DR Congo

Country Representative

Rector Prof. Dr. Ghislain Bisimwa Balaluka (Université Catholique de Bukavu)

 and

Academy of Fine Arts Kinshasa

Academy of Fine Arts of Kinshasa Logo © Academy of Fine Arts of Kinshasa

The Academy of Fine Arts of Kinshasa, ABA-KIN in acronym, is a modern artistic school in the heart of central Africa, in the incessant quest for excellence. It is a public higher education and university establishment in the Democratic Republic of Congo specialising in the training of visual artists and graphic designers. In order to render service to the community, the founding act of the Academy of Fine Arts of Kinshasa assigns it a double mission: to train specialised executives in the field of fine and graphic arts and to  organize research on the adaptation of new techniques in a specific field of the arts. Currently, the Academy of Fine Arts of Kinshasa organises two programs of study: Fine Arts and Graphic Arts, with the following departments: Sculpture, Ceramics, Painting, Metal, Conservation and restoration of works of art, Visual communication, Interior architecture, Photography and Design.

www.academie-kinshasa.cd

Membership: since 2024 (aspiring member)

Representative: Professor Kalama Akulez Henri, PhD

Born in 1973 in the DR Congo, Professor Kalama Akulez Henri, PhD. is a visual artist. He has been the General Director of the Academy of fine Arts of Kinshasa since 2016. His research is on culture, decolonization of knowledge and artistic institutions, the teaching and the phenomenology of art in the DRC and the question on how to establish an academy of art without academism. He has been increasingly consulted internationally on the topic of the reconstitution of museum artifacts. In his artistic practice, he develops an approach that is both pragmatic and phenomenological from which he expresses his perception of the world in what he calls “cosmic vibrations”. Abstract painter, for him abstraction is not the absence of representation. It is rather the presence of the “essential” which we arrive at through a permanent conjugation of the verb abstract consisting of extracting or abstracting essential elements of a mental, psychic or physical entity to express the ideal of an ethical and aesthetic.

Université Catholique de Bukavu (UCB)

Colourful illustration and lettering © Université Catholique de Bukavu (UCB)

The Catholic University of Bukavu (UCB, founded in 1989) is based in the City of Bukavu, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a private institution, has about 3000 students and has already successfully graduated 10,004. It harbors seven faculties: Agriculture, Architecture & Urbanism, Economy & Management, Law, Medicine, Sciences, Social Sciences. It also operates a Regional School of Public Health, and a regional High Institute for Peace & Reconciliation. Bachelor and Master programs are organized by all faculties. PhD programs are currently only available in Economy and Law. Research is being carried out in various Departments within the Faculties as well as in separate research centers. The Provincial General Referral Hospital of Bukavu (500 beds, 40 medical specialists) serves as teaching and training hospital

http://www.ucbukavu.ac.cd

Founding member
Membership: Since 2020

Representative:

Rector Prof. Dr. Ghislain Bisimwa Balaluka

 and