The Lubumbashi Biennale, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, takes place in October 2026 around an unexpected source: the personal library of philosopher Valentin-Yves Mudimbe.
Mudimbe, who died on 22 April 2025, left his library to the University of Lubumbashi. Through a partnership with Picha, the art and research centre behind the biennale, those archives become the curatorial starting point of this edition.
The two co-curators, Sorana Munsya and Jermay Michael Gabriel, work on history, memory, visibility and diasporic narratives. Mudimbe’s writing — which questioned how knowledge about Africa was constructed and the legacies of colonialism — gives them a demanding framework.
The biennale describes itself as the only sub-Saharan biennial run independently from its own city, for more than fifteen years. AMA WORLD will follow the programme as it is announced.
