Congo Contemporary offers a rare and vital journey through the artistic landscape of the Democratic Republic of Congo, bringing together a new generation of contemporary voices alongside key figures of the country's modern art history. Curated by Julie Theys — founder of Palanca Gallery in Kinshasa — the exhibition highlights a creative richness that remains largely underrepresented on the international art scene.

Far from exoticizing or Western-centric perspectives, Congo Contemporary asserts an aesthetic and intellectual autonomy. The works on view are not shaped by imitation or the desire to conform to Western art canons; rather, they draw their strength from within — from narratives, gestures, and visual languages rooted in Congolese realities. They reflect an inward gaze and a world view shaped by the tensions, histories, urgencies, and hopes that define the social, political, and cultural fabric of the DRC.

This exhibition showcases a body of work that is free, inventive, and unequivocally contemporary — a form of creation that, while unflinching in its confrontation with local challenges, also probes memory, power structures, postcolonial wounds, chaotic urbanity, spiritual vitality, and the resilience of bodies and territories.

By fostering a dialogue between generations and artistic movements, Congo Contemporary invites us to reconsider dominant geographies of art. It reveals a Congo that creates, critiques, transforms — a Congo whose artistic voice, long sidelined, demands to be heard and recognized with the same legitimacy as those of global cultural centers.

The exhibition features works by Enyejo Bakaka, Bela, Amani Bodo, Bers Grandsinge, Jean Bosco Kamba, Mwenze Kibwanga, Lofenia J. C., Dolet Malalu, Houston Maludi, Mwembia, Precy Numbi, Chéri Samba, Kura Shomali, Ange Swana and Vitshois M.B.