Ubutabire Program
2024

Ubutabire is a traveling art laboratory created by Milele Museum to reconnect the youth in Rwanda with their cultural heritage through digital tools, storytelling, and public art. Hosted in Huye, Burera, Nyundo and Kigali, the program blends workshops on restitution, archiving, and 3D scanning with interactive exhibitions and kinetic sculptures. Ubutabire invites Africans to reclaim history and imagine futures on their own terms.

Activities

Workshops

Participants engaged in dynamic workshops centered on cultural preservation, storytelling, and restitution. Through 3D scanning exercises, archival exploration, and creative practices like stop-motion animation, they were introduced to innovative methods of engaging with heritage. Each session included group discussions that unpacked themes such as the return of looted artifacts, digital access to distant heritage, and the role of young people in shaping a decolonized future.

Public Art: Nyirarumaga w'Ibinyeeto

Created in threefold, this 1.5-meter kinetic sculpture honors Nyirarumaga, the queen mother of a Rwandan king called Ruganzu Ndori, celebrated for pioneering a Rwandan poetic style known as Ibinyeeto (honoring all Rwandan kings in one poem). The eyes of the sculpture can move by using an incorporated pedal. The hairstyle of the sculpture, known as a protective hairstyle called bantu knots, produced different musical notes by either drumming with provided sticks or with the hands, paying homage to the importance of drums in African cultures. The installations became spaces of dialogue and imagination, reclaiming public space for cultural reflection.

The sculptures were donated to the Ethnographic Museum in Huye, Nyundo Ecole d’Arts, and Kōzo Restaurant Kigali. Created by Canda, produced by Mackson Maximilien

Virtual Experience

Visitors were invited to explore Milele Museum’s metaverse through VR and web-based platforms. The museum includes 3D-scanned African artifacts from European collections, displayed in interactive ancestral settings. Audiences learned to navigate the virtual space, reflect on restitution, and envision future museums rooted in African contexts.

Virtual Experience

Visitors were invited to explore Milele Museum’s metaverse through VR and web-based platforms. The museum includes 3D-scanned African artifacts from European collections, displayed in interactive ancestral settings. Audiences learned to navigate the virtual space, reflect on restitution, and envision future museums rooted in African contexts.

Virtual Experience

Visitors were invited to explore Milele Museum’s metaverse through VR and web-based platforms. The museum includes 3D-scanned African artifacts from European collections, displayed in interactive ancestral settings. Audiences learned to navigate the virtual space, reflect on restitution, and envision future museums rooted in African contexts.

Community Engagement Across Ages and Backgrounds

We engaged a wide range of participants. From primary school children and high school students to university scholars, researchers, teachers, museum workers artists, and members of the Sudanese community. This diversity of voices enriched the dialogue and reflected the program’s inclusive vision of cultural preservation and creativity for all.

Exhibitions

Each workshop series concluded with a public exhibition. Participants proudly presented their personal archives, clay figures (referred to Murera, a series of clay figures currently in Ethnographic Museum Berlin) , animations, and 3D Scans. The AR installation by Looty was also part of the event!