Sonic Solidarities: Legacies, Histories and Other Gossips

Since 2020, we at LoCA have held many workshops, incubators and mini-labs. Enthusiastic conversations and debates, particularly around critical art theory, processes and access, have often led us to the question, 'Why don't we have our own biennale in Zambia?' A gathering of artists, curators and historians that could help change the contemporary art landscape? It is against this backdrop that the Livingstone Office for Contemporary Art (LoCA) is delighted to announce the Mosi Oa Tunya Perennial, its first mega-scale international exhibition that will traverse the cities of Livingstone, Zambia, and Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, taking place from 12 September 2026.

The exhibition Mosi oa Tunya Perennial, under the theme, Sonic Solidarities: Legacies, Histories and Other Gossips, draws inspiration from global Art Biennales worldwide. But aims to reflect what a biennial can be in places like Zambia, Botswana, or Lesotho, and other Southern African nations that have limited formal arts education institutions, museums of contemporary or modern art, let alone entry into current discourse and knowledge production. It adopts the idea of perennial movement of animals and people throughout the history of the region and the present day, and asks the question whether:

An international exhibition can be structured based on the perennial animal corridors in our geographical region, which defy regulatory boarders and immigration laws?