Kapwani Kiwanga

2 February - 5 April 2020
 
Kunsthaus Centre d'art Pasquart | Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
 
Kapwani Kiwanga, pink-blue (2017)
Installation view « A wall is just a wall », The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto (CA), 2017 © Photo Toni Hafkenscheid courtesy of the artist and galerie Jérôme Poggi, Paris and Tanja Wagner gallery, Berlin and Goodman gallery, Johannesburg and Cape Town

In her work, Franco-Canadian artist Kapwani Kiwanga (b. 1978, Hamilton, CA) questions the ways in which the writing of history, power systems and the generation of knowledge function, undermining the official understanding of truth by expanding history with popular belief, spirituality, magic and mythology. She reacts in particular to the power dynamics of architecture and examines the effect of public buildings on the human body, focusing on design elements and on forms of racist surveillance.

This solo exhibition across 800 m2 will reflect Kiwanga's career with a selection of significant, representative works and new site-specific pieces. It will function as a narrative that places emphasis on the impact of disciplinary architecture and spatial elements on the human body as well as the research into post-colonial histories and stories in which truth and fiction are combined.

Kapwani Kiwanga lives and works in Paris. She was awarded the Sobey Art Award (CA) and the Frieze Artist Award (USA) in 2018.