In this talk, Pedro Monaville (History, McGill University) will be screened live within the context of Sammy Baloji’s exhibition at Goldsmiths CCA, discussing his ongoing collaboration with Baloji which builds on their shared interest for thinking the world from the Congo. The talk will revisit the different threads and historical contexts addressed by Baloji’s Shinkolobwe’s Abstraction (2022) – the significance of colonial extractivism in Katanga, the place of the Congo in the World, Congolese visions of radical emancipation, and the interrupted work of Congolese abstract painter Pierre-Victor Mpoyo.
BIOGRAPHY
Pedro Monaville teaches African history at McGill University in Montreal. His work centers on the modern history of Congo, and themes such as the history of ideas, left politics, and popular culture. He is the author of Students of the World: Global 1968 and Decolonization in the Congo (Duke University Press, 2022).