The Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC) was founded near Lusanga in the in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in August 2014, by a group of plantation workers from three plantations in the south, in collaboration with with ecologist Rene Ngongo and the artists Michel Ekeba, Eléonore Hellio, and Mega Mingiedi. The organization is a grassroots platform for the development of new economic initiatives based on the production and sale of critical art. Through the launch of a creative economy, it aims to improve the economic position of its members and their communities.
In 2017, the New York Times named their solo show at SculptureCenter ‘the most challenging show of the year’. CATPC has built a practice of securing hundreds of acres of former plantation land for future generations with the proceeds of their art. On that land, they establish ecological and inclusive food gardens, while in the midst of that land they built a museum, the White Cube.
Current and former members and interns are Djonga Bismar, Matthieu Kilapi Kasiama, Cedart Tamasala, Mbuku Kimpala, Manenga Kibuila, Jérémie Mabiala, Emery Muhamba, Irène Kanga, Daniel Muvunzi, Jean Kawata, Blaise Mandefu, Thomas Leba (†), Huguette Kilembi, Olele Mulela, Richard Leta, Mira Meya, Tantine Mukundu, Athanas Kindendie, Charles Leba, Philomene Lembusa and Désiré Kapasa. Currently, CATPC is actively recruiting new members.
Recent solo exhibitions:
DOWNSTAIRS: FORCED LOVE, KOW Berlin, March 26 – April 18, 2021
EYE Filmmuseum Amsterdam, November 19 – December 10, 2020
MAMA, Albury, Australia, February 15 – April 14, 2019
SculptureCenter, New York, January 29 – March 27, 2017
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, February 7 – May 29, 2016
Recent group exhibitions:
Risquons-tout, WIELS, Brussels, September 12 2020 – January 10, 2021
Out of the Dark II, KOW Berlin, May 23 – August 15, 2020
Catastrophe and the Power of Art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, October 6 2018 – January 20, 2019
Nieuw Amsterdams Peil (NAP), Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam — June 23 – July 28, 2018
The Way Things Run, Part II: Cargo, PS120, Berlin — June 8 – July 7, 2018
#whatif, Kunsthal Charlottenburg, Copenhagen — March 17 – May 20, 2018
21st Biennale of Sydney, SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium & Engagement — March 16 – June 11, 2018
The Land We Live In – The Land We Left Behind, Hauser & Wirth, Somerset, January 20 – May 7, 2018
Karachi Biennale, Pakistan, October 22 – November 5, 2017
The Repatriation of the White Cube, Lusanga International Research Centre for Art and Economic Inequality (LIRCAEI), Lusanga — April 21 – 28 2017 (curated by CATPC)
Armory Show (Focus selection), New York, March 2-5, 2017
Transaktionen — Über Den Wert Künstlerischer Arbeit, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, June 1 – August 20, 2017
Bread and Roses, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, February 19 – May 1, 2016
Order publication Cercle d’art des travailleurs de plantation congolaise here.