Helio, Eléonore; Ekeba, MIchel; Hölling, Hanna Barbara; Magnin, Emilie; Badcock, Jacob; Maly, Valerian (2023). Performing the ‘Mask:’ Kongo Astronauts (Eléonore Hellio and Michel Ekeba) on Postcolonial Entanglements In: Hölling, Hanna Barbara; Pelta Feldman, Jules; Magnin, Emilie (eds.) Performance: The Ethics and the Politics of Conservation and Care: Volume 1 (pp. 200-216). London and New York: Taylor & Francis
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10.Kongo Astronauts et al_Performing the Mask.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works (CC-BY-NC-ND). Download (1MB) | Preview |
In conversation with Hanna Hölling, Emilie Magnin, and Valerian Maly, Eléonore Hellio and Michel Ekeba of the collective Kongo Astronauts discuss the origins, ongoing evolution, and potential futures of their multifaceted artistic practice. They explain the circumstances that first brought Hellio, who was born in Paris, to Kinshasa, and relate Ekeba’s first experiments with wearing an astronaut costume that he made of discarded electronics purchased at market. Conservation is figured partly in terms of the astronaut costumes, which are constantly changing through cycles of use and repair, but which also have the potential to be purchased as artworks and conserved as static museum objects. Hellio and Ekeba also discuss the films and photographs they produce, which both propagate and disseminate the live performances that take place in Kinshasa. Finally, conservation is also understood in the collaborative, social practices of Kongo Astronauts, which are taken up, reconfigured, and renewed by the various artists who pass through the collective. Ekeba and Hellio also relate the performative and ritual aspects of their work to traditional Congolese practices that were suppressed by colonial authorities.
Item Type: |
Book Section (Book Chapter) |
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Division/Institute: |
Bern Academy of the Arts Bern Academy of the Arts > Institute Materiality in Art and Culture Bern Academy of the Arts > Institute Materiality in Art and Culture > Contemporary Art and Media |
Name: |
Helio, Eléonore; Ekeba, MIchel; Hölling, Hanna Barbara  0000-0002-3063-4405; Magnin, Emilie 0000-0001-7160-1725; Badcock, Jacob; Maly, Valerian 0000-0002-4999-171X; Hölling, Hanna Barbara 0000-0002-3063-4405; Pelta Feldman, Jules 0000-0001-8308-5174 and Magnin, Emilie 0000-0001-7160-1725 |
Subjects: |
A General Works > AM Museums (General). Collectors and collecting (General) N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general |
ISBN: |
9781032314877 |
Publisher: |
Taylor & Francis |
Funders: |
[7] Swiss National Science Foundation |
Projects: |
[198] Performance: Conservation, Materiality, Knowledge Official URL
[236] Performance: The Ethics and the Politics of Conservation and Care Official URL |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Hanna Barbara Hölling |
Date Deposited: |
06 Sep 2023 10:02 |
Last Modified: |
04 Oct 2023 09:32 |
Related URLs: |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Performance, conservation, preservation, performance-based works, performative, museology, museums |
ARBOR DOI: |
10.24451/arbor.19828 |
URI: |
https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/19828 |
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