i-like-africa-and-africa-2 : PATRICK GUNS

I Like Africa and Africa Likes Me 2.0
2007-2011
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During the official ceremony celebrating the independence of The Congo, on 30 June 1960, Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the new Democratic Republic of The Congo, decides against following protocol and gives a nationalist speech in which he denounces, in front of the Belgian king, the violence exercised by White people against the “Negros”. Demonised by his rivals, Patrice Lumumba will then be assassinated and becomes a symbol for the Blacks and their rights. In the year 2000, his ghost returns to haunt the guilty conscience of the West when, in a documentary, a former Belgian police officer shows off, as a treasure of war, two gold teeth he allegedly pulled from Lumumba’s corpse, “before melting them in acid”, says the policeman, “to avoid turning his grave into a pilgrimage site”.
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Lors de la cérémonie officielle de l'Indépendance du Congo, le 30 juin 1960, Patrice Lumumba, Premier ministre de la nouvelle République démocratique du Congo, s'écarte du protocole en prononçant un discours nationaliste qui dénonce, en présence du roi belge Baudoin, le racisme et la violence des Blancs à l'encontre des « Nègres ». Diabolisé par ses adversaires, Patrice Lumumba est ensuite assassiné et devient un héros de la cause noire. En 2000, il revient hanter la mauvaise conscience de l'occident, quand un ancien policier belge exhibe dans un documentaire, tel un trésor de guerre, deux dents en or qu'il aurait arrachées au cadavre de Lumumba, « avant de le dissoudre dans de l'acide, dit-il, pour éviter que sa tombe ne devienne un lieu de pélerinage ».

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see VIDEO (extract)
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Performance: two gold teeth, the remains of the assassinated Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, are symbolically buried in the pen of three lions. Strewn about the floor of the pen are newspapers that evoke thoughts of finance and colonialism.

Two pure gold teeth, which represent the “remains” of the assassinated Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, are presented with three pop-corn shaped bronze pieces, and together compose a game that denounces American interests while comparing them to symbolic notions of complexity and thoughtlessness.

3 pop-corn in bronze, 2 teeth in pure gold, 1:1

The entirety of the savage and accusatory speech delivered by Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba during the Independence Ceremony of Congo is rubbed out with eraser. The only legible words are the words “applause”. The abstract, inaudible sounds of applause are the only thing left.

Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba’s second speech, delivered the same day in order to satisfy King Baudouin I, is a response to the symbolic decline (leaning) of the Belgian King during Lumumba’s first speech. The leaning silhouette of the king is drawn on the speech with eraser.