A City in Practice

Launched by the artist collective Picha in 2008, the Lubumbashi Biennale has evolved alongside the city that hosts it—a place that still bears the traces of mining, empire, and the global flow of resources. This book maps the Biennale’s evolution and the collective gestures that inform it. Through essays, images and conversations, it captures an event that renews itself with every edition, balancing the fragility and invention that emerge from collective practice and everyday resilience. The book’s contributions reflect on what it means to create within a landscape marked by extraction and endurance, and reveals an art world sustained by collaboration and the will to imagine alternatives. Featuring a wealth of visual material, A City in Practice combines historical, visual, and first-hand perspectives from artists and curators, connecting art, urban studies, and social history in an accessible, engaging way.