Lusaka Contemporary Art Centre

Lusaka Contemporary Art Centre The LuCAC is a private foundation dedicated to advancing Contemporary Art by Zambian artists and res

We are a private, non-profit, public-facing facility focused on artistic research, art exhibitions, and resource sharing. Our mission is to support ongoing decolonization by encouraging both formal and informal artistic research and experimentation. We are an artist-led project space and cultural archive committed to increasing the visibility of Zambian contemporary art. We serve as a center for radical knowledge creation and creative experimentation.

Join us on May 23rd, 2026, as we celebrate the culmination of Sustaining the Otherwise Residency. It will be an afterno...
12/05/2026

Join us on May 23rd, 2026, as we celebrate the culmination of Sustaining the Otherwise Residency. It will be an afternoon immersed in Nyugen's creative practice, where he will share his ideas and experimentational works developed in dialogue with the local environment during his residency with LuCAC.

Nyugen E. Smith's Sustaining the Otherwise residency at LuCAC is part of the project's year-long multilocational exhibition and artistic program "Practicing Otherwise" supported by Nordic Culture Fund.

Sustaining the Otherwise is a collaborative, multilocational research and artistic project about restitution, reparation, and transformation, initiated by curators Amal Alhaag and in 2023.

ATTENDANCE IS FREE

Register below, or click the link in the bio to register
https://forms.gle/8DzSWfZupySaLN9E8

We look forward to experiencing this creative practice with you!

For our Reads this week, we feature a publication of the second edition of the National Monuments Guide now titled A GUI...
08/05/2026

For our Reads this week, we feature a publication of the second edition of the National Monuments Guide now titled A GUIDE TO ZAMBIA's HERITAGE, dedicated to preserving and promoting Zambia’s diverse cultural and natural heritage for tourists, scholars, and heritage enthusiasts alike.

The Guide highlights cultural sites that are significant to Zambia’s political, economic, and social development, as well as sites associated with the traditions and cultural practices of the Zambian people.

Become a member of the Today and enjoy (4 months) access to the books and other resources

Register your interest by sending us an email or whatsapp message of your interest in the library membership
[email protected]
+260957685899

Pictorial highlights of events this past weekend at LuCAC PC :
03/05/2026

Pictorial highlights of events this past weekend at LuCAC

PC :

Are you a Norwegian artist or Norway Based but of different Nationality? Well here is another opportunity for you to app...
29/04/2026

Are you a Norwegian artist or Norway Based but of different Nationality? Well here is another opportunity for you to apply for a fully funded Residency at the Lusaka Contemporary Art Centre here in Lusaka Zambia. The deadline is May 3rd so go on and apply.

27/04/2026

If You Didn’t Learn Your History, It Was Never Meant to Be Taught to You

History is not just what is written… it is what is selected.

When John Henrik Clarke warned that expecting the school system to fully teach your history is a dream, he was pointing to something deeper than education—he was pointing to control.

Because every society decides what to remember… and what to erase.

For generations, African and Black histories were often reduced, reshaped, or removed entirely from mainstream textbooks. Not always through open denial, but through silence. Through omission. Through narrow storytelling that left out entire civilizations, thinkers, and contributions.

So the question becomes:

If your history was filtered before it reached you… how much of it is actually yours?

This is why Clarke’s message still hits hard today. He wasn’t just criticizing schools—he was challenging dependency. He was pushing for self-research, self-teaching, and self-recovery of identity.

Because when you rely only on institutions to define your past, you risk inheriting a partial truth.

And partial truth can shape a distorted future.

But this is not a message of despair. It is a call to awareness.

To question more. To read more. To dig deeper.
To understand that history is not a finished book—it is an ongoing struggle over memory.

So the real responsibility begins now:

Who tells your story if you don’t?

Follow .echo for powerful African history and untold stories.
Support the movement—buy our debut book “20 African Wonder Women That Changed History.”

References:
– John Henrik Clarke, speeches and essays on African historiography
– Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro
– UNESCO General History of Africa project

LuCAC presents an installation of part of the "I AM THE NSHIMA OF LIFE" collection by artist Lawrence Yombwe of in Liv...
25/04/2026

LuCAC presents an installation of part of the "I AM THE NSHIMA OF LIFE" collection by artist Lawrence Yombwe of in Livingstone, Zambia.

You are invited to a walkabout on Saturday, May 2, 2026, at 15:00, before the film screening scheduled for 17:00.

FREE ENTRY
ALL ARE WELCOME

Lawrence Yombwe (b. 1956, Kalulushi) began as a self-taught artist before pursuing formal art education in various institutions around the world, including Evelyn Hone College, where he was lectured by the pioneer artist and founder of the Zambia National Visual Arts Council, Martin Abasi Phiri
He is widely known for his abstract use of Mbusa imagery and his longstanding contribution to the country’s art scene. This body of work interrogates Zambia’s socio-economic realities, using the fluctuating price and symbolism of mealie meal to highlight the strain of the rising cost of living. Through collage and metaphor, Yombwe challenges national ideals of unity, exposing disparities in access to basic needs. Drawing on Christian iconography and political context, the series calls for reflection on inequality, morality, and collective responsibility in contemporary Zambia.




For our May screening, we present a documentary on the People of the Lower Zambezia produced by YEZI Arts.This feature-l...
25/04/2026

For our May screening, we present a documentary on the People of the Lower Zambezia produced by YEZI Arts.

This feature-length documentary tells the story of the culture and history of the Chikunda speaking people of the lower Zambezi (Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, and Malawi).

The Chikunda are a minority tribe mix of afro-portuguese influence, who are domiciled in the lower Zambezi region and arose as slave soldiers.

They have a unique language that emanated from a mix of tribes, which, unfortunately, is faced with extinction.

We look forward to engaging, remembering, and reflecting on this important piece of history with you on May 2nd, 2026

The screening follows a walkabout on the installation "I AM THE NSHIMA OF LIFE" by Lawrence yombwe of -wayistudios at 15:00 on May 2, 2026.

ENTRY IS FREE
ALL ARE WELCOME

This week, we delve into The Guard, a compelling publication by our current artist in residence, Nyugen E. Smith, collab...
24/04/2026

This week, we delve into The Guard, a compelling publication by our current artist in residence, Nyugen E. Smith, collaboration with Llanor Alleyne.

THE GUARD is an intervention staged at the Barbados Museum and Historical society (BMHS), it engages with themes of invisibility, tourism, sites of memory, and the value of the arts , emerging from a collaborative intervention. filled with poetry, thought provoking imagery and history.

During the intervention, interdisciplinary artist Nyugen E .Smith barefoot and deliberately positioned, assumed the role of the museums only guard for five hours Meanwhile, Llanor Alleyne, acting as professional staff, observed and documented interactions between the museum visitors and "The Guard"

The publication of the book touches on what it means to actively inhabit a space shaped by a past in which marginalized ancestral presence remain foundational yet obscured. Through both the live intervention and its documentation, the authors examine the corporeal and spiritual effects of holding space, initially ignored, then gradually recognized during the course of the intervention.

A copy of the book can be purchased via https://www.nyugensmith.com/product-page/the-guard-individual-book

Become a member of the Today and enjoy (4 months) access to the books and other resources

Register your interest by sending us an email or whatsapp message of your interest in the library membership
[email protected]
+260957685899

22/04/2026

This Monday, we honour Benjamin Zephaniah; a revolutionary British poet, playwright, activist, and cultural icon whose voice redefined what poetry could be — urgent, accessible, and unapologetically political. ✨

Rooted in dub poetry and Black British oral traditions, Zephaniah wrote for the people. His work confronted racism, class inequality, imperialism, and state violence—while celebrating joy, resistance, and community. Writing in Jamaican-inflected English and rejecting elitist literary norms, he challenged who poetry is for and whose voices deserve space. 🎤🔥

Benjamin reminded us that language is power. He believed poetry should live off the page—performed, felt, and used as a tool for social change. By centring working‑class Black experiences and refusing assimilation, he expanded British literature and made it more honest, more representative, and more human.
His legacy lives on in classrooms, movements, and cultural spaces worldwide; proving that art can be radical, compassionate, and transformative all at once.

Bring visionary cultural figures like Benjamin Zephaniah into your curriculum.
📩 [email protected]

CulturalResistance TBH365 MondayMotivation PoetryMonth

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Musekese And Makole Roads. Plot 78
Chongwe
10101

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Tuesday 10:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 10:00 - 17:00
Thursday 10:00 - 17:00
Friday 10:00 - 17:00
Saturday 11:00 - 17:00
Sunday 11:00 - 17:00

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