Exactly one hundred years ago, in 1920, the Congolese collection of the City of Antwerp came into being, in all-out colonial times. ‘100 X Congo‘ features one hundred highlights. 

What stories are hidden behind the objects? How did they end up here? What did they mean to Congolese peoples? And where lies the future of the collection?

The exhibition at the Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS) or Museum At the Stream explores how the first contacts between European colonists and people of Kongo went. With a K. The exhibition switches from Kongo to Congo with a C to differ the precolonial with the colonial eras. 

How did old Antwerp masters depict Africans? Why Congolese were men and women staged at the world fairs? During colonization the missionary work had its impact on Congolese culture. And how did Congolese people perceive the white man (mundele)?

For this exhibition the museum collaborates with Belgian and Congolese researchers, filmmakers and artists. MAS engages in dialogue with Antwerp residents of Belgian and Congolese descent.