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E-book Congo Style : From Belgian Art Nouveau to African Independence

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Penilaian

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This is a book about how the Congo was and continues to be imagined in Kinshasa. I outline the way that coproduced visions of nation, modernity, and stereotypes of culture have taken material form in the postcolonial city. My aim is to trace what remains of past presentations of the Congo in the rich textures of key architectural and artistic sites in Kinshasa today. The book traverses three contingent moments in state architecture and related visual art from a contemporary perspective: the 1890s (Art Nouveau, also known as Style Congo), the 1910s (early colonial modernism), and the 1970s (post-independence high modernism). I follow a theory of totalizing forms by way of the now notorious political regimes of King Leopold II’s Congo colony and Mobutu Sese Seko’s Zaire. My aim is to highlight what remains of total art-works in the sites of post-independence design orchestrated by the totalitar-ian African state. I draw on the current material situations of iconic remains, alongside existing archives, for what they can tell of lingering power relations and cooling nationalist fervor in contemporary urban space.The lives of sites in Kinshasa today inform this book’s trajectory. My start-ing point is colonial Art Nouveau in Belgium. I begin here in order to unpack architectural offshoots of the protomodernist design movement in the Con-golese city, locating elements of Art Nouveau’s immersive imaginative power. The main focus of my analysis is Kinshasa’s relevant sites. Recognizing that he postcolonial African city muddies the notion of both modernism and modernity as a Euro-American enclave, I focus on how meaning is made in distinctive, historical city forms. I do so by implementing firsthand experi-ential analysis of iconic sites as whole entities, rather than only homing in on their architecture and designers’ intentions. My approach is based in my practice as a visual artist and is informed by how artworks and their exhibi-tion have influenced how the Congo has been imagined and invented. The pages that follow therefore revisit key exhibitions, in addition to analyzing extant literature and archival material relating to aesthetics and the Congo.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

960 SAC c

Penerbit

USA : University of Michigan Press., 2023

Deskripsi Fisik

249 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9780472903887

Klasifikasi

960

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

History of Africa

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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