In 1885, king Leopold II appropriated for himself a vast region of central Africa, which remained his private proprety until 1908, under the name Congo Free State. In 1908, following virulent criticism in Belgium and abroad, the King ceded the territory to the Belgian government: it was know as the Belgian Congo until 1960.
What remains today?
From the Institute of Tropical Medecine in Antwerp to the Museum of African Life in Namur, via the arcades of the Cinquantenaire Park in Brussels, Sans Sommeil explores the remains of this colonial history that bears witness to a military, administrative, social and cultural system of domination.
