Maurice Mbikayi

b. 1974, Kinshasa, DR Congo; lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

Maurice Mbikayi is a multimedia artist, working in sculpture, installation, performance and photography. Mbikayi skillfully integrates digital debris with political themes, foregrounding the problems of Africa’s continued exploitation for the progress of the global tech industry. By repurposing tech waste into sculpture, Mbikayi highlights the underbelly of ‘advancement’ – exploitation of Black mining labour, environmental damage and systemic health risks.

Arts Education

2015: Master of Fine Art with distinction, Michaelis School of Fine Art, Cape Town.
2009: Higher Certificate in Photography, Vega Brand Communication School, Cape Town.
2000: Graphic Design and Visual Communication, Académie des Beaux Arts (Academy of Fine Arts), Kinshasa.
1994: Diploma in Fine Art, Institut des Beaux-Arts, Kinshasa.

Solo Exhibitions (South Africa)

2019: Coucou Crumble, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town.
2016: Mupia-Mupia, Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg.
2011: Notre Peau, Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town; Centre for African Studies Gallery, Cape Town; Villa Arcadia, Johannesburg.
2010: Echoes, Alliance Française, Cape Town.
2007: Maurice Mbikayi, The Framery Gallery, Cape Town

Solo Exhibitions (International)

2023: Social Fabrics, ARTCO Gallery, Brussels
2018: Mupia-Mupia, Fondation Friedrich Naumann, Dakar.
2018: Masks Of Heterotopia, Officine dell’Immagine, Milan.

Group Exhibitions (South Africa)

2023: INVESTEC Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa.
2022: INVESTEC Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa
2019: Still Here Tomorrow to High Five You Yesterday…, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town.
2016: Paradoxal Stranger, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town.
2016: Troubled Land, Iziko South Africa National Gallery, Cape Town.
2015: On Entropy and Becoming, AVA Gallery, Cape Town; Constitution Hill, Johannesburg.
2011: Thinking Africa and the Diaspora Differently, Centre for African Studies Gallery, Cape Town.
2010: reasons to live in a small town, Goethe on Main Gallery, Johannesburg.
2010: Amani Festival, LookOut Hill, Cape Town.
2009: Artreach in progress, Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town.
2008: Soul of Africa, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Johannesburg.
2007: Human Rights Day, Iziko Slave Lodge, Cape Town.
2007: Reconciliation Day, Iziko Slave Lodge, Cape Town.
2007: Group Exhibition, Blank Projects, Cape Town.
2007: X-Cape Circuit, Scalabrini Centre, Cape Town, South Africa
2006: A Response to Picasso and Africa, Alliance Francaise, Cape Town.
2006: A journey together, Scalabrini Centre, Cape Town.
2006: Portrait, Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town.

Group Exhibitions (International)

2024: Africa Rising: 21st Century African Photography from the Fitchburg Art Museum, Massachusetts, United States
2022: Afrika, Schloss, Zweibrücken, Germany
2022: Why not both?, ARTCO Gallery, Aachen, Germany
2021: Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, London, United Kingdom
2021: CONGOVILLE, Middelheim Museum, Antwerp, Belgium
2021: SUPERNATURAL, Sculptural Vision of the Body, Oulu Museum of Art, Finland
2021: AKAA Art Fair, Paris, France
2021: Positions Art Fair, Berlin, Germany
2019: Face with Tears of Joy, Blitz, Malta.
2019: Digital Imaginaries: Africas in Production, Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg; Kër Thiossane, Dakar; ZKM, Karlsruhe.
2018: Congo Stars, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz.
2018: ON/OFF, Casa Victor Hugo, Havana; 17 Biennale De Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi.
2018: YOUNG CONGO, Kin ArtStudio, Kinshasa.
2018: Urban Axis / Another Antipodes, PS Art Space, Fremantle.
2018: WE CALL IT “AFRICA”, Artists From Sub-Saharan Africa, Officine dell’Immagine, Milan.
2014: Art of the Lived Experiment, The Bluecoat School Lane, Liverpool; Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (UICA), Grand Rapids, Michigan.
2012: Window Exhibition/ Traces at Dock, Basel.
2011: Celeste Prize Finalists Exhibition & Awards, The Invisible Dog, New York City.
2010: AFRIKA SUR L’ÉVÉNEMENT POÉTIQUE, Centre Culturel des Mazades, Toulouse.
2008: The art of determination, Harare International Festival of Arts (HIFA), National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare

Performances

2010: Voices, Spier Contemporary 2010 Biennale, City Hall, Cape Town.
2010: Minky Mwendo (Distant relationships), Mullineux Wine Cellar, Cape Town.
2010: Healing (with Lodi Paul Inga), Khayelitsha Festival of Cultural Diversity, Cape Town.
2008: Talking Heads (with Magdelena Kunz and Daniel Glaser), Pro Helvetia, Cape Town.

Collections

The Deutsche Bank AG Collection (private view) – The “Mbikayi” room, London Branch.
The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington
The Pérez Art Museum in Miami
Irma Stern Museum, University of Cape Town (UCT)
Stellenbosch University
The Iziko South African National Gallery (ISANG)
Galila’s P.O.C Collection
The Kilbourn Collection
The Scheryn Art Collection 4
Progressive Art Collection, Mayfield Village, Ohio
Spier Arts Trust
Hollard Corporate, Johannesburg
The Development Bank of South Africa, Midrand
Nando’s Collections: South Africa, Africa, Europe, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, Asia

Publications

2010: Ruth Simbao, Cosmopolicalism: The audacity of place, CCA Lagos Newsletter, no. 10, September-December. Jay Pather (ed.), Spier Contemporary 2010, Africa Centre, Cape Town

2010: Sean O’Toole, Parting shot, Sunday Times, March 28. Art South Africa, Winter, vol. 8, issue 4

2007: Andrew Mulenga, Artistically brushing out xenophobia in SA, Weekend Post, November 30

“Voyage Ensemble, A Journey Together” , Scalabrini Centre, Cape Town 2007. Exhibition booklet.

Voyage-Ensemble-A-Journey-Together-Scalabrini-Centre-Cape-Town-2006-Maurice.pdf

 

Awards

2016: Luxembourg Art Prize (Hervé Lancelin Gallery) - Finalist
2013: Between the Lines (Fellowship, Michaelis School of Art and Braunschweig School of Art, South Africa/Germany)
2012: IAAB /Christoph Merrian Foundation (Artist in residency), Prohelvetia, Basel, Switzerland.
2010 - 2011: The Hollard Creative Exchange Programme, Cape Town and Johannesburg.
2007: Best group proposal, Table Mountain Cable Way Station Award, Cape Town.

Other

2010: Up and Down with Steve Bandoma (research project from '2010 Reasons to live in small town'), VANSA, Cape Town and Johannesburg.
2010: Performance Arts Workshop (with Spier Contemporary), Hiddingh Hall, Cape Town.
2010: Portrait (film documentary for Red Cross Exchange programme), Cape Town.
2010: Stroke of genius (workshop facilitator), Department of Sport and Cultural Affairs & Department of Trade and Industry, Cape Town.
2009: Facilitator at Art therapy workshop for adolecents and elderly, CWD Trauma and Healing Project, Cape Town.
2009: Facilitator at Art therapy workshop for women with HIV/AIDS, CWD Trauma and Healing Project, Cape Town.
2009: Facilitator at Art therapy workshop for children, Lawrence House Shelter, Cape Town.
2007: Educational youth programmes with Kathy Coates (a series of mixed media installations), Annexe at Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town.
2007: The art of dissent (a film documentary with Lionel Davis, Jonathan Zapiro, Ruth Carneson), Cape Town.
2006 - 2007: Multimediations, Cape Africa Platform (with City Varsity), Cape Town.
2006: Facilitator at Art therapy workshop for refugee women and children, Scalabrini Centre, Cape Town.

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