Hunting & Collecting

Published for the exhibition Hunting & Collecting, Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium, cur. Sammy Baloji, Philip Van den Bossche and Anouck Clissen (3 August 2014 - 21 September 2014).

Whatever can hunting wild animals in colonial Congo and the exploitation of Congolese mines in the present have in common with a collection of modern and contemporary art in a museum in the Belgian coastal city of Ostend? In 2014 Sammy Baloji initiated an ambitious research exhibition bringing together historical documents, pictures by Congolese photographer Chrispin Mvano, works of Belgian artists from the 19th and 20th century included in the collection , contributions by contemporary artists dealing with the exploitation of Congo and finally his own acrimonious collages. This book transforms the numerous layers of the exhibition into a experimental visual essay. The seemingly distant realities of art history and global economies appears as closely intermingled.