Kinshasa Chronicles, edited by Dominique Malaquais (Éditions de l'Œil, 2019)
In 2019, Kinshasa counts some thirteen million inhabitants. By 2075, demographers expect that it will be home to forty million more. With such numbers and from a history, both colonial and postcolonial, often marred by political and economic violence, comes a strikingly complex urban experience. Kinshasa Chronicles is a richly textured encounter with this experience: seventy artists, most of whom belong to a very young generation, meet up here to tell tales of one of the world's most vibrant creative hubs. They address multiple themes – "performance city", "sport city", "music city", "look city", "capital(ist) city", "spirit city", "DIY city", "future city", "memory city" – and deploy a rich palette of media, including
photography, video, installation and performance art, sculpture, painting, drawing, comics, music, slam and poetry. The mix is explosive and ultra-contemporary : passionate, engaging, thoughtful.