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Tate Liverpool + RIBA North Film

The Tree of Authenticity A film by Sammy Baloji

28 October 2025 at 17.00–19.30
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A dried plant on an herbarium page, with a label written in French.

Twenty Nine Studio & Production

Discover Sammy Baloji’s powerful new film uncovering colonial legacies in Congo’s rainforest and their impact on the global climate crisis

Nestled in Africa's largest rainforest lies one of the many graves of the West's efforts to control nations and nature - one of the world's largest tropical agricultural research centres. Located on the banks of the Congo River, the Yangambi INERA Research Station was a booming scientific centre in its heyday. Today, it is a mix of jungle and ruin, where questions of knowledge, power over it, and access to it linger.

The Tree of Authenticity is a film by Tate collection artist Sammy Baloji. It recounts the story of two scientists, Paul Panda Farnana and Abiron Beirnaert, who worked at Yangambi between 1910 and 1950. Through their voices, the film looks at how colonialism harmed both people and the environment, and how that damage is still felt today.

Doors open at 17.00. The screening starts promptly at 17.30 and will be followed by a Q&A with the artist.

Artist Sammy Baloji (b. 1978, Lubumbashi, DR Congo) lives and works between Lubumbashi and Brussels. Since 2005 he has been exploring the memory and history of the Democratic Republic of Congo. His work is an ongoing investigation into the cultural, architectural and industrial heritage of the Katanga region, as well as questioning the impact of Belgian colonisation. His critical view of contemporary societies serves as a warning of the ways in which cultural clichés continue to shape collective memory, allowing social and political power games to continue to dictate human behaviour.

Spoken languages: French, Dutch

Subtitles: English

Length: 89 minutes

Completion: February 2025

This event is part of a research and engagement project called Congo-Liverpool Routes developed through a collaboration between Tate Liverpool and the International Slavery Museum. The project engaged with museum collections and archival material that attest to the historical and present-day connections between Congo and Liverpool. It was developed with Congolese communities in Liverpool in rethinking the legacies of past exploitation while imagining roadmaps for different futures.

Tate Liverpool + RIBA North

FACT Liverpool, 88 Wood Street, Liverpool. L1 4DQ

Mann Island
Liverpool L3 1BP
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Date & Time

28 October 2025 at 17.00–19.30

Pricing

£7 / £5 for Members

Please book via FACT's website

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Please note that this film screening is at FACT Liverpool.

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