Vennica Sidibanga Kaseye, Gathering the Present

This is a crossroads. I’ve heard if you can find the crossroads, a crossroads, this crossroads. If you can make an archeological dig into this crossroads, you’ll find fragments. Pixelated fossils, analogical traces, sonic prints… Without apparent plan or structure these fragments seem connected.

Gathering the Present is a collection of sounds, songs, snippets of conversations, and photographs. While exploring the presence and absence of Congolese cultural heritage in Antwerp, questions about the colonial archive and it’s construction arise.

Special thanks to Félicien Ndongala Luanda, Jean Mapela, Norbert Ngila and Pére Ernest Kabongo. My family and friends Léon Sidibanga Kaseye, Hildegard Beldé, Adinda Vanderzande, Valerie Paredis, Ambika Sena, Andita Shabanaj, Naomi Greenstein, Nikolaas Verstraeten, and everyone who contributed their generous ideas.