The author and creative artist Patrick Mudekereza lives and works in Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. From a very young age, he has been involved in the artistic world, initiating numerous events and supporting cultural infrastructures cultural infrastructure in the areas of the fine arts, music, theatre, literature and cinema. At the same time, he studied industrial chemistry at the Polytechnical Faculty of the University of Lubumbashi, where he was awarded a degree in engineering. In 1998 Patrick Mudekereza joined the Vicanos art club, starting his life in the cultural sphere as a writer (comics, documentaries, poetry and tales). In 2004 he became general secretary of the Vicanos, as well as chief editor for the cultural journal Nzenze. As the former French Cultural Center reopened his doors as the Francophone Cultural Center Halle de l’Etoile, dedicated to theater, music, dance, audiovisual art as well as architectural and ethnographic heritage for Congo and Katanga, he teamed up with other artists and volunteers to energize the Lushois cultural scene.
Since 2008, Patrick Mudekereza has been running the art centre of the association Rencontres Picha along with photographer Sammyl Baljo, in Lubumbashi. They set up experimental projects with local and international artists, focusing on visual arts but creating crossovers with the literary and theater scenes of Congo. Since 2010, Picha has opened an art center and organized four Biennale of photo and video art in Lubumbashi. Coverage of the 2015 events can be found on their Facebook page (Biennale de Lubumbashi) as well as a review of the 2013 Biennale by Patrick on culturetrip.
For the biennale, the title Réalités Filantes is freely borrowed from the great poet, philosopher and writer Edouard Glissant. The exhibitions and events of the 4th Biennale (2015) question the way that artists deal with “disposable” reality, where nothing seems destined to last. What types of actions should be undertaken by the artists in face of the tyranny of immediacy imposed by the neoliberal order? Are works of art effective tools for the re-appropriation of reality?
During his residency at Berlin project space uqbar, Patrick Mudekereza was introduced to the different aspects of preparing photographic and video exhibitions, and collaborated with the artist Katrin Lock from Consumed Spirits.
