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NOTE CHANGE IN LOCATION
Thierry Nlandu, founder and member of
artist-collective Le Groupe Amos to visit MIT
Cambridge, MA...Congolese playwright, socio-political activist,
and University of Kinshasa Professor Thierry Nlandu, will be at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) April 7-25 for MIT's Abramowitz
Artist-in-Residence Program. Presently the Executive Secretary of the Provincial Government in
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nlandu teaches Anglo-American
literature at the University of Kinshasa and is a founding member of Groupe
Amos in Kinshasa.
A public talk titled, "Picture Book on Participatory Democracy: An Art's
Act of Resistance against Façade Democracy," will be presented
on April 14 at 7 p.m. in Bartos Theater
at 20 Ames St., Cambridge.
The talk is co-sponsored by MIT's Visual
Arts Program and their Zones
of Emergency Series.
("Democracy & Access," a talk by Ljubljana-based artist and architect Marjetica Potrc at 6 p.m. will preceed Nlandu's
presentation.)
"No nation can claim to be democratic without citizen participation," Nlandu
asserts, noting that citizens need basic knowledge and skills to have a critical
and efficient commitment to civic life.
Nlandu offers his picture book as a didactic tool to inform citizens and
help them to build a true democracy to offer a better future. He calls the
present picture book is "an act of resistance against a democratic process
made of elections only and so called free democratic institutions without
any democratic praxis or culture."
Nlandu's theater troupe, Groupe Amos, also provides tools for grass-roots
activism. Created in 1989 and taking its name from the Old Testament prophet,
Groupe Amos has produced video documentaries, plays, paintings, radio broadcasts,
and publications on topics such as free and democratic elections, violence
against women, democracy, political parties, social analysis, and local history
and culture. Designed by and for predominantly illiterate communities, these
works are produced in French and vernacular languages such as Lingala.
Branching beyond the political situation in DRC, Nlandu has been an activist
and trainer on various issues including human rights, rule of law, justice
and peace, non-violence, free and democratic elections, and conflict
resolution. He has served as a program officer for the International
Human Rights Law Group. For the UN's Commission on Human Rights' annual
debate on the rights of children in 2000, Nlandu cited the plight of
the children of Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, and all other countries facing armed conflict, calling upon the
Commission to "move from fine words and give life to promises made
to the children of the world."
The Abramowitz Memorial Lecture, presented by the Office of the Arts,
was established at MIT through the generosity and imagination of William
L. Abramowitz '35 as a memorial to his father. It has been sustained
since his death by the devoted interest of his wife and children. Since
1961, the Series has brought renowned performing artists and writers
to MIT to perform, present public lectures, and collaborate with students
in free programs. |
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