Recalling events around the assassination of Patrice Lumumba in 1961, this documentary film essay takes us through one of the darkest chapters in the decolonisation of the Belgian Congo. Structured as a form of travelogue, Spectres leads us on a voyage from Belgium through sites of memory in present-day Congo, where the legacy of Lumumba’s assassination continues to provoke questions around historic events from a still largely unresolved past. Weaving personal memory with historical accounts, Spectres reveals how these unresolved questions haunt the present moment in Congo, and its relationship to its old colonial power.

Following the film, artist Sven Augustijnen (recipient of the 2011 Evens Art Prize) is in discussion with T.J. Demos (writer, and reader in the Art History Department at University College London). The discussion focuses on the film’s form and aesthetic strategies in portraying the politics of postcolonial Belgium.

This panel relates to the ongoing research project In and Out of Brussels: Aesthetics / Histories / Politics: Between Europe and Africa (2010–2012).