TRINKET

CANADA PAVILION AT THE 60TH INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION, BIENNALE DI VENEZIA 2024

curated by Gaëtane Verna

Artist: Kapwani Kiwanga

Commissioned by National Gallery of Canada

Thecnical Coordination

 

Kapwani Kiwanga is a multi-disciplinary artist concerned with forms of power: their suppressed histories and quotidian effects.

The artist transforms the Canada Pavilion by way of a site-specific sculptural installation on the building’s interior and exterior, turning it into a large-scale tableau.

Shapes shift, dissolving distinctions between inside and outside. As one moves through the coil-like architecture, it unfolds, multiplying perspectives.

The installation principally consists of conterie (seed beads), historically employed as both currency and itemsof exchange. Conterie were dispersed globally from the Venetian island of Murano and incorporated intovarious material cultures. Kiwanga uses these tiny glass units to construct the monumental out of the minute, each bead acting as a witness to past transactions that changed the socioeconomic landscape of the sixteenthcentury and beyond.

The work addresses the often-destructive history of commerce and how the trade ofthese beads shaped the world. Other materials related to the trade of conterie are also included. They rise from the pavilion’s floor onto the walls and spill out into the courtyard.

As they meet the beads, they formalise a place of exchange, prompting reflection on issues of value, aesthetics, and global economic relations.

 

For Kiwanga, materials are traces of human encounters that lead to the creation of new works, new forms that will intersect with the Canada Pavilion to create a complex installation where colour, light, sculpture, and architecture will engage visitors through a unique choreographed experience.

Gaëtane Verna, Curator

 

Website and exhibition booklet: Gallery.ca/kapwani-kiwanga

More info about Canada Pavilion: mplusb.eu/canadian-pavilion

 

Photo Credits:

Institutional pictures: installation view of the exhibition Kapwani Kiwanga: Trinket, 2024, Canada Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada and supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. © Kapwani Kiwanga / Adagp Paris / CARCC Ottawa 2024. Photo: Valentina Mori

Some photos and details: Lorenzo Truant – M+B Studio.