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.
A Creative Exchange
Getting under our skinSuzy Bell, Cape Times January 21, 2011
Maurice Mbikayi Art South Africa 2011
Maurice Mbikayi: The Creative Exchange
“Voyage Ensemble, A Journey Together” , Scalabrini Centre, Cape Town 2006
“Voyage Ensemble, A Journey Together” , Scalabrini Centre, Cape Town 2006 - Maurice
Arts Education
2009: Higher Certificate in Photography, Vega Brand Communication School, Cape Town.
2000: Graphic Design and Visual Communication, Institut des Beaux-Arts, Kinshasa.
1994: Diploma in Fine Art, Institut des Beaux-Arts, Kinshasa.
Solo Exhibitions (South Africa)
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 Francaise, Cape Town.
2007: Maurice Mbikayi, The Framery Gallery, Cape Town.
Solo Exhibitions (International)
2018: Masks Of Heterotopia, Officine dell’Immagine, Milan.
Group Exhibitions (South Africa)
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)
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, Freemantle.
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’ÉVENEMENT POÉTIQUE, Centre Culturel des Mazades, Toulouse.
2008: The art of determination, Harare International Festival of Arts (HIFA), National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare.
Performances
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
Hollard Corporate, Johannesburg.
Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town.
Scheryn Art Collection, Cape Town.
Progressive Art Collection, Mayfield Village, Ohio.
Yellowwoods Art, Cape Town.
Publications
2010: Ruth Simbao, Cosmolocalism: The audacity of place, CCA Lagos Newsletter, no. 10, September-December. Jay Pather (ed.), Spier Contemporary 2010, Africa Center, 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
Awards
2007: Best group proposal, Table Mountain Cable Way Station Award, Cape Town.
Other
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.