LION phase 2: ACT II THE REIGN OF AFROPEANISM 1.0 & 2.0
/ BIRTH OF AN AFROPEAN KINGDOM
afropean palace #2 the Parc du Cinquantenaire monument (Brussels BE).
Roland Gunst Congolese forfathers inhabit this mask (power figure) during the performance. The mask is fabricated with hair extensions used by Roland Gunst's Congolese mother, who has premonitory abilities.
Scene from the lecture performance 'the reign of afropeanism 2.0'.
Scene from the lecture performance 'the reign of afropeanism 2.0'.
Two speakers of Flemish-Congolese origin (Roland Gunst and Sibo Kanobana) present their historical and artistic research into the presence and influence of Africans in Europe, with a focus on Flemish history. The lecture consists of two parts, corresponding with the two waves of Afropeanism: the first wave (1500-2019) focuses on the spread of Afropeanism in Europe, the second wave (2019- …) is the creation of the first Afropean kingdom in Flanders.
This exercise results in a transformation and subversion of European history.
Roland leads the transformation ritual within a ritual space, an art installation (an altar with ritual objects and an audio-visual projection) surrounded by the public.
Roland’s and Sibo’s narratives start out as a journey through history, ultimately evolving into a walk through the city of Brussels (the capital of Belgium and the European Union on Flemish territory), which King LION I, the Black Lion of Flanders, is transforming into an Afropean metropole. He transforms the city’s architecture by creating symbolical spaces where the geographical regions and cultural traditions of Flanders and D.R.C. merge in space and time. King Lion and a delegation of the Congolese people discover the New World, Flanders. He rename and rebuild the Flemish civilisation based on the principles of absolute equality and inclusion.
By witnessing the construction of the Afropean kingdom in the city of Brussels the public experience: colonisation by Congolese people and assimilation as enforced by the actual Flemish government and society.
In this Afropean kingdom the Flemish population regains its true identity, a hybrid or Afropean identity brought back from Africa (D.R.C.) by the Afropean king LION I. This prophecy is described in the Flemish founding myth of ‘the Black Lion of Flanders’.
Like an alchemist and inspired by his father’s work as a specialist in the production of Congolese white rubber for 40 years, Roland manipulates symbolic objects and matter to produce plasma / white rubber, the fuel for the Afropean kingdom.
A john k cobra production in collaboration with Sibo Kanobana, Vuong Ha and Kachiri Faes.
WORKS
THE REIGN OF AFROPEANISM 1.0 and 2.0