Institute for Human Activities

Over the last centuries, plantations have funded the construction of many European and American museums, where art provided an opportunity for shareholders to distance themselves from the violence of the plantation system. To this day, rain forests are cut down and turned into plantations, leading to more inequality, degradation of biodiversity and global warming. The […]

Over the last centuries, plantations have funded the construction of many European and American museums, where art provided an opportunity for shareholders to distance themselves from the violence of the plantation system. To this day, rain forests are cut down and turned into plantations, leading to more inequality, degradation of biodiversity and global warming. The value extracted from these plantations is still partially invested in museums in New York, Dakar and Paris, generating wealth in the economy around them (gentrification), yet leaving behind depleted landscapes and impoverished people. Human Activities tries to make sure that the critique of inequality does not only bring wealth and beauty in museums in global cities, but also on the plantations that have historically financed these museums.

In this project, Human Activities and Cercle d’Art de Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC) restore one hundred hectares of depleted land in Lusanga, Congo. With this pilot initiative, which uses art as a driving force and revenue model, the aim is to create a business case for The Post Plantation Model, which will encourage banks and investors to choose a more sustainable and equitable model for the use of the land.

The project is supported with SEK 1 990 000.