Picha
Picha (‘image’ in Swahili) is an independent initiative that aims to support artistic creation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It promotes artistic and social reflection of the environment of Lubumbashi and the region. Picha was founded by a group of artists, filmmakers, photographers, performers and cultural entrepreneurs to create a common space to share the vision of arts and culture of a new generation.
– a strong link with the city and its cultural actors
– the complicity of national and international partners
– the need to support the creativity of artists based in Lubumbashi.
Since its inception in 2008 – after the organization of the first Lubumbashi Biennale – Picha’s initiatives have resulted in artistic activism, creative actions, artist accompaniment, production and dissemination in this dynamic arena that, until then, served mainly as a source for researchers and artists from elsewhere, while local practitioners found it extremely difficult to develop and disseminate their projects.
Picha offers visibility to contemporary artists from Lubumbashi by animating a living space for exhibitions, events, artistic creation, publications, archiving, training and accompaniment of artistic processes.
Among the main activities :
– the Lubumbashi Biennale, founded in 2008 as “Rencontres Picha”, has become one of the most dynamic artistic events on the African continent, providing a platform for presentation and encounter for local and international artists and cultural actors.
– Ateliers Picha is a permanent training program dedicated to the production and dissemination of artistic and cultural projects of a participatory nature. Ateliers Picha allows the networking of a new generation of Congolese artists and cultural producers with other local and international cultural actors. The program offers professional guidance and a period of research and production to young people in the conceptualization of their project. Since 2017, Picha has enabled dozens of emerging artists from around the country to participate in the workshops. In 2019 and 2020, Atelier Picha collaborates with institutions such as Sharjah Art Foundation (Sharjah), Market Photo Workshop (Johannesburg), Gasworks (London), Art Hub Asia (Shanghai), Universidad Distrital de Colombia (Bogota), Raw Material Company (Dakar). Between 2017 and 2022, the artistic direction of the Picha workshops is led by Lucrezia Cippitelli.
– The Picha Residency Program, initiated in 2014, invites artists from the African continent and abroad for a research and working stay in Lubumbashi.