Sammy Baloji
Since 2005, Sammy Baloji has been exploring the memory and history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His work is an ongoing research on the cultural, architectural and industrial heritage of the Katanga region, as well as a questioning of the impact of Belgian colonization. His use of photographic archives allows him to manipulate time and space, comparing ancient colonial narratives with contemporary economic imperialism. His video works, installations and photographic series highlight how identities are shaped, transformed, perverted and reinvented. His critical view of contemporary societies is a warning about how cultural clichés continue to shape collective memories and thus allow social and political power games to continue to dictate human behaviour.
In 2026, he defended a PhD in artistic research titled “Contemporary Kasala and Lukasa: Towards a Reconfiguration of Identity and Geopolitics” at Sint Lucas Antwerpen. A Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, he has received numerous awards, distinctions and fellowships, including the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. In 2019–2020, he was a resident at the Académie de France à Rome – Villa Médicis. In 2008, Sammy Baloji co-founded the Rencontres Picha / Lubumbashi Biennale. In 2025, his film L’Arbre de l’authenticité received the Special Jury Award (ex aequo) at International Film Festival Rotterdam.
His recent solo exhibitions include When Extraction Becomes Form It Speaks in Borrowed Tongues (Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, 2026); Paysage prisme : une traversée katangaise (Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles, 2026); Copper thread, Rubber thread, Sugar thread (Kunsthal Extra City, Antwerp, 2026); Echoes of History, Shadows of Progress (EMST, Athens, 2025); Sammy Baloji (Goldsmiths CCA, London, 2024); Unextractable (Kunsthalle Mainz, Mainz, 2023); The King’s Order to Dance (Galerie Imane Farès, Paris, 2023); K(C)ongo, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues (Palazzo Pitti – Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence, 2022; Beaux-Arts de Paris, 2021); Other Tales(Lund Konsthall, Lund, and Aarhus Kunsthal, Aarhus, 2020); Congo, fragments d’une histoire (Le Point du Jour, Cherbourg, 2019); A Blueprint for Toads and Snakes (Framer Framed, Amsterdam, 2018); a duo exhibition with Sven Augustijnen (Cultuurcentrum Strombeek, Brussels, 2018); Urban Now: City Life in Congo, with Filip De Boeck (WIELS, Brussels, 2016; The Power Plant, Toronto, 2017); and Hunting and Collecting (Mu.ZEE, Ostend, 2014). In 2027, he will present solo exhibitions at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst (Zurich), the Canadian Centre for Architecture (Montreal), the Secession (Vienna), and Galerie Imane Farès (Paris).
His works are currently presented at the 61st Venice Biennale, both in the International Exhibition, In Minor Keys, conceived by Koyo Kouoh, and in the Pavilion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Simba Moto! Seize the Fire! Saisis le feu!, eleven years after his first participation (2015). He has also participated in the Venice Architecture Biennale (2023, special mention), the 35th São Paulo Biennial (2023), the 15th Sharjah Biennial (2023), the 12th Berlin Biennale (2022), the Biennale of Sydney (2020), documenta 14 (2017), the Lyon Biennale (2015), and the Photoquai festival at the Musée du quai Branly, Paris (2007).
His works are held in numerous collections, including Tate and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Centre Pompidou and the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (Paris), KANAL – Centre Pompidou (Brussels), the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (Washington, D.C.), MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst (Frankfurt), the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), Mathaf (Doha), the Centre national des arts plastiques, and the Frac Nouvelle-Aquitaine MÉCA.