The International Celebration of Blasphemy and the Sacred

CATPC and Renzo Martens at the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

IN MEMORY OF BLAISE MANDEFU AYAWO (1969–2024)

It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of Blaise Mandefu Ayawo. Blaise was one of the elders of the Cercle d'Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise in Lusanga, DRC. He died in Venice at the age of 55.

Blaise and eight other members of CATPC traveled to Venice to install and officially open their exhibition in the Dutch pavilion at the Venice Biennale. It was a great moment for everyone. Then Blaise fell ill and passed away after almost two weeks in hospital at the Ospedale dell'Angelo, where he had been well cared for.

Blaise made an enormous contribution to using art to reclaim and reforest the land in his home town of Lusanga that had once been confiscated by the Unilever company. He created the central sculpture in the Dutch pavilion in Venice: “Mvuyu Libérateur” - a bird that breaks open white cubes and allows the energy that has historically accumulated in them to flow back to the communities that financed Europe's museums in the past through their enforced labor.

We offer our condolences to Blaise's family and friends, his fellow artists at CATPC, and the team at the Institute for Human Activities.

Photo by Jürgen Lisse