Joseph K. Kasau Wa Mambwe (CD, 1995)
Residency period: September–October 2023
Territoires Humains (Human Territories) is a creative and discursive research project that I have been developing since 2022 and which focuses on the theme of “humans” faced with digital technologies, with the aim of offering spaces for human solidarity or collective “re/socialization”.
The project currently includes three iterations: the first, which I carried out during a residency at the Institut français in Lubumbashi, was entitled ReBoot, as a physical attempt to hack an imaginary code to reboot my social system. In addition to a series of workshops and meetings, ReBoot also enabled me to invite young artists from the We Art Slam collective in Lubumbashi, with whom we were able to work and exchange ideas on the spoken word as a tool and a place to come together.
Initiated during my residency at La Becque, the second iteration featured an installation I developed using recycled electronic waste. Mounted on large, recycled fabrics, the installation presented reproductions of the routes, movements, and places I have frequented since the pandemic, using electrical wires, woolen threads, and synthetic yarns. These routes symbolize attempts to reach others, human beings, and form territories, i.e., Human Territories.
The third iteration took the form of a performance that I did within this installation for the Open Studios at the end of my residency, and which was based on the prologue to my future performative piece. — Joseph K. Kasau Wa Mambwe
Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Lubumbashi, Joseph K. Kasau Wa Mambwe is a visual artist, film maker and author who addresses the complexity of memory and identity in a post-colonial urban context. Joseph K. Kasau Wa Mambwe’s practice has been built around the desire to tell stories, whether his own or those of the communities in which he grew up and still lives. At the intersection of photography, video art and creative writing, his productions are very attentive to social interactions, highlighting power relations and proposing alternatives for change and gathering.
Joseph K. Kasau Wa Mambwe’s residency was made possible thanks to the support of Pro Helvetia.
Joseph K. Kasau Wa Mambwe, La Becque, 2023, photo Matthieu Croizier
Joseph K. Kasau Wa Mambwe, La Becque Open Studios, 2023, photo Joseph K. Kasau Wa Mambwe
Joseph K. Kasau Wa Mambwe, La Becque Open Studios, 2023, photo Aurélien Haslebacher