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on military occupation, on a fundamentally
racist relationship, and often on the exploitation
of resources for profi t. This colonial past has
had consequences that are still very much felt
in Belgium as well as in the Congo. Even when
they are well educated and trained, people of
the African diaspora still often have a great
deal of diffi culty fi nding their place in society.
Multiculturalism is something new in Belgium and
really only dates to the wave of migration that
took place in the 1980s and 1990s. We still have
a long row to hoe in this regard, compared to
France and the United Kingdom—countries that
both also have a major colonial past.
It wasn’t just about a need to take a position
on this diffi cult period of history. We also
wanted to nourish an interest in twenty-fi rstcentury
Africa—its biodiversity, its resources, its
contemporary art—and to become a resource for
today’s diaspora population.
T.A.M.: What’s involved in realizing such an
ambitious and complex project?
G.G.: A transformation as profound as this
cannot be improvised. As I mentioned, it has
been in the making since well before the museum
was closed for renovations in December of 2013.
Since I fi rst took over, we have been working
on the three factors that are the new museum’s
underpinnings and that the public will encounter
when we open on December 9. Our fi rst priority
was to develop and reinforce our connections
with African communities, both in Africa and
on Belgian soil, through the inauguration of
shared cultural programs and through the sharing
of information with African institutions. We
certainly feel affected by the declarations that
French President Macron made in Ouagadougou
with regard to the restitution of African artworks.
We believe it will be vital to fi nd ways to return
a part of the African patrimony that is now in
Europe or at least to make it more accessible to
African institutions.
This last point is very important to us, and the
fi rst thing we are doing to make it a reality is to
digitize our collection. We have been working
with an annual budget of about 500,000 euros for
the last ten years for this project—a considerable
sum given our limited resources—but it’s a
gargantuan task because our holdings are so vast.
avec l’aventure coloniale qui, ne l’oublions pas,
fut un système de gouvernance fondé sur l’occupation
militaire, sur un rapport à l’autre empreint
de racisme bien souvent et sur l’exploitation des
ressources au profi t de la métropole… Ce passé
colonial a eu des conséquences qui se ressentent
encore de nos jours en Belgique, notamment dans
les diffi cultés que rencontrent les personnes de
la diaspora à trouver leur place dans la société,
même s’il s’agit souvent de gens avec une formation
solide. Le multiculturalisme est une affaire
récente chez nous, qui ne date que de la vague de
migration des années 1980 et 1990. Nous avons
beaucoup de chemin à parcourir encore dans
ce domaine par rapport à la France ou le
Royaume-Uni, pays tous deux à fort passé
colonial également.
FIG. 3 (CI-DESSUS) :
Masque d’éléph ant. Ancienne
province K atanga. Lub a RD C.
XIX e siè cle.
B ois (Ricinodendron sp.), pigments.
H. : 77 cm.
D on de C. Lemaire.1899. MRAC,
EO.0.0.3722.
FIG. 3 (ABOVE):
E leph ant mask. Lub a, former
K atanga P rovince, D R Congo.
19 th century.
W ood (Ricinodendron sp.),
pigment.
H: 77 cm.
D onated b y C. Lemaire, 1899.
RMCA, EO.0.0.3722.