Dancer and choreographer, Faustin Linyekula lives and works in Kisangani, North-East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, former Zaire, former Belgian Congo, former independent state of Congo....
After studying literature and drama in Kisangani, he moved to Nairobi in 1993 and in 1997 set up with Opiyo Okach and Afrah Tenambergen the Gàara company, Kenya’s first contemporary dance company back then.
Back in Congo in June 2001, he created in Kinshasa the Studios Kabako, a space dedicated to dance and visual theatre, providing training programmes, as well as supporting research and creation. In 2007, the Studios Kabako moved to Kisangani, North East of the country and opened up to new artistic fields: music, and film. Alongside fostering younger Congolese artists in the field of performing art, music and video, the Studios Kabako are also working with communities of the Lubunga district on the South Bank of the Congo river, namely around environmental and sustainability issues.

Memory, forgetting, and the suppression of memory, - in his works, Faustin Linyekula addresses the legacy of decades of war, terror, fear and the collapse of the economy for himself, his family and his friends. Within the Studios Kabako, he has created 17 pieces that have toured worldwide in Europe, Africa, Australia, South and North America.

Other collaborations include a duet with German choreographer Raimung Hoghe (Sans-titre, 2009), a 25 dancers’ piece for the Ballet de Lorraine in Nancy, La Création du monde 1923-2012, as well as a solo for one of the dancers of the Portugal National Ballet Company (2016). Linyekula has also worked for museums, presenting performances at the MOMA (2012), at the Metropolitan (2017) in NYC, at the MUCEM in Marseille (2016), at the Tervuren Museum for Royal Africa (2018) or at the Tate Modern in London (2020).

His most recent pieces includes Not Another Diva…, a musical theatre project cosigned by South African Hlengiwe Lushaba (2018) and Congo, an adaptation of Eric Vuillard’s text (2019).
In 2007, Linyekula received the Principal Award of the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development.

In 2014, Linyekula and the Studios Kabako were awarded the first Prize of the American CurryStone Foundation for the work developed in Kisangani.

In 2016, Linyekula was associate artist to the city of Lisbon.

In 2017, he was awarded the first Soros Arts Fellowship.

From 2018 to 2021, he is associate artist to the Manège in Reims and was in 2019 associate artist alongside William Kentridge to the Holland Festival.

In 2019, he received the Tällberg / Eliasson Global Leadership Prize.

Dancer and choreographer, Faustin Linyekula lives and works in Kisangani, North-East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, former Zaire, former Belgian Congo, former independent state of Congo....
After studying literature and drama in Kisangani, he moved to Nairobi in 1993 and in 1997 set up with Opiyo Okach and Afrah Tenambergen the Gàara company, Kenya’s first contemporary dance company back then.
Back in Congo in June 2001, he created in Kinshasa the Studios Kabako, a space dedicated to dance and visual theatre, providing training programmes, as well as supporting research and creation. In 2007, the Studios Kabako moved to Kisangani, North East of the country and opened up to new artistic fields: music, and film. Alongside fostering younger Congolese artists in the field of performing art, music and video, the Studios Kabako are also working with communities of the Lubunga district on the South Bank of the Congo river, namely around environmental and sustainability issues.

Memory, forgetting, and the suppression of memory, - in his works, Faustin Linyekula addresses the legacy of decades of war, terror, fear and the collapse of the economy for himself, his family and his friends. Within the Studios Kabako, he has created 17 pieces that have toured worldwide in Europe, Africa, Australia, South and North America.

Other collaborations include a duet with German choreographer Raimung Hoghe (Sans-titre, 2009), a 25 dancers’ piece for the Ballet de Lorraine in Nancy, La Création du monde 1923-2012, as well as a solo for one of the dancers of the Portugal National Ballet Company (2016). Linyekula has also worked for museums, presenting performances at the MOMA (2012), at the Metropolitan (2017) in NYC, at the MUCEM in Marseille (2016), at the Tervuren Museum for Royal Africa (2018) or at the Tate Modern in London (2020).

His most recent pieces includes Not Another Diva…, a musical theatre project cosigned by South African Hlengiwe Lushaba (2018) and Congo, an adaptation of Eric Vuillard’s text (2019).
In 2007, Linyekula received the Principal Award of the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development.

In 2014, Linyekula and the Studios Kabako were awarded the first Prize of the American CurryStone Foundation for the work developed in Kisangani.

In 2016, Linyekula was associate artist to the city of Lisbon.

In 2017, he was awarded the first Soros Arts Fellowship.

From 2018 to 2021, he is associate artist to the Manège in Reims and was in 2019 associate artist alongside William Kentridge to the Holland Festival.

In 2019, he received the Tällberg / Eliasson Global Leadership Prize.