The Jean Pigozzi African Art Collection
Aéromode - 1991
64 X 80 X 55 cm
Laminate, Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Aérozaïre - 1992
35 x 80 x 55 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Air Force - 1990/1991
54 x 83 x 41 cm
Paper, cardboard, plywood
Barcelone Post - 1989
82 x 103 x 53 cm
Paper, cartoon, polystyren, aluminium sheet
Bodys City - 1990
70 x 130 x 100 cm
Paper, cardboard, polystyrene, plastic
Bodystand - 1997
86 X 100 X 43 cm
Paper, cardboard, polystyrene, plastic and other found materials
Bodystate - 1999
83 x 520 x 260 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Bodystate - 1999
83 x 520 x 260 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Bodystate - 1999
83 x 520 x 260 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Bodystate - 1999
83 x 520 x 260 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Bodystate [detail] - 1999
83 x 520 x 260 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Bodystate [detail] - 1999
83 x 520 x 260 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Bodystate [detail] - 1999
83 x 520 x 260 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Bodystate [detail] - 1999
83 x 520 x 260 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Bodystate [detail] - 1999
83 x 520 x 260 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Canada Dry - 1991
53 x 80 x 55 cm Plywood, paper, plastic, mixed materials Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Étoile Rouge Congolaise - 1990
85 x 92 x 50 cm
Paper, cardboard, polystyrene, plastic and found material
Étoile Rouge Congolaise - 1990
85 x 92 x 50 cm
Paper, cardboard, polystyrene, plastic and found material
Hôtel Marie Jeanne -
27 x 51 x 80 cm
Industria da Pharmacia - 1992
38 x 79 x 55 cm
Paper, carton, found material
Industria da Pharmacia - 1992
38 x 79 x 55 cm
Paper, carton, found material
Jamaïca - 1991
58.5 x 80 x 55 cm
Plywood, cardboard, paper, found material
Kimbembele Ihunga - 1994
51 x 108 x 100 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Given to MoMA in 2019
Kimbembele Ihunga - 1994
51 x 108 x 100 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Given to MoMA in 2019
Kimbembele Ihunga - 1994
51 x 108 x 100 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Given to MoMA in 2019
Kimbembele Ihunga [detail] - 1994
51 x 108 x 100 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Given to MoMA in 2019
Kimbembele Ihunga [detail] - 1994
130 x 185 x 320 cm
Paper, cardboard, polystyrene, plastic and other found materials
Photo: Maurice Aeschimann
Given to MoMA in 2019
Kinshasa la Belle - 1991
63 X 55 X 80 cm
Laminate, Paper, Plastic and other found materials
Given to MoMA in 2019
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Kinshasa la Belle - 1991
63 X 55 X 80 cm
Laminate, Paper, Plastic and other found materials
Given to MoMA in 2019
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Magrehb - 1995
59.5 x 54.5 x 80 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and found material
Max - 1992
58 X 79 X 55 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Mongolique Soviétique - 1989
62 X 63 X 40 cm
Cardboard, polystyrene, plastic and other found materials
Mongolique Soviétique - 1989
62 X 63 X 40 cm
Cardboard, polystyrene, plastic and other found materials
Mundial Isek Sport - 1989
53 X 53 X 67 cm
Paper, Paperboard, Polystyrene, Tulle
Mundial Isek Sport - 1989
53 X 53 X 67 cm
Paper, Paperboard, Polystyrene, Tulle
Mundial Isek Sport - 1989
53 X 53 X 67 cm
Paper, Paperboard, Polystyrene, Tulle
New Manhattan (Manhattan City 3021) - 2002
205 X 300 X 280 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
New Manhattan (Manhattan City 3021) - 2002
205 X 300 X 280 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
New Manhattan (Manhattan City 3021) - 2002
205 X 300 X 280 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
New Manhattan (Manhattan City 3021) [detail] - 2002
205 X 300 X 280 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
New Manhattan (Manhattan City 3021) [detail] - 2002
205 X 300 X 280 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
New Manhattan (Manhattan City 3021) [detail] - 2002
205 X 300 X 280 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
New Manhattan (Manhattan City 3021) [detail] - 2002
205 X 300 X 280 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Orient - 1989
39 x 83 x 44 cm
Paper,cardboard,polystyrene,
plastic, aluminum
Palais Hiroschima - 1991
48 x 78 x 41 cm
Paper, cardboard, polystyrene, plastic
Papillon de Mer - 1990/1991
69 X 113 X 113 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Papillon de Mer - 1990/1991
69 X 113 X 113 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Papitheca (Project for a National library) - 1992
42 X 67 X 43 cm
Paper, cardboard, polystyrene, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Maurice Aeschimann
Prince des Océans - 2001
142 x 198 x 50 cm
Paper, cardboard and other found materials
Simca - 1992
23 x 47 x 39 cm
Ville Fantôme - 1996
120 X 570 X 240 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Luc Boegly
Ville Fantôme - 1996
120 x 570 x 240 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Luc Boegly
Ville Fantôme - 1996
120 X 570 X 240 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Luc Boegly
Ville Fantôme [detail] - 1996
120 X 570 X 240 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Luc Boegly
Ville Fantôme [detail] - 1996
120 X 570 X 240 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Luc Boegly
Ville Fantôme [detail] - 1996
120 X 570 X 240 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Luc Boegly
Ville Fantôme [detail] - 1996
120 X 570 X 240 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Luc Boegly
Ville Fantôme [detail] - 1996
120 X 570 X 240 cm
Paper, cardboard, plastic and other found materials
Photo © Luc Boegly
Zaïre - 1989
76 X 83 X 97 cm
Paper, Paperboard, Polystyrene, Plastic
Bodys Isek Kingelez
Born in 1948, Kimbembele Ihunga, Democratic Republic of Congo
Died in 2015 in Kinshasa
In the hands of Bodys Isek Kingelez, the African metropolis becomes an urban utopia. After graduating from secondary school, Kingelez made Kinshasa his home in 1970. Over the next seven years he studied part time, supporting himself through teaching. During these years, Kinshasa had become a sprawling, chaotic, anarchic city that was falling apart. Kingelez, highly aware of this, dedicated himself aesthetically, politically, and poetically to questioning the human condition, and after 1977, he began to experiment with assembling fantastic structures that offered a redemptive vision for the city. Since 1985, Kingelez has dedicated himself entirely to what he calls “Architectural Modelism.” For Kingelez, this project is one of regeneration; he has stated, “Art is superior knowledge, a vehicle for individual renewal in improving the general well-being.”
He has created hundreds of models from found materials in which paper, cardboard, and plastic are used to construct the present, the future, and the hopes of an African renewal. After 1992, he started imagining entire cities. These colossal works are made up of buildings—some playful, some imposing, some utterly fantastic—that are incorporated into a carefully conceived urban grid. Avenues, parks, waterways, stadiums, and monuments are also part of Kingelez’s meticulous vision. Together these elements fulfill all the functions of an ideal metropolis that the artist would like to see built. His first city was called Kimbembele Ihunga, to honour his native village, his dead father and his mother, who still lives there. About these works—Ville Fantôme (1995), Kinshasa: Project for the Third Millennium (1997), the City of the Future (2000), he noted: “I wanted my art to serve the community that is being reborn to create a new world, because the pleasures of our earthly world depend on the people who live in it. I created these cities so there would be lasting peace, justice and universal freedom. They will function like small secular states with their own political structure, and will not need policemen or an army.”
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018
Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams, MoMA, New York, USA from 05/26/18 to 01/01/19
2005
Perspectives 145 : Bodys Isek Kingelez, Nina and Michael Zilkha Gallery, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, United States
2003
Bodys Isek Kingelez, Centre culturel Wolu-Culture, La Médiatine, Brussels, Belgium
2002
Bodys Isek Kingelez, Munich Villa Stuck, Germany.
2000-2001
Bodys Isek Kingelez, Kunstverein Hambourg, Germany.
1996
D'autres Ajouts d'Eté, Bodys Isek Kingelez, MAMCO Contemporary and Modern Art Museum, Geneva, Switzerland.
1995
Bodys Isek Kingelez, Cartier Fondation for Contemporary Art, Paris, France.
1992
Bodys Isek Kingelez, Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Berlin, Germany.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020
Christian Louboutin: l'Exhibition[niste], Palais de la Porte Dorée, Paris, France (0/26/20 - 07/26/20)
2017
Art/Afrique, le nouvel atelier. Les Initiés, un choix d’œuvres (1989 – 2009) dans la collection d’art africain contemporain de Jean Pigozzi. Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France (04/26/17 to 09/04/17)
2016/2017
Regarding Africa: Contemporary Art and Afro-Futurism, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
(from 12/09/16 to 05/27/17)
2016
Making Africa - A Continent of Contemporary Design, CCCB, Barcelona, Spain
2050. A Brief History of the Future, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy
2015
2050 Une brève histoire de l'avenir, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
2015
Beauté Congo – 1926-2015 – Congo Kitoko, Fondation Cartier, Paris, France
2015
AFRIKA, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark
2015
Making Africa : A Continent of Contemporary Design, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany
2015
(im)possible! Artists as Architects, Marta Herford (Gehry galleries), Herford, Germany
2014/2015
Luminós/C/ity.Ordinary Joy: From the Pigozzi Contemporary African Art Collection, Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
2014
Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
2014
Vivid Memories, Fondation Cartier pour l'Art contemporain, Paris
2013
The Alternative Guide to the Universe, Hayward Gallery, London, UK
2012
Jan 29 - May 6
Six Yards Guaranteed Dutch Design, Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem, The Netherlands
2012
Postmodernism, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
2011 - 2012
Mondes inventés, Mondes habités, MUDAM, Luxembourg
2011
JAPANCONGO: Carsten Höller’s double-take on Jean Pigozzi’s collection,
Le Magasin, Centre national d'Art Contemporain, Grenoble, France
JAPANCONGO: Carsten Höller’s double-take on Jean Pigozzi’s collection,
Garage Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
2010
Dreamlands, Pompidou Center, Paris, France
African Stories , Marrakech Art Fair, Marrakech, Morocco
2009 - 2010
Africa? Una nuova storia, Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, Italy
2007 - 2008
Why Africa? Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin, Italy
2006 - 2007
100% Africa, Guggenheim Museum , Bilbao, Spain
2006
Aller / retour. L’Afrique, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
2005/2006
Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African Art, Washington DC, United States
2005
Arts of Africa, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco
2005
African Art Now : Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection, Museum of Fine Art Houston, Houston, United States
2004/2005
Arti & Architettura 1900/2000, Genova Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, Italy
2004
Africa Remix
Art contemporain d’un continent (travelling exhibition)
* 24 July 2004 - 7 Nov 2004
Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany
* 10 Feb 2005 - 17 April 2005
Hayward Gallery, London, UK
* 15 May 2005 - 20 Aug 2005
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
* Feb - May 2006
Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
* 24 June – 30 Sept 2007
Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa
Les Afriques, Tri Postal , Lille, France
Je m’installe aux abattoirs, La collection d’art contemporain d’agnès b., Les Abattoirs , Toulouse - France
2003
The American Effect, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, United Sates
Transferts, Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium
2002 – 2003
Afrikanische Reklamekunst (L’art et la pub en Afrique), Iwalewa-Haus, Universität Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
2002
Documenta XI, Kassel, Germany.
Sao-Paulo Biennal, Sao-Paulo, Brazil.
2001
Bodys Isek Kingelez, Ludwig Museum. Cologne, Germany
2000
Musée International des Arts Modestes, Sète, France.
Sydney Biennal. Sydney, Australia
Vision du Futur, Grand Palais. Paris, France
Zeitwenden, Kunsterhaus.Vienna, Austria
1999
Zeitwenden, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Art-Worlds in Dialogue, Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany
1 Monde Réel, Cartier Fondation for Contemporary Art. Paris, France
The 1999 Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, United States
1998
Unfinished Story, Walker Art Center. Minneapolis, United States.
Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago. Chicago, United States
Africa Africa, Tobu Museum of Art., Tokyo, Japan.
1997
Africus, Johannesburg Biennal. Johannesburg, South-Africa
Projects 59 : Architecture as Metaphor, Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States.
Kwangju Biennal. Unmapping the Earth, "Becoming", Kwangju, South-Korea
1996
Wall and Space. Reality and Utopia. Bodys Isek Kingelez Architectural Visions. Oksnehallen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Neue Kunst Aus Africa, Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt, Berlin, Germany
1995
Big City, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
1993
Home and the World Architectural Sculpture by two African Artists, The Museum for African Art, New York, United States
1992
Out of Africa, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
1991-1992
Africa Hoy-Africa Now, Moderno Art Center, Las Palmas Gran Canary Island, Spain.
Groningen Museum, The Netherland
Contemporary Art Center. Mexico City, Mexico
1989
Magiciens de la Terre, Georges Pompidou Center
La Grande Halle de la Villette.
Paris, France.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2020
Contemporary African Art
Sidney Littlefield Kasfir
Collection World of Art (2nd Edition), Thames&Hudson, London
2019
1-54 New York
Art Africa Ltd. Fair Catalogue p.41
2017
Les Initiés, un choix d’œuvres (1989 – 2009) dans la collection d’art africain contemporain de Jean Pigozzi. Editions Dilecta, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France. Catalogue d’exposition.
2015
Beauté Congo – 1926-2015 – Congo Kitoko, Fondation Cartier, Exhibition catalogue
2015
2050. Une brève histoire de l'avenir, Exhibition catalogue, Musées des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Editions Snoek
2014
Ma première histoire de l'art, Béatrice Fontanel, Editions Palette, pg 114.
2014
Mémoires Vives, 30 ans Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Exhibition catalogue, Fondation Cartier
2014
Hohe Luft Magazine, Issue 4/2014, pgs 70-1.
2012
Skycraper : Art and Architecture Against Gravity Michael Darling, Joanna Szupinska
Publié à l'occasion de l'exposition "Skycraper : Art and Architecture Against Gravity" au Musée d'Art Contemporain de Chicago.Préface de Madeleine Grynsztejn. Commissaires : Michael Darling, Joanna Szupinska. 112 pages -21 x 34 cm. Editions MCA Chicago, Août 2012. Relié
2011 - 2012
Postmodernism, Style and Subversion, 1970-1990, Exhibition catalogue, Victoria & Albert Museum, edited by Glenn Adamson and Jane Pavitt, page 93
2010
Dreamlands, des parcs d'attraction aux cités du futur
Exhibition catalogue. Pp 132-133 Published by Editions Centre Pompidou.
2009
Utopias
Edited by Richard Noble. Published by Whitechapel Hallery Ventures & The MIT Press.
Africa? una nuova storia
Exhibition catalogue, published by Gangemi Editore
The Global Art World
Edited by Hans Belting & Andrea Buddensieg.
2008
Jahresting 49, Herausgegeben im Auftrag des Kulturkreises des Deutschen Wirtschaft, Der Hund ist fûr die Hyane eine Kolanuss, Zeitgenössische Kunst und Kultur aus Afrika. K ̈ln Skulptur“, Aufzeichnungen des künstlers, texte : Bodys Isek Kingelez, Köln.Phantasie und Forschergeist, Mit Kindren kûnstlerische Wege entdecken, auteur : Thomas Heyl, Kôsel-Verlag, 2008, Munich.
2007
Atlas de l'art contemporain à l'usage de tous
Denis Gielen, préface de Laurent Busine
Musée des Arts Contemporains au Grand-Hornu
Why Africa?
Exhibition catalogue. Published by Electa & Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli.
2006
100% Africa
Exhibition catalogue. Published by TF Editores & FMGB Guggenheim Bilbao Museum.
2005
Art Works : Place
By Tacita Dean & Jeremy Millar. Published by Thames & Hudson.
Perspectives 145: Bodys Isek Kingelez
Exhibition catalogue. Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston.
Arts of Africa: The Contemporary Collection of Jean Pigozzi
Exhibition catalogue. Published by Skira Edition & Grimaldi Forum Monaco.
African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection
Exhibition catalogue. Published by Merrell.
2004
Africa Remix
Exhibition catalogue. Published by Hatje Cantz.
2003
FILM “Kingelez: Kinshasa, une ville repensée…”
Un film de Dirk Dumon. Production : Piksa. 29’40” mins.
GAGARIN, Volume 04 # May 2003
Published by GAGA vzw, Antwerp, Belgium
The American Effect
Global Perspectives on the United States, 1990-2003
P. 45 – 47. Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, United States
Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc, New York.
Transferts
Africalia in collaboration with the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium.
2003
Bodys Isek Kingelez
Exhibition Catalogue, Médiatine, Bruxelles - Belgium. Textes par André Magnin. Edition : Wolu-Culture, Centre culturel de Woluwe-Saint-Lambert.
2002
Documenta 11_Platform 5
Exhibition Catalogue. Editions Hatje Cantz.
2000-2001
Bodys Isek Kingelez
Kunstverein in Hamburg.
Texts in German, French and English by Bodys Isek Kingelez, André Magnin, Okwui Enwezor
Yilmaz Dziewior. Editor : Hatje Cantz.
2000
Kunst-Welten im Dialog Von Gaugin zur Globalen Gegenwart
Global Art Rheinland 2000 Museum Ludwig Cologne.
Edition Dumont. -Kingelez, texts: André Magnin.
1999
CARNEGIE INTERNATIONAL
Pittsburgh Carnegie Museum of art Pennsylvania -Kingelez : Ville Fantôme 1996
Exhibition catalogue.
1997
Reading the contemporary
African Art from Theory to the Market place
1999 -IVA. Institut of International Visual Art. -Bodys Isek Kingelez.
1996
Unmapping the Earth
97 Kwangu Biennale
Becoming Bodys I. Kingelez p. 414 - p.415, biography p.473.
Art & Design N°50
Art & The City, A dream of Urbanity
"Bodys Isek Kingelez : Kimbeville - City of Tomorrow"
Pages 32-35.
1995
Contemporary Art of Africa
Bodys Isek Kingelez by Ettore Sottsass, p.170-174
Edited by André Magnin with Jacques Soulillou -
Published by Harry N. Abraams.
Bodys Isek Kingelez
Exhibition catalogue by André Magnin
Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, Paris.
1991/1992
Africahoy Africa Now
Gran Canary Island, Las Palmas Spain.
Groningen, Holland.
Atlantic Center of Modern Art, Mexico
Exhibition catalogue, bilingual texts: Spanish, French.
1989
Magiciens de le Terre
Exhibition catalogue, Georges Pompidou Center.
Paris, France.
