Brussels is not a city of seamless processes. It is precisely through its imperfections, improvisations and prosthetic fixes that the city unfolds its singular, almost deranged energy. Alongside its dysfunctionality, the pervasive appropriation and reinterpretation of histories, spaces and objects shape the urban fabric. In Brussels, the permeability between urban life and artistic practice is unusually direct. What is encountered on the street finds its way into the work. Even the name Brussels, derived from Old Dutch and meaning “home in the swamp”, points to a soft, fermenting substratum from which new forms continually emerge.
In Copper thread, Rubber thread, Sugar thread, artist and filmmaker Sammy Baloji (1978, DR Congo) invites visitors to reconsider the history of colonial exploitation in Central Africa and the traces it continues to leave today. Through tapestries and sound installations, he brings together recent works in which material, image and voice are closely interwoven. Many of the works on view have never before been presented in Belgium.
Seeing Katharina, 2026. Vue d’installation : Kunsthal Extra City, © We Document Art
The 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, In Minor Keys by Koyo Kouoh, will run from Saturday 9 May to Sunday 22 November 2026 at the Giardini, the Arsenale and in various locations around Venice. The pre-opening took place on May 6, 7, and 8. The International Jury was announced in April. The Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement will not be awarded this year, as Koyo Kouoh was unable to finalize them.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo will present its National Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Opening to the public on 9 May 2026, the Pavilion will be hosted in the Refettorio Antico of the Museo Scuola Grande di San Marco in Venice.
The trilingual title, in Lingala, English and French, reflects a vision rooted in Congolese languages and cosmologies while addressing a global audience. It affirms the circulation of African imaginaries beyond borders and across generations. Fire can burn and destroy, but when harnessed, as a blacksmith does, it transforms, shapes and creates. Seizing the fire becomes an imperative to bring forth the world.
Curated by Nadia Yala Kisukidi, together with the MOKO collective, a multidisciplinary team composed of Aimé Mpané, Jean Kamba and Johnny Leya, the Pavilion adopts a deliberately collaborative model merging philosophical, artistic and architectural perspectives. Nine artists from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its diaspora are presented in the Pavilion: Aimé Mpané, Sammy Baloji, Arlette Bash
