Congolese Plantation Workers Art League

CATPC, an acronym for ‘Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise’ in French translates to ‘Congolese Plantation Workers Art League’ in English. Founded in 2014 by a group of Congolese plantation workers in collaboration with Congolese environmental activist and founder of Greenpeace Congo René Ngongo, CATPC operates as an art cooperative. CATPC is based in Lusanga, formerly known as Leverville, Unilever’s first plantation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2017, CATPC built an art center named White Cube Lusanga.

CATPC specializes in clay sculptures, reproduced in Europe using materials such as cacao and palm oil, common products derived from plantations. CATPC is critical of the plantation system, an extractive and exploitative colonial construct with dangerous labor conditions, low wages, and environmental devastation among its faults. Many museums have been or are still funded by companies like Unilever that own or depend on plantation labor. CATPC’s art attempts to expose this exploitative system and bring about positive economic, social and ecological change to their own plantation and community.

The art collective uses income generated from exhibitions and sales of their artworks to buy back and restore their land using the principles of agroforestry. The overarching goal is to develop a regenerative model where artistic expression provides the community of Lusanga with land ownership and sustainable livelihoods. CATPC calls this the "post-plantation”, since it provides a sustainable alternative to the prevalence of monoculture plantations. Whereas a traditional plantation is based on extracting one crop (palm oil in the case of Leverville) and leaving the land depleted while exporting the crop to other countries, everything grown in CATPC’s post-plantation goes back to the community and restores the land.

CATPC’s sculptures have gained international recognition, with exhibitions at renowned venues including SculptureCenter, Kunsthal Charlottenborg Biennale, 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil, SCCA Tamale, KOW, Hayy Jameel, EYE Filmmuseum, among others. CATPC, Renzo Martens and curator Hicham Khalidi, will represent the Netherlands at the Venice Biennale 2024.

Origins
Established in August 2014, CATPC originated from a collaboration between plantation workers from three different plantations in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They worked with Kinshasa-based artists Michel Ekeba, Eléonore Hellio, and Mega Mingiedi to exchange ideas and develop the creation of critical art.

Members and collaborators
CATPC comprises 25 members: Djonga Bismar, Alphonse Bukumba, Irène Kanga, Muyaka Kapasa, Matthieu Kasiama, Jean Kawata, Huguette Kilembi, Mbuku Kimpala, Athanas Kindendi, ⁠Felicien Kisiata, Charles Leba, Philomène Lembusa, Richard Leta, Jérémie Mabiala, Plamedi Makongote, Blaise Mandefu, Daniel Manenga, Mirra Meya, Emery Muhamba, Tantine Mukundu, Olele Mulela, Daniel Muvunzi, Alvers Tamasala and Ced’art Tamasala. René Ngongo, who is based in Kinshasa, is the president of CATPC.

CATPC collaborates regularly with Human Activities, an art institute founded by Dutch artist Renzo Martens. Together, they founded the White Cube museum, organize exhibitions and conferences and make art.

CATPC is represented by KOW, a gallery in Berlin.

The Matter of Critique conferences
In 2012, LIRCAEI (Lusanga International Research Centre on Art and Economic Inequality) and Human Activities organized a series of four international conferences titled “The Matter of Critique”. These conferences brought together academics, artists, curators and CATPC members to engage in critical discussions covering a wide spectrum of activities in Congo – from art to society to the economy. Notable speakers included art historian T.J. Demos, philosopher Marcus Steinweg, activist René Ngongo, architect Eyal Weizman, economist Jérome Mumbanza, curator Nina Möntmann, anthropologist Katrien Pype, artist Emmanuel Botalatala, curator Ellen Blumenstein, and theorist Ariella Azoulay.

White Cube museum
In 2017, CATPC inaugurated the White Cube, the first museum on a plantation. The opening was accompanied by an exhibition titled “The Repatriation of the White Cube”. Designed by OMA, the architecture and nomenclature draw on the modernist art historical tradition of white cube galleries and the privileges and gatekeeping associated with these types of institutions. By placing a white cube on a plantation, a site that has funded many popular museums in the Western art world (such as the Tate Modern “Unilever Art Series”), CATPC and Human Activities claim to “prove that artistic critique on economic inequality can effectively reverse that inequality”.

"Established as an apolitical space to sustain art’s timeless value, can a white cube still be a platform to address inequality in the art economy, or even an active agent to make timely social changes?"

The White Cube museum, central to CATPC’s artistic and social initiatives, is complemented by various facilities, including a conference center, atelier for art creation, and ecological farming gardens and fields.

Dutch Pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2024
In April 2023, it was announced that CATPC, together with artist Renzo Martens and curator Hicham Khalidi, will present a simultaneous and linked exhibition at the Dutch Pavilion of the Venice Biennale and the White Cube in Lusanga, opening in April 2024.

“The opportunity to now pair a white cube on a plantation with one at the summit of the art world allows for a direct look into these two worlds and into the inequalities between them.” - CATPC member Ced’art Tamasala.

List of works
CATPC is best known for their chocolate sculptures but has also ventured into drawings, videos, photographs and textile works. CATPC's sculptures include portraits and allegories. Their material, the cocoa bean, carries political connotations, including concerns for its controversial labor conditions and effect on the environment.

Sculptures
Self Portrait without Clothes, Mbuku Kimpala, 2014

The Spirit of Palm Oil, Djonga Bismar, 2014

Self Portrait, Menenga Kibwila, 2014

Self Portrait, Djonga Bismar, 2014

Self Portrait, Emery Muhamba, 2014

The Art Collector, Jérémie Mabiala & Djonga Bismar, 2015

Poisonous Miracle, Thomas Leba, 2015

The Art Collector, Jeremie Mabiala & Djonga Bismar, 2015

A Man Is What the Head Is, Matthieu Kasiama, 2015

The Visionary, Djonga Bismar, 2015

We Who Are Here And You Who Have Come, Emery Muhamba & Mbuku Kimpala, 2015

A Lucky Day, Thomas Leba & Daniel Manenga, 2015

How My Grandfather Survived, Ced’art Tamasala, 2015

Forced Love, Irene Kanga, 2019

Forced Labor, Jean Kawata & Ced'art Tamasala, 2020

The Mad Art Collector, Emery Muhamba, 2020

White Cube Lusanga, Jean Kawata & Ced'art Tamasala, 2020

Pende Vengeance 1931, Richard Leta, 2021

Money is/and the Beast, Muyaka Kapasa, 2021

Couple of Equality, Mbuku Kimpala, 2021

Plantation Monoculture, Athanas Kindendie, 2022

White Cube Lusanga, Ced’art Tamasala & Jean Kawata, 2023

Mvuyu Liberator, Blaise Mandefu, 2023

Lady of Museums, Mbuku Kimpala, 2023

Congo Massacre, Muyaka Kasapa, 2023

Money Angel, Philomène Lembusa, 2023

Fish Protector, Daniel Mvunzi, 2023

Roots, Irene Kanga, 2023

Polyculture Brain, Athanas Kindendie & Charles Leba, 2023

Wonderful Birth, Huguette Kilembi & Mirra Meya, 2023

Seedbed, Muyaka Kapasa & Ced'art Tamasala, 2023

Plantation Master, Olele Mulele Labamba, 2023

Crucifixion of the Art Collector, Matthieu Kasiama & Ced'art Tamasala, 2023

Drawings and textile
4 Coins Post Plantation, Matthieu Kasiama, 2022

Untitled, Ced'art Tamasala, 2023

Arts & Agriculture: Vision Future, Matthieu Kasiama, 2022

Aveugle Visonnaire, Kifiameso ya kumuna na ntuala, Matthieu Kasiama, 2022

Balot, Ced’art Tamasala, 2022

Balot / Retour de la Violence, Matthieu Kasiama, 2022

Chemin d’idées, Kukwisa ya bangindu, Matthieu Kasiama, 2022

Esprit fâché de Balot, Esprit Colon, Matthieu Kasiama, 2022

Féticheur ou démon du village, Jean Kawata, 2016

L’exode des fournis noir, Ced’art Tamasala, 2019

Mukuni Le Semeur, Matthieu Kasiama, 2022

Pende Control Esprit Balot, Matthieu Kasiama, 2022

Reservation Naturelle, Matthieu Kasiama, 2022

Résistance, Matthieu Kasiama, 2016

Résistance 2. Plantation Monoculture, Matthieu Kasiama, 2022

Untitled, Leba Maboki, 2018

Voleur piégé, Mao Kingunza, 2016

Africa Vide, Europe Plein, CATPC, 2021

Résistant déporté et incarcéré (Kimbangu) / Resistance fighter deported and incarcerated (Kimbangu), Mbuku Kimpala, Ced'art Tamasala and Jérémie Mabiala / CATPC, 2022

Résistant déporté et incarcéré (Les révoltés de Kilamba) / Resistance fighter deported and incarcerated (The revolts of Kilamba), Mbuku Kimpala, Ced'art Tamasala and Jérémie Mabiala / CATPC, 2022

Résistant déporté et incarcéré (Lumumba) / Resistance fighter deported and incarcerated (Lumumba), Mbuku Kimpala, Ced'art Tamasala and Jérémie Mabiala / CATPC, 2022

Balot NFT
In 2022, CATPC created an NFT (non-fungible token) of a sculpture created by their Pende ancestors. The sculpture depicts the Belgian officer Maximilien Balot and was created during the Pende rebellion of 1931, following rape and other crimes committed by Belgian colonial officials. Carved in wood, it was most likely created in order to control Balot's spirit after he was beheaded. The sculpture is now part of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA)’s African art collection in Richmond.

From CATPC’s perspective, “The lost item, the Balot sculpture, was made for the main purpose, to control the spirit of dead Balot, which could wander and harm the Pende or their surroundings. Currently, what role does he play?”. The making of the NFT sparked a controversy in the press, addressing concerns about CATPC’s loan requests and their usage of the VMFA’s photograph of the Balot sculpture. In Daniel Boffey's The Guardian article, a VMFA spokesperson was quoted for saying that the “image was lifted directly from the museum’s website without permission, which violates our open access policy and is unacceptable and unprofessional”. Renzo Martens, collaborator on the project, said they, “downloaded the image from the internet, as there is no other material made available by the VMFA”.

“We have the strong impression that they are not ready to lend it to us; it can be lent to a museum in Switzerland or elsewhere, but not to a museum in the plantation for the resistance against which, among other things, it was designed and sculpted.” - Ced’art Tamasala (CATPC)

In 2024, CATPC’s loan request to display the sculpture at the White Cube in Lusanga, DRC, as part of the Venice Biennale was accepted.

Video and film
Plantations and Museums, CATPC, 2021

This work is a 6-channel video following Matthieu Kasiama and Ced’art Tamasala, CATPC members, as they embark on a quest to recover the Balot sculpture, which their community lost decades ago and which they hope to return to Lusanga. The two artists speak with postcolonial specialists, uncover hidden ties between plantations and museums and pay a visit to the collector who purchased the sculpture in 1972, subsequently selling it to the Virginia Museum. Kasiama and Tamasala appear at the museum, asking to loan the sculpture to present in their own museum.

White Cube, featuring CATPC, 2020

The documentary film White Cube (2020), directed by Renzo Martens, offers an in-depth portrayal of CATPC’s journey, capturing their artistic endeavors, the construction of the museum and their land purchasing efforts. The films shows how CATPC and Martens seek to return the proceeds of the plantation workers' labor by asking major artists to donate artworks to a new plantation art museum as recompense for having received Unilever patronage through the Tate Modern. The artist Carsten Höller is one of the artists that donated.

Publications and merchandise
In 2017, a book titled Cercle d'art des travailleurs de plantation congolaise, edited by Els Roelandt and Eva Barois De Caevel, was published by Sternberg Press. The book provides an initial report on CATPC's activities, portraying the uniqueness of its members and partner institutions, aiming to challenge postcolonial power relations within the global art world.