By Emely Kuwema
Zambia is set to launch a major new international cultural platform after organisers officially announced the inaugural decade of the Lusaka Biennale, a long-term arts and heritage initiative scheduled to run from 2028 to 2036.
The programme will feature five editions over ten years under the opening theme, The Crack in the Wall, with organisers describing it as a national institution designed to celebrate Zambia’s living traditions, creative industries and historical knowledge.
According to the organisers, the Lusaka Biennale will differ from many global cultural festivals by placing Zambia’s provinces, ceremonies and communities at the centre of its identity.
Rather than beginning in conventional gallery spaces, the Biennale will trace a journey through rural and urban Zambia, highlighting agricultural knowledge, oral histories, artistic traditions and community memory before culminating in Lusaka through the Chakwela Makumbi rainmaking ceremony of the Soli people.
The organisers said the initiative seeks to present Zambia’s cultures in their specific forms rather than through broad continental labels. They cited ceremonies such as Nc’wala of the Ngoni people, Kuomboka of the Lozi kingdom and the Makishi traditions of north-western Zambia, alongside heritage resources such as the ZCCM archives in Ndola, heirloom seeds and indigenous food systems. They argued that Zambia’s cultural knowledge has long existed in full depth, but has lacked sufficient infrastructure for documentation and global visibility.
Executive Director Dr. Andrew Mulenga said the Biennale would help correct that imbalance by creating a permanent platform for artists, researchers and cultural practitioners.
He said Zambia had never lacked creativity or cultural depth, but had lacked institutions capable of presenting that richness to the world with authority.
Dr. Mulenga described the Biennale as more than an arts event, calling it a national institution intended to strengthen creative industries and preserve knowledge for future generations.
Board President and musician Mumba Yachi said the project belonged to generations of Zambian artists, writers, chefs, architects and makers who had continued creating despite limited exposure and support.
He said the Biennale would offer them an opportunity to present their work internationally on their own terms and in their own voice.
The organisers also announced a founding continental partnership with the Forum of African Traditional Authorities (FATA), which represents more than 800 royal institutions across Africa.
FATA President King Drani Stephen Izakare of Uganda said Zambia possessed extraordinary ceremony, artistic lineage and land knowledge, adding that the Biennale aligned with broader African efforts to protect indigenous knowledge, cultural sovereignty and heritage.
Locally, the Mumena Royal Establishment has joined as a founding co-producing partner. Her Royal Highness Queen Lee Mupakwa said the initiative honoured the beauty and depth of what Zambia’s people had preserved across generations.
She said the partnership would support artists, archives, ceremonies and all forms of cultural sovereignty represented by the platform.
Organisers said each edition of the Biennale would include artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, architects, scholars and chefs from Zambia, Africa and the wider world.
Venues are expected to span major heritage sites including Victoria Falls, Kalambo Falls, Mwela Rock Paintings, Ing’ombe Ilede, the Livingstone Museum and the Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial.
They added that the Biennale would also support the government’s Brand Zambia agenda by boosting tourism, public dialogue, international cultural exchange and long-term investment in Zambia’s creative economy.