‘Visionary Africa’: a summer-long celebration in Brussels of African independence

Over the summer months (30 May-26 September), ‘Visionary Africa’ will celebrate the independence of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and 16 other African countries with music, film, photography and much more.

Organised by ‘Bozar’, the Centre for Fine Arts, promises a vibrant mix from ‘Geo-Graphics’, a map of art practices in Africa, past and present, to a lecture by leading architect, David Adjaye (9 June at 20:00) and a concert showcasing the 50 years of music from the Congo (16 July at 20:00).

The avant-première of ‘Kinshasa Symphony’ (24 June at 20:00), a documentary by Claus Wischmann and Martin Baer about how the city’s symphony orchestra copes when the electricity generators go down, crescendoes in joy when the orchestra strikes up.

A summer camp for children, 6-12 (5 July–20 August) in the ‘Bozar’ studios will enable the discovery of art through Asia and Africa. ‘A Useful Dream: African Photography 1960-2010’ traces how Western photography has monopolised how the African continent was seen, reducing Africa to a series of exotic cliches.

Since independence, this vision has changed. The exhibition, mounted by Simon Njami, (26 June-26 September) will trace the 50 years of history how the broken away from the vision imposed by the West, a theme running throughout the festival.

For the full programme, which includes the screening of the FIFA World Cup matches in South Africa, see: www.bozar.be.