Patrick Mudekereza
Patrick Mudekereza is a writer and curator. He is the founder and artistic director of the Centre d’art Waza, a unique independent art centre in Lubumbashi.
He co-founded and directed the first three editions of Rencontres Picha, Biennale de Lubumbashi (2008-2015). He participated in the foundation and sat on the board of the International Biennial Association.
He curated exhibitions such as “Prise de Terre” (part of GEOgraphics, Bozar, 2010), “Close Openings/Vernissage Fugaces” (Various venues in Lubumbashi, 2011), “Mining Lubum” (VANSA, Johannesburg, 2015), “Silimuka” (part of the ChinAfrika under construction project, Museum für Gegenwartskunst GfZK Leipzig, 2017), “Aire d’oiseaux imaginaires” (Congo Biennale in Kinshasa, 2019, and Bogardenkapel Brugge, 2019). The project and accompanying publication “Revolution Room” (2013-2016) won the African Architecture Award in the Critical Dialogue category (Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, 2017).
In 2016 he received the Congolese National Prize for Art and Culture and in 2017 the Medaille Art Lettre et Sciences. He teaches at the Universities of Lubumbashi and Witwatersrand.
Patrick Mudekereza is a writer and cultural operator born in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where he currently lives and works.
He initiated several art projects, including one with the collective Vicanos Club, concomitantly studying industrial chemistry at the Polytechnic faculty of the University of Lubumbashi. He then worked as administrator and curator for visual arts at the French Cultural Centre in Lubumbashi, and he is the editor of the cultural magazine Nzenze.
Mudekereza has initiated and collaborated with many publications and exhibitions both in Congo and internationally. In 2014, he received the National Award for Art and Culture from the Congolese Ministry of Art and Culture. He is the director of the Centre d’Art Picha and co-initiator of the Rencontres Picha, Lubumbashi Bienniale.
Over the past ten years, Mudekereza has initiated a number of different projects, such as a magazine, cultural events, and exhibitions. He was a member of the steering committee of Arterial Network from 2009 to 2014 and is now a member of its cultural policy task team.