontinental research and exhibition project Quilombo invited artists from Brazil, DRC, and Switzerland to residencies in Basel at City SALTS and Atelier Mondial, and in Lugano at Lago Mio artist residency. / The project is a collaboration between SALTS (CH), Waza Art Center Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Lago Mio Lugano (CH), in collaboration with Culturescapes 2021 Amazonia (CH) – kindly supported by kulturelles.bl, Pro Helvetia Südafrika, Temperatio, Cantone Ticino, Città di Lugano and La Mobiliare. / Project «Quilombo» has opened its first exhibition on October 30, 2021 at City SALTS in Birsfelden/Basel. From April 13, 2022, the exhibition will be on display at Lago Mio in Lugano. Further exhibitions in Lubumbashi (2022) and São Paulo (2023).

About Quilombos

Quilombos are transnational institutions that have been in place in the Brazilian territory for more than 400 years. They worked by harbouring former slaves that escaped and re-organized in the forest formed complex structures spread through the woods. Taking from the African continent, Kílómbò (Umbundu) was an amalgam of peoples like Ovimbundu, Imbangala, Mbundu, Lundu, and others. Quilombos are places of resistance, of the fight for the right to own the land they inhabit. Further Literature: Munanga, Kabengele (1996): Origem e histórico do quilombo na África. Revista USP, (28), 56-63; Lienhard, Martin (1998): O mar e o mato. Historias da Escravidao. Salvador, Edufba. CEAO. ISBN-13:9788523201722.