Balot's journey

At the end of 2024, the Congolese artists' collective CATPC will open the exhibition Two Sides of the Same Coin at the Van Abbemuseum. Part of this exhibition is the ancestral sculpture Balot. For the past decade, the sculpture was ‘locked up’ in the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in the United States. After years of struggle, CATPC managed this year to temporarily retrieve Balot as a loan to the former palm oil plantation in Lusanga, Congo. CATPC members Matthieu Kasiama and Ced'art Tamasala explain the importance of the object's transit to Eindhoven: “Through Balot, a wider audience can experience how plantations and the art world are intertwined.”

Origins in Congo

An unknown Congolese artist created the wooden sculpture in 1931. It depicts Maximilien Balot, a Belgian colonial administrator in Congo. Earlier that year, he was murdered by plantation workers in defiance of the violent behaviour of the Belgian rulers. In the reprisals that followed, hundreds of Congolese were imprisoned, tortured and murdered. Tamasala: “Balot's sculpture initially had a functional purpose. It served as an object to subdue the evil spirit of Maximilien Balot to protect the local community from the plantation regime. Now it is a symbolic object: a sign of resistance to colonial power.”

In an American collection

Balot's sculpture disappeared and remained hidden until 1972, when an American collector acquired it in Congo (Kwilu). Later, in 2015, he sold it to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, in the United States. There, it has been part of the museum collection ever since. CATPC fought for three years to get Balot back to Lusanga as a loan. Despite this arduous process, the collective sees the loan as an opening. Tamasala: ‘We are happy that a collaboration and dialogue like this is now possible. There is a new generation of museum professionals eager to deal with the past in a better way and facilitate exchanges like this.’

Reuniting in Lusanga

In 2024, as part of the Dutch entry for the 60th Venice Biennale, Balot was reunited with the people of the former palm oil plantation in Lusanga after more than half a century. “Balot's return allows the community to reconnect with its history and its resistance,” Tamasala explains. “It gives us direction, restores balance and corrects past injustices.” CATPC presented the sculpture in a ‘White Cube Museum’. By this, the collective refers to Eurocentric museums worldwide with a possible past of forced labour on plantations. Institutions that often fail to sufficiently recognise art made by (former) plantation workers. Via a livestream, Balot could also be seen simultaneously in the Dutch pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Onward journey to Eindhoven

At CATPC's request, Balot did not go straight back to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts after the Venice Biennale. “We like to see the sculpture exhibited publicly,” Tamasala says. “Especially in a place like the Van Abbemuseum that is honest about its roots in colonialism.” In doing so, CATPC bridges the gap between the plantations in Lusanga, Congo, and those in Deli, Indonesia. It was on the latter that Henri Van Abbe bought his tobacco. With his earnings from the cigar trade, he founded the Van Abbe Museum and bought the collection.

Global network

“The common denominator of our collective and the Van Abbemuseum are the plantations,” Kasiama explains. “It's not that Balot is making the connection between those plantations in Congo and Indonesia. That connection was always there, long before we were born. It is now up to us to reinterpret that existing connection.” CATPC therefore hopes that Balot can bring together the various stories of resistance into a growing global network. Tamasala: “By presenting Balot in the exhibition Two Sides of the Same Coin, , a wider audience can experience how plantations and the art world - not only here but globally - are intertwined.”

Blessing of Indonesia

But before CATPC presents Balot's sculpture in Eindhoven, some members of the collective are visiting communities of plantation workers in Indonesia. Kasiama: “It is honourable that the Van Abbemuseum is aware of the connection between its colonial history and its current position as a successful Western art institution. That is why we are engaging with the people in Deli, Indonesia, and asking their blessing for our exhibition in Eindhoven.” Tamasala adds: “It's about telling stories with each other, rather than to each other. This is how we consolidate the network of solidarity.”