21 – Memories of Growing Up is an ongoing and evolving project of Swiss artist Mats Staub. It comprises dozens of interview portraits with people from around the world reflecting on their memories of turning 21.

Staub’s methodology is based on asking participants to recall their coming of age, which he records and then plays back to them three months later. The project is exhibited as an instillation of video portraits of the participants listening to recordings of their own memories.

In 2017 Pro Helvetia Johannesburg supported Staub bringing the 21 ­– Memories of Growing Up project to South Africa in collaboration with two local practitioners, Maia Marie and Nomonde Mbusi.

In May 2019, the 21 project will be presented in Lubumbashi in the context of our Regional Mobility Partner Waza Art Centre’s MITAANI #digital MOMENTS. This programme centres around the idea of making artistic creation, memory work or the production of knowledge public in a relevant curatorial system. This edition of 21 will draw on conversations recorded in Lubumbashi and Kinshasa, as well as from the various other countries that the project has touched, including South Africa.

In Lubumbashi, 21 will be presented in a VR format for the first time. The redesign for VR facilitates the portability of the project into contexts such as Lubumbashi. This edition will involve testing this presentation format across various institutional contexts, combined with the workshopping of the technology locally in association with Pretoria based Congolese digital designer Kim Arnaud Mukenge.

In October/November 2019 the project will be presented in Kinshasa in the context of the Congo Biennale of Kin Art Studio, also one of our Regional Mobility Partners.

LUBUMBASHI PROGRAMME OF EVENTS

20-22 May

Digital Arts Workshop hosted by Kim Arnaud Mukenge at Centre d’innovation de Lubumbashi with 20 participants (artists and innovators) selected through a call for application.

20-24 May

Digital Art and Commons Factories / Banga Meeting with Marion Louisgrand (Ker Thiossane) and Igo Lassane Diarra (Medina Gallery and Rencontres de Bamako, Biennale africaine de la photographie).

This workshop will discuss how art spaces dedicated to digital arts in Africa and the global South can operate as laboratories for young practitioners and audiences using art and culture as a tool for building commons and reimagining new ways of living together in cosmopolitan contemporary cities such as Dakar, Bamako or Lubumbashi. Banga Meeting is a programme of Arts Collaboratory.

21 May

Opening of 21 – Memories of Growing Up and public discussion with the guests at Campus numérique francophone de Lubumbashi.

24 May

Presentation of 21 – Memories of Growing Up at Centre d’innovation de Lubumbashi with discussion with Kim Arnaud Mukenge.

27 May

Presentation of 21 – Memories of Growing Up at Waza Art Centre with the works from the workshop.

Regional and continental participation in Waza’s programming is enabled through support from our SDC financed Regional Arts Programme.

The VR adaptation of the project was undertaken by Andrew Wessels of BoXcutter and Brian Goodwin of I Want To Experience.