Chriss Kabongo Monga
Chriss Kabongo Monga, Elektromechanik-Ingenieur, Vorstandsvorsitzender des Kunstzentrums Waza und Mitglied des Vorstands der GROUP50:50. Chriss Kabongo Monga ist Leiter der Elektroabteilung der Kamoa-Mine in der Demokratischen Republik Kongo. Er besitzt einen MBA von der Universität Birmingham in England. Er ist zertifizierter Ingenieur-Experte (CPEng) und Mitglied der Institution of Engineers Australia. Darüber hinaus besitzt er die Zertifizierung als Projektleiter (PMP) und ist Mitglied des Project Management Institute in den USA. In der Demokratischen Republik Kongo ist er Mitglied des National Order of Civil Engineers. Derzeit ist er Doktorand an der Mississippi State University in den USA. Als Förderer von Kunst und kulturellen Aktivitäten hat er als Leiter des Kulturkreises l'ingénieur der Universität Lubumbashi und seit 2015 als Vorsitzender des Lenkungsausschusses des Centre d'Art Waza in Lubumbashi in der Demokratischen Republik Kongo zahlreiche kulturelle Projekte unterstützt.
Hannah Pfurtscheller
Hannah Pfurtscheller was born in Germany and lives and works in Switzerland. She is a dramaturge and cultural scientist and works as programme director for theatre and dance at the Kaserne Basel, a locally and globally networked co-production house and event centre for performing arts and music. Previously, she worked in cultural promotion as the managing director of the Basel Expert Committee for Dance and Theatre, as well as a dramaturge at the Gessnerallee Zurich, at the wildwuchs Festival in Basel and in the programme group of the Zurich Theater Spektakel.
Missy M.Bangala
Missy M. Bangala, cultural promoter, marketing and communication professional, member of the advisory board of GROUP50 :50. Missy M. Bangala is the initiator of the non-profit organisation Café Littéraire de Missy, which has made a positive mark on the Congolese cultural landscape. In fact, CALM promotes culture in general and Congolese literature by being a meeting place for all the actors of the book. She has been a manager of cultural projects at the European Union delegation in the DRC, she is also an administrator at the LIBOKE network (association of independent cultural centres in the DRC) and most recently vice-presidentof the literature college at the Congolese civil society of authors' rights called ADACO. She won two awards in 2022, including Woman of Distinction and Out of Age 100 Young People Who Inspire, for her work in writing and promoting Congolese literature. Currently, she is director of projects and communication at GBE Agri (Groupe Blattner Elwyn Agri), where she develops social and cultural projects in 5 provinces of the DRC.
Nina Burri
Dr. Nina Burri, lawyer specialized in international criminal law and human rights. Nina Burri is a lecturer at the University of St. Gallen and is responsible for the business and human rights program of HEKS/EPER. In this work, she documents human rights violations and negative environmental impacts of multinational corporations, mostly in the Global South. Her current projects focus on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa and Indonesia. Previously, Nina Burri worked for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in Den Haag.
Théodore Nganzi Ndoni
Théodore Nganzi Ndoni, lawyer and professor of copyright at the Institut National des Arts de Kinshasa, member of the adivosry board of GROUP50:50. He is a lawyer registered at the Bar of Kinshasa Gombe in DR Congo and was a legal advisor to the Ministry of Culture and Arts. He is a professor of copyright at the Institut National des Arts de Kinshasa, an institution of higher and university education that trains for the arts. A consultant at Socoda (La Société Congolaise des Droits d'Auteurs et des Droits Voisins), Mr Nganzi is a specialist in the defence of artists' rights. He headed the national chapter of Arterial Network from 2010 to 2015. He has published several articles on copyright and cultural heritage in scientific journals.
Michael Disanka
Michael Disanka is an actor, director and writer. After studying at the Institut National des Arts in Kinshasa, he founded the Collectif d'Artd'Art together with Christiana Tabaro. In 2012, he met the Congolese playwright DieudonnéNiangouna and worked with him on theatre productions that were presented at Connexion Kin 2012-2013, Mantsina sur scène 2012 (Brazzaville), and Theaterformen 2013 (Hanover), among others. He has also been working on his own texts for several years, especially in the project "Diseurs de textes", a performance reading project. The texts "31 May 2012" and "La Poupoupète" were staged by DieudonnéNiangouna in 2012. In 2021 he became a member of the Group50:50.
Ruth Kemna
Ruth Kemna studied Viola and Applied Theatre in Hannover, London and Salzburg. She is a violist, performer and theatre maker. Her artistic work deals with contemporary music, the bodies of musicians and instruments and the socially critical roles they can play. She has performed at numerous international festivals such as the Ruhrtriennale, Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus, Davos Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, Fusion. She was principal violist of the Hamburger Camerata and had a temporary contract with the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, played with Klangforum Wien, Studio MusikFabrik Köln, Orchester im Treppenhaus, Ensemble Modern. As a solo musician and performer she accompanies the biggest gymnastics show in Europe, the Feuerwerk der Turnkunst. In 2020 she was part of the post-colonial mining oratorio "Hercules de Lubumbashi" in DR Congo. She has toured through countries in Europe, South America, China, DR Congo and South Africa. She is currently living in Palermo to develop new performances dealing with the border between the African and European continents in the Mediterranean.
Huguette Tolinga
Huguette Tolinga, self-taught songwriter, percussionist, multi-instrumentalist and singer, founder and artistic director of Hugembo Studio, lives in Kinshasa.
She was born in Boende and started her career as a drummer in Kinshasa in a contemporary dance group. In 2009, she formed her own group, Huguembo, with whom she has performed regularly in Congo.
Huguette regularly collaborates with theatre and dance. In 2018, she joined the team of Not Another Diva.... a musical creation of South African Hlengiwe Lushaba and Faustin Linyekula. In addition to creating the music for Anthropos, directed by Carina Riedl, 2022 marks Huguette's participation in the programme Il Ritorno dei Fantasmi in Palermo (May-June), in collaboration with Studio Rizoma and Groupe50:50 and in the Laboratoire Kontempo - Kinzonzi in Berlin (May).
Joseph Kasau
Born in Lubumbashi in 1995, Joseph K. Kasau Wa Mambwe is a visual artist, filmmaker and author based in Lubumbashi. He holds a degree in Information and Communication Sciences from the University of Lubumbashi, specialising in Performing Arts (Audiovisual, Cinema and Theatre). His passion for art started very early in Lubumbashi's cinemas, and was nourished by multiple visual influences that later formalised in his artistic practice, which is situated at the intersection of cinema, video art, photography, creative writing. In his work he adresses the complexity of memory and identity in a postcolonial urban context. He also works as a fixer, assistant director, editorial assistant and communication officer for African and Western structures and collectives.
Franck Moka
Franck Moka lives and works in Kisangani. With his work in sound, music, video, film and installation, he questions the relationship between humans and the environment. He started rapping in the late 90s and became the alter ego of Pasnas, whom he accompanied in the studio and on stage in Congo, Rwanda and Europe.
For several years he has been composing for the stage, for himself and collaborating with other artists such as Dorine Mokha, Elia Rediger, Faustin Linyekula or for the screen with Nelson Makengo. His work - performances, concerts, sound pieces or installations, music, videos, films - has been shown at festivals and exhibitions around the country, mainly in Kisangani and Lubumbashi, where he has often developed them, in Johannesburg (Plat4m), Düsseldorf, Berlin (HAU) and recently in Montreal (Vue d'Afrique), Rotterdam (IFFR) and Dakar (Dakar court). Franck directs the Art'gument Project, an institution dedicated to artistic research and exchange, which he founded with Dorine Mokha.
Pamina Rottok
Pamina Rottok works as a project manager and production manager for theatre and music projects. After completing her Bachelor's degree in "Cultural Studies and Aesthetic Practice" at the University of Hildesheim, she worked for various institutions in the film, theatre and music industries in Germany and Switzerland, including mîtosfilm Berlin, the Rundfunkchor Berlin and TheaterFalle Basel. In October 2018, she completed a part-time Master's degree in "Cultural Management and Cultural Tourism" at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) and has since worked as a project manager for music theatre projects at PODIUM Esslingen and together with GROUP50:50.
Dorine Mokha (✝)
Dorine Mokha was born in 1989 in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo and was a dancer, choreographer and author. In addition to his artistic activities, Mokha earned degrees in literature and law. He worked at Studios Kabako, among others, where he dealt with contemporary dance, script and direction. He participated in the festival Theaterformen in Hanover and received a scholarship from the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart in 2014. "Hercules of Lubumbashi" was the second collaboration between Mokha and Rediger after their 2017 play "Oh Boyoma". Dorine Mokha passed away on 8 January 2022 in his hometown of Lubumbashi.