With each of his performances, Congolese choreographer and director Faustin Linyekula attempts to describe and capture the essence of his home country.
With Congo, he takes inspiration from Éric Vuillard’s remarkable novel published in 2012. Neither historical narrative nor fictionalized account, Congo offers a gallery of portraits, from those at the origin of the country’s creation to those who oversaw its construction. These figures include Belgian King Léopold II, who wanted to purchase land on the other side of the world for his own private property and Lieutenant Léon Fievez, known for his barbaric acts.
In this work, Linyekula combines an ironic text, seen from the perspective of the colonizers, with choreographic material and immersive sound recordings, coupled with Mongo songs from the equatorial forests, in an effort to trace the contours of a past that still describe his country today.
