The Congo Panorama 1913
2025
Client: Africa Museum
Graphic design: Théo Hennequin, Laurent Mbaah
Font: Acumin (Robert Slimbach)
Visual identity for the temporary exhibition ‘The Panorama of the Congo 1913. Colonial Illusion Demystified’ at the AfricaMuseum, a critical exhibition on colonial propaganda and what it conceals.
The Congo Panorama 1913. Colonial illusion exposed, a critical examination of colonial propaganda and the realities it concealed, is the upcoming exhibition at the AfricaMuseum.
At its heart is the Congo Panorama, a monumental painting from 1913 that presented an idealised picture of Belgian colonial ‘civilisation’.
The exhibition deconstructs this instrument of propaganda using a scale reproduction of the painting. The idyllic portrayal of the colony on canvas hid the violence, exploitation and resistance taking place behind the scenes – fake news avant la lettre.
The exhibition, like the accompanying visuals, is based on the disproportionate and megalomaniacal painting Panorama du Congo. These visuals offer a synthesis of the painting and accentuate the megalomania of its format.
The visual identity, based on the poster, is available in various printed and digital formats, as well as through texts, titles and labels within the exhibition and the accompanying catalogue.
