Exhibition - Baz'Art

In the 19th century, private Western trading companies established themselves in various parts of the African continent. In Central Africa, the area between Cabinda and the Lower Congo region was particularly coveted by some of these companies, whose headquarters were in France, England, Portugal and the Netherlands.
Through alliances and contracts "à la mode du pays" with local chiefs from so-called Kongo cultures, they set up factories, i.e. stores offering different types of merchandise for sale or exchange. These factories not only sold, but also bought a number of products (ivory, oilseeds, etc.) brought in by African caravans.
This region of Central Africa continued to play a major commercial role throughout the colonial period. As a result, the Kongo had privileged access to a number of European manufactured goods, which they acquired well before other cultures further inland.
The exhibition shows how people and objects from other parts of the world influenced everyday life, and hence indigenous artistic and craft production. Local populations were able to capitalize on the existence of a new clientele eager to buy products "made in Kongo". Some case studies also reveal that, well before the 19th century, Kongo populations had contacts with Europeans... particularly in terms of the slave trade.