M HKA Ensembles

Leaflet, 15,5 x 24 cm.

Collection: Published by Infor Congo.

The Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi section, which included a Congolese village, branded by some as a modern-era human zoo, provided a contentious section of the Expo 58, and so was the art section of the exhibition. The Congo section was conceived to demonstrate the importance of the Belgian mission in the colony, which claimed to be a “profoundly human enterprise”. The majority of the Congolese invited to participate were educated citizens referred to by Belgians as ‘des évolués’ (‘the evolved‘), but were made to perform ‘primitive’ tasks. The idea of Belgian ‘civilising’ work also informed the art exhibition, which primarily consisted of examples of traditional, or so-called “primitive” art, while modern Congolese art of that time was largely sidelined to the 'Education' section. The chosen paintings were supposed to show how ‘native’ art “adapted itself to the Christian way of thinking”. A much wider section was dedicated to the display of European artworks in a purposefully ' primitive ' and imitative style.