Contemporary Art in and Out of the Museum: AfricaMuseum reopening Tervuren, Belgium

The reopening of the Belgian Royal Museum for Central Africa (Fig. 1), was long awaited by almost all with an interest in African arts or ethnographic museums more broadly. Opening its doors just weeks after the release of the Sarr-Savoy report—which called on the French government to return objects of African cultural heritage to their countries of origin (Sarr and Savoy 2018)—was sure to bring even greater attention to its collection and how it would communicate its history and current mission to the public.

1.

View of garden side of AfricaMuseum with new glass entrance to the left of the main 1910 neoclassical building.

Photo: © Philippe de Formanoir, 2019

As proof of its openness to new perspectives, the museum was eager to show audiences the contemporary arts by African artists on display in its halls. While Kinshasa-based artist Chéri Samba's painting Réorganisation (2002) (Fig. 2) may be the symbol of the renovated museum, he has another work on display, in a dark corner of the "Afropea" gallery dedicated to the experiences of the African diaspora community in Belgium. Matonge-Ixelles, Porte de Namur! Porte de l'amour, (2002) will be familiar to local viewers and frequent visitors to Brussels, as it is a smaller, oil-on-canvas

2.

Reorganisation (2002) by Chéri Samba depicts a tug-of-war over the museum's "Leopard Man" statue as the current director, Guido Gryseels, looks on. Oil on canvas, 104 cm x 134 cm.

Photo: © Elaine Sullivan

3.

Chéri Samba's 12 x 15-meter Matonge-Ixelles, Porte de l'Amour (2002) hangs on a building façade on the Chaussée d'Ixelles at the entrance of Brussels' Congolese Matonge neighborhood.

Photo: © Philippe de Formanoir, 2019

4.

PeoPL by Laura Nsengiyumva, ice sculpture displayed at École Baron Steens in central Brussels for the city's Nuit Blanche art event, October 6, 2018.

Photo: © Erica Falle

version of the giant 12 by 15 meter artwork covering a building façade at Porte de Namur (installed in 2002), the entrance to the Matonge neighborhood of Brussels, which is the cultural heart of the Congolese community in Belgium (Fig. 3). The painting—and more broadly, the museum—reaches out beyond the walls of its colonial palace in Flanders, sharing not just masterpieces by Congolese artists of the past but also attempting to reflect the lives of Africans living today, both on the continent and abroad.

Such experiences are especially noticeable in the works by contemporary artists found in the museum, but are also found in the contemporary arts outside of the museum which comment on, subvert, and critique the museum and its broader role in Belgian colonization. Leading up to and during the opening days of the museum, contemporary art and moments of creativity inspired by the museum have pushed discussions of Belgium's colonial past and restitution of objects and human remains to the forefront.

On October 6, 2018, during Brussels' annual Nuit Blanche art event, a multipurpose room of an elementary school in the Marolles neighborhood hosted the installation PeoPL by Laura Nsengiyumva. The artwork consisted of an ice sculpture replica of the statue of Leopold II currently next to the Royal Palace in Brussels placed under a copy of the monument's pedestal (Fig. 4). Over the course of the evening the sculpture slowly melted, fostering multiple interpretations. As the monument disappeared, the melting reflected the slow change of public discussion about Leopold II's legacy; one could wonder if memory of Leopold II's crimes in the Congo would also disappear as time passes. Under the light, the ice sculpture shone with a ghostly glow, giving physical presence to what Nsengiyumva described in the event program as Leopold II's "phantasmagorical presence in the Belgian consciousness." In Belgium he is still known as the "builder king" and was the the AfricaMuseum's founder. Nsengiyumva has been...