“Our cultural poverty is a tragedy”
Fighting passionately for the African people’s re-appropriation of their artistic heritage. A combative art collector with no fear of pragmatism: money talks!
AM: What state of mind guides your collection?
Sindika Dokolo: For a long time I thought that I had two collections, one that was contemporary and the other classical, but in fact I have only one collection, which is made up of “powerful art”. I describe it as such because it combines exorcism, psychosis and catharsis, elements which have fascinated all of the great masters of the 20th century such as Picasso, Basquiat and Barceló. It doesn’t matter when these works were created, they all have a soul, they all come to life and that is magical. It’s our cultural DNA. The way in which all of this is part of traditional African society is there to be rediscovered. Contemporary expression interests me through its context, especially when it is liberated and tries to change the world. In comparison, “soft” art, that which is aesthetic and elitist, reminds me of the mundane and is of no interest to me.
What are the origins of your artistic and political commitments?
Discovering Angola in 2000 played a definitive role in my destiny. That is where I became the African that I aspire to be tomorrow. It was at the worst ebb of the war. 90% of the country was occupied by Unita (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), but through this strife and combat the Angolans overcame their despair. These are real people and we forget that this is a country where there are few privileges. The MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola), the progressive left party, is fighting against racism and sexual inequality with strong principals, and they have succeeded in surviving the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the cold war. Angolans are now confident and fearless. I don’t meet Africans like that anymore. Most of them, whether or not they are part of their country’s elite, consider themselves to be “gentle Blacks”. But it is people like that who are responsible for the paralysis which is weakening the States, and that has got to stop.
Last June, your foundation was the special guest of the 25th Non-European Art Fair in Brussels (Bruneaf). What did you gain from that experience?
The fair was presided over by the gallery owner Didier Claes, a compatriot, one of the rare Congolese to have managed to gain recognition within the Classical African Art market. He put together a magnificent collective show with a truly exceptional curatorial project. “Uzuri Wa Dunia - Beauties of the World” brought together 130 works from 34 private collections amongst which I was the only non-Belgian African. I maintain the same standard of quality for my own Luanda project. We consider the layout and presentation very carefully. This is very important since, unfortunately, our approach still remains anthropological in its nature: our roots still come from these, often neo-colonial, exhibition spaces where a true masterpiece finds itself placed next to a gourd... Today the museums are dead and the objects are inaccessible, like with classical music. I am currently working with the Casa da Mùsica de Porto in Portugal on the creation of a future Angolan national arts academy. This project will be built around a complete program which will extend as far as the training of all the staff. I refuse all mediocre projects, proper groundwork has to be done, and that is what I liked so much about the Bruneaf.