LubungaMode

Studios Kabako and [A]FA established the collaborative, transdisciplinary lab LubungaMode to investigate the water situation of Lubunga, a marginalized district of Kisangani, in the eastern DRC, from diverse perspectives. A more precise project brief was not defined. This topical but open strategy of encountering Lubunga allowed the teams to test the potentials of artistic and applied research as a starting point for communicating to inhabitants on a larger scale and building up personal networks at the same time. What does it mean to artistically produce from and for a specific territory? What does it mean to generate site specific knowledge and social impact? How to address environmental topics and social challenges, privileging the idea that change and development should occur internally? And what is the shared space of artistic research, community, and place in this context?   

Faustin Linyekula — world-renowned dancer and choreographer and artistic director and founder of Studios Kabako — and Baerbel Mueller had started working on the vision of creating a network of cultural centers in Kisangani a few years beforehand. With their mutual interest in the conception of decentralized, dispersed spaces for art and urban culture, both collaborated on “acupuncturing” Kisangani. In addition to Kisangani´s districts Makiso and Simisimi, Lubunga had been on the agenda from the very beginning. The question was how to encounter this marginalized part of the city. Instead of any immediate artistic or architectural intervening, the essential topic of water provision was identified as a starting point for setting up a dialogue with the community.  

To understand the complexity of Lubunga’s water situation, [A]FA´s investigations focused on five geographic areas that were representative of the district as a whole. The chosen focal points were characterized by different degrees of urban density and included various scenarios of the local water situation. The areas were described by varying radii on a map. The three main parameters to distinguish between the five circles were urban density, location, and water typology. Thereby, the team used three methods to approach these scenarios: spatial, scientific, and narrative. The spatial scenarios were mapped using descriptive drawings, collages, and plans. The scientific approach analysed the water chain in terms of source, supply, consumption, and disposal. The narrative view was based on personal interviews and a one-question survey of young people in Lubunga.