Kapwani Kiwanga
Lives and works in Paris
Kapwani Kiwanga is a French-Canadian artist, born in 1978 in Canada and based in Paris since 2005 where she works. Kiwanga studied Anthropology and Comparative Religion at McGill University in Montreal and Art at l’École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, and later at Le Fresnoy.
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Her work traces the pervasive impact of power asymmetries by placing historic narratives in dialogue with contemporary realities, the archive, and tomorrow’s possibilities.
Her work is research-driven, instigated by marginalised or forgotten histories, and articulated across a range of materials and mediums including sculpture, installation, photography, video, and performance.
Kiwanga co-opts the canon; she turns systems of power back on themselves, in art and in parsing broader histories. In this manner Kiwanga has developed an aesthetic vocabulary that she described as “exit strategies”, works that invite one to see things from multiple perspectives so as to look differently at existing structures and find ways to navigate the future differently.
In 2020, Kiwanga received the Prix Marcel Duchamp (FR), and the Zurich Art Prize (CH) in 2021. She was also the winner of the Frieze Artist Award (USA) and the annual Sobey Art Award (CA) in 2018. She will represent Canada at the 60th Biennale di Venezia in 2024.
Solo exhibitions include the Museum Of Contemporary Art, Toronto (CA), the New Museum, New York (USA); Moody Center for the Arts, Houston (USA); Crédac – Centre d’Art Contemporain d’Ivry (FR); Haus der Kunst, Munich (DE); Kunstinstituut Melly – Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (NLD); Kunsthaus Pasquart, Biel/Bienne (CH); MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge (USA); Albertinum museum, Dresden (DE); Artpace, San Antonio (USA); Esker Foundation, Calgary (CA); Tramway, Glasgow International (UK); Power Plant, Toronto (CA); Logan Center for the Arts, Chicago (USA); South London Gallery, London (UK); and Jeu de Paume, Paris (FR) among others.
Selected group exhibitions include the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (IT); Palais de Tokyo (FR); LUMA Foundation (FR); Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation, Johannesburg (ZAF); Musée de l’Armée, Hôtel des Invalides, Paris (FR); High Line Fourth Plinth commission, New York (USA); Renaissance Society, Chicago (USA); Whitechapel Gallery, London (UK); Serpentine Galleries, London (UK); Yuz Museum, Shanghai (CHN); MOT – Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (JPN); Museum MMK für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (DE); Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden – MACAAL, Marrakech (MAR); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (CA); Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (USA); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (USA); Centre Pompidou, Paris (FR) and MACBA, Barcelona (ESP); etc.
Since the beginning of their collaboration in 2015, the gallery and Kapwani Kiwanga have worked on tens of projects, in France and abroad.
Works
![Vue d’installation de l’exposition Kapwani Kiwanga : Trinket [Pacotille], 2024, Pavillon du Canada, 60e Exposition d’art internationale – La Biennale di Venezia. Une commande du Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, avec le soutien du Conseil des arts du Canada. © Kapwani Kiwanga / Adagp Paris / CARCC Ottawa 2024. Photo : Valentina Mori](https://galeriepoggi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kapwani-Kiwanga-22Trinket22-Pavilion-of-Canada-La-Biennale-di-Venezia-2024-5-1024x683.jpg)
Kapwani Kiwanga, Trinket, Pavilion of Canada, La Biennale di Venezia, 2024
Vue d’installation de l’exposition Kapwani Kiwanga : Trinket [Pacotille], 2024, Pavillon du Canada, 60e Exposition d’art internationale – La Biennale di Venezia. Une commande du Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, avec le soutien du Conseil des arts du Canada. © Kapwani Kiwanga / Adagp Paris / CARCC Ottawa 2024. Photo : Valentina Mori
![Vue d’installation de l’exposition Kapwani Kiwanga : Trinket [Pacotille], 2024, Pavillon du Canada, 60e Exposition d’art internationale – La Biennale di Venezia. Une commande du Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, avec le soutien du Conseil des arts du Canada. © Kapwani Kiwanga / Adagp Paris / CARCC Ottawa 2024. Photo : Valentina Mori](https://galeriepoggi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kapwani-Kiwanga-22Trinket22-Pavilion-of-Canada-La-Biennale-di-Venezia-2024-4-683x1024.jpg)
Kapwani Kiwanga, Trinket, Pavilion of Canada, La Biennale di Venezia, 2024
Vue d’installation de l’exposition Kapwani Kiwanga : Trinket [Pacotille], 2024, Pavillon du Canada, 60e Exposition d’art internationale – La Biennale di Venezia. Une commande du Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, avec le soutien du Conseil des arts du Canada. © Kapwani Kiwanga / Adagp Paris / CARCC Ottawa 2024. Photo : Valentina Mori
![Vue d’installation de l’exposition Kapwani Kiwanga : Trinket [Pacotille], 2024, Pavillon du Canada, 60e Exposition d’art internationale – La Biennale di Venezia. Une commande du Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, avec le soutien du Conseil des arts du Canada. © Kapwani Kiwanga / Adagp Paris / CARCC Ottawa 2024. Photo : Valentina Mori](https://galeriepoggi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kapwani-Kiwanga-22Trinket22-Pavilion-of-Canada-La-Biennale-di-Venezia-2024-2-1024x683.jpg)
Kapwani Kiwanga, Trinket, Pavilion of Canada, La Biennale di Venezia, 2024
Vue d’installation de l’exposition Kapwani Kiwanga : Trinket [Pacotille], 2024, Pavillon du Canada, 60e Exposition d’art internationale – La Biennale di Venezia. Une commande du Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, avec le soutien du Conseil des arts du Canada. © Kapwani Kiwanga / Adagp Paris / CARCC Ottawa 2024. Photo : Valentina Mori
![Vue d’installation de l’exposition Kapwani Kiwanga : Trinket [Pacotille], 2024, Pavillon du Canada, 60e Exposition d’art internationale – La Biennale di Venezia. Une commande du Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, avec le soutien du Conseil des arts du Canada. © Kapwani Kiwanga / Adagp Paris / CARCC Ottawa 2024. Photo : Valentina Mori](https://galeriepoggi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kapwani-Kiwanga-22Trinket22-Pavilion-of-Canada-La-Biennale-di-Venezia-2024-3-1024x683.jpg)
Kapwani Kiwanga, Trinket, Pavilion of Canada, La Biennale di Venezia, 2024
Vue d’installation de l’exposition Kapwani Kiwanga : Trinket [Pacotille], 2024, Pavillon du Canada, 60e Exposition d’art internationale – La Biennale di Venezia. Une commande du Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, avec le soutien du Conseil des arts du Canada. © Kapwani Kiwanga / Adagp Paris / CARCC Ottawa 2024. Photo : Valentina Mori
News & Press
” KIWANGA’S PRACTICE IS SUCH THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PREDICT WHAT SHE WILL DO NEXT “
Exhibitions at the Gallery
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The First Stone
October 13 - December 2, 2023
Ecce Homo
02 Jul. – 13 Aug. 2022
L’Obscur vient au Jour, Group Show
24 Jun. – 30 Jul. 2022
Kapwani Kiwanga, Nations
Oct. 10 - Nov. 20, 2020
Rainbow Gravity
June 20 – July 18, 2020
La Peur au Ventre
Jan. 25 – March 14, 2020
The Border is a State of Mind
October 13 – November 16, 2018
Kapwani Kiwanga, Surface Tensions
June 16 - July 28, 2018
Witness
February 4 – March 4, 2017
Kapwani Kiwanga, Continental Shift
October 22 - November 28, 2015
Matérialisme Hystérique
October 18 - November 29, 2014
