Ex Situ is the project by salento artist Luigi Coppola, winner of the Italian Council (10th edition, 2021) for participation in the 7th Lubumbashi Biennial entitled Toxicity in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The project, curated by Lucrezia Cippitelli (Artistic Director of Ateliers Picha and curator of the 7th Lubumbashi Biennial) and Ramdom and produced by Ramdom, was realised with the support of the Italian Council (10th Edition, 2021) programme for the promotion of Italian contemporary art in the world of the Contemporary General Directorate of the Ministry of Culture.

Ramdom’s activities, which have been engaged in the national and international promotion of cultural projects for over ten years, find on this occasion a further connection between the promotion of Italian art and artistic research abroad and the Salento region, a provenance they share with Luigi Coppola.

Ex Situ, intends to reflect on the relationship between extractive activity and the exploitation of natural resources; on the toxicity of the lands affected by neo-colonial extractive practices; and on agro-ecology, a nodal issue for the Democratic Republic of Congo, where agricultural production and food sovereignty are non-existent following more than two decades of civil wars that have broken up the territories.

The project involves as main partner Picha Asbl, an independent organisation based in Lubumbashi and founder of the Lubumbashi Biennial, where Luigi Coppola is conducting site-specific research together with local artists to support the theoretical and formal development of the Ex-Situ project.

The project’s research was developed through two periods of residency in Lubumbashi at Atelier Picha: the first of study and the second of formalisation of the work. The final work, an installation with large banners painted on canvas, earthenware vases and material for research, study and documentation of the entire process, was presented at the Picha Art Centre and opened to the public during the Lubumbashi Biennial held from 6 October to 6 November.

The international partners hosted moments of dissemination and discussion on the themes identified by the Biennial through exhibitions, residencies, panel discussions, talks and screenings.

In addition to Picha Asbl, the project is realised in collaboration with CAD+ sr (centre for arts, design and social research) (Boston, USA); Royal Institute of Art (Stockholm, Sweden); IASPIS Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s international programme for Visual and Applied Artists, (Stockholm, Sweden); Framer Framed (Utrecht, The Netherlands); Arts Catalyst (Sheffield, UK); Wiels (Brussels, Belgium).