Exhibit B: Civilising the Natives
Exhibit B: Civilising the Natives
"Work and Progress (1895-1908)"
Work and Progress (1895 – 1908)
Mixed media: bentwood chair, basket, Congolese man, spectator, latex hands, Christian icon etc.
The glories of King Leopold II’s Belgium were built largely on the profits of rubber gathered through the forced labour of Congolese villagers. As incentive to ensure high productivity, the hands of those who failed to harvest the requisite quote of rubber latex were cut off.
“Each time the corporal goes out to get rubber, cartridges are given to him. He must bring back all not used; and for every one used he must bring back a right hand…in six months they, the State, on the Momboyo River had used 6000 cartridges, which means that 6000 people are killed or mutilated” (Ellsworth Faris, diary, 1899)
About Exhibit B
An exploration of racism and Europe’s colonial history are at the heart of Exhibit B, one of the most controversial and thought-provoking works at 2014’s Edinburgh International Festival.
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South African Brett Bailey has produced a hybrid of performance and exhibition through 13 fixed installations at the neo-classical interior of the city's Playfair Library Hall.
Visitors are confronted by a ‘human zoo’ and ethnographic displays popularised during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in each tableau the audience is confronted by a black performer who casts an unsettling, silent gaze at the viewer.
A selection can be experienced here on BBC Arts, accompanied by interviews with some of the performers and their experience of taking part in this unsettling work.
