UPDATE FROM BART
Location: Kinshasa - Congo-Kinshasa - Africa
Ambassador: OMSK OMSK
I would like to let you know how the project is developing and how our team in Kinshasa is managing. Lotte and 6 others flew to Kinshasa on the 9th of June. Ank and I joined them on the 19th and I flew back on the 28th.
Sans Fil
We found a simple house at Avenue Tamufu no. 38, quartier Sans Fil in N’djili. Avenue is a fancy word for a dirt road but the house is comfortable enough and well situated near to our partners in Kinshasa. The first few weeks have been spent getting to know the city, its inhabitants, the transportation, the markets etc. Also we have been working on our studio at Kola’s place, getting it ready for the workshops and presentations. A highlight was the moment when Daan used a pushcart to collect rocks for a new floor. Pushcart pushers are at the absolute bottom of the social scales and to see a ‘mundele’ (white man) pushing one is more unlikely than seeing a polar bear in the Congo river. A spontaneous parade formed behind Daan and our arrival was soon communicated all over the neighbourhood.
Kafkafrica
The best news is that the container with all our equipment has finally reached it’s destination in N’djili. It had been sitting in the warehouse for weeks waiting for customs inspection. We found out the hard way that filling in the forms and paying all the duties is no guarantee for getting the job done. After a great many phone calls Rianne and I finally got our lawyer to arrange a meeting at the OFIDA (customs office). We met the boss of all containers in the Congo in his office. There he was, hidden behind huge piles of files. Every thirty seconds someone came in with a new file to add to the piles. The boss mentioned several problems in our file without offering any solutions. Finally he promised us that our container would be released on July 3d at the latest. That eventually became July 6, but now the container is in place and the next week or so will be spent in setting up the equipment and hopefully getting our satellite connection working.
Team Dordrecht
Meanwhile our team in Dordrecht has been setting up it’s own research. We have organised a first series of workshops and presentations in Het Energiehuis with youths from the inner city. Visual artist Bienvenue Nanga Ngufu from Kinshasa staid with us for nearly two months, creating new work in Dordrecht. Images, sounds and letters have been collected. The research will be opened to the public and a live connection to Kinshasa attempted soon.
To be continued...
