Sammy Baloji, born 1978, Democratic Republic of the Congo Search this
Medium:
Video for projection
Dimensions:
Duration: 14 minutes 30 seconds
Type:
Time Based Media
Geography:
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Date:
2006
Series:
3/3 + 1 AP
Label Text:
Sammy Baloji’s provocative film, ‘Mémoire’ is a 14 minute 30 second video that the artist produced in collaboration with choreographer and dancer, Faustin Linyekula, to “create a moving portrait of broken promises” (Jewsiewicki 2010: 14). The film is kept intentionally raw, with dramatic shadows, glare and hot spots that reinforce the sense of degradation and decay of the setting: an abandoned copper factory. The abandoned mines and factories of the UMHK (Union Minière du Haut Katanga, or Mining Union of Upper Katanga) provide the backdrop throughout this best known series of works by Baloji. In both this film and his related photographs, the artist plays with time, blurring and merging the borders between past and present. In the film ‘Mémoire,’ the dancer Linyekula performs against an industrial wasteland holding an empty picture frame in his hand as he bends and contorts his body through and behind it. Excerpts of Mobutu and other politicians speaking play alongside the music of the soundtrack, providing viewers with a poetic and insightful journey through the history that has shaped and deformed the landscape of Congo’s Katanga province.
'Mémoire’ was originally made in an NTSC production platform. The first two versions of this video sold into private collections.were converted to PAL. The third copy acquired by NMAfA is a Beta SP master version in its original format, making us the only repository to be able to migrate this work of art forward.
Description:
14 minute 30 second video projection in which dancer Faustin Linyekula dances with an empty picture frame amidst the ruins of the Katanga mines. Video for projection Master Format: Beta SP Minimum projection: 2 meters (aspect ratio: 4:3)
Video for projection Master Format: Beta SP Minimum projection: 2 meters (aspect ratio: 4:3)
Senses of Time: Video and Film-Based Works of Africa, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 20, 2015-January 2, 2017
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