Carsten Höller curates JapanCongo in Grenoble
Belgian artist Carsten Höller showed us his fondness for all things Congolese back in 2008, when he opened the Double Club - a restaurant, bar and arts space in London that placed African and Western culture side by side - and now he's indulging his passion once again at Le Magasin (Centre National d'Art Contemporain) in Grenoble. This time around, however, he is pairing Congolese art with that of the East.
For his turn as curator at the gallery, the former Wallpaper* Design Awards judge has delved into the vast African art collections of Jean Pigozzi, an Italian businessman-cum-photographer, who has also begun collecting contemporary Japanese art over the last three years.
'When Jean Pigozzi asked me if I would like to be the curator of his collection of contemporary African art, I was at first sceptical,' says Höller. 'Only when he said that he also has recently built up a collection of contemporary Japanese art, I became really enthusiastic. That's exactly what I am looking for - a new Double Club of sorts.'
Höller has selected the work of sixteen Congolese artists (including Pierre Bodo, Chéri Samba and Pathy Tshindele), confronting them with the same number by Japanese artists (such as Natsumi Nagao, Nobuyoshi Araki and Akihiro Higuchi). The Japanese works hang on a long straight wall, with openings onto small rooms behind, mirrored by a curving wall of Congolese art, with the most 'similar' pieces hanging where the two walls come closest.
But the layout of the show contains a typical Höller twist. Visitors can take a conventional path through exhibition, following the main corridor and moving into the surrounding rooms, or they can go 'behind the scenes', taking a route behind the walls. By exposing the makeshift nature of the installation and making it part of the show, he turns the traditional exhibition experience on its head.
A degree of interactivity has always been important for Höller, as with his Test Sites installation at London's Tate Modern in 2006 - which saw visitors plummet into the depths of the Turbine Hall via a series of twisting slides. 'You could say that the real material I am working with is people's experience,' he once said. Here, it adds another interesting layer to his exploration of origin and cultural identity.
ADDRESS
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
155 Cours Berriat
Site Bouchayer-Viallet
38000 Grenoble
Malaika Byng is an editor, writer and consultant covering everything from architecture, design and ecology to art and craft. She was online editor for Wallpaper* magazine for three years and more recently editor of Crafts magazine, until she decided to go freelance in 2022. Based in London, she now writes for the Financial Times, Metropolis, Kinfolk and The Plant, among others.
-
Gucci’s ‘Design Ancora’ reimagines furniture classics in rich red
Gucci launches new editions of Italian design icons in an alluring deep red, showcased during Milan Design Week 2024
By Simon Mills Published
-
Loewe’s Jonathan Anderson drafts artists to create 24 extraordinary lamps at Milan Design Week 2024
Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson commissioned international artists and artisans to explore ‘illumination within the house’ with a series of lamps and lighting installations, shown at a group exhibition at Milan Design Week 2024
By Scarlett Conlon Published
-
What are polynucleotides? Trying the skin injectable made from salmon sperm
Polynucleotides are the latest in skin injectables, containing DNA derived from the gonads of salmon. Wallpaper* Beauty & Grooming Editor Hannah Tindle tries them to discover exactly how they work
By Hannah Tindle Published
-
Olafur Eliasson inaugurates Azabudai Hills Gallery in Tokyo
Olafur Eliasson marks launch of Azabudai Hills Gallery, in Tokyo’s major new district, with a show of elemental strength
By Danielle Demetriou Published
-
Photographer David Abrahams captures quiet moments in Japan for his new London show
‘Kyushu’ is a new show from photographer David Abrahams that documents his trip to a town on the Japanese island
By Mary Cleary Published
-
Hiroshi Sugimoto: ‘The deeper I explore Shinto and Buddhist art, the more it reveals the shallowness of contemporary art’
‘Hiroshi Sugimoto – The Descent of the Kasuga Spirit’, at the Kasuga-Taisha shrine in Nara, Japan, sees the acclaimed photographer draw on Japan’s spiritual past and present
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
Artist’s Palate: Chiharu Shiota’s recipe for okonomiyaki
Get tangled up in Chiharu Shiota’s recipe for okonomiyaki, from our January 2023 issue’s Artist’s Palate feature, a Wallpaper* homage to our favourite contemporary art
By TF Chan Published
-
‘East Meets West’: artists Samiro Yunoki and Kori Girard unite at Ace Hotel Kyoto
Art exhibition, ‘East Meets West’ at Ace Hotel Kyoto marks Japanese artist Samiro Yunoki’s 100th birthday, in dialogue with new works by American artist Kori Girard
By Pei-Ru Keh Last updated
-
teamLab: how a Tokyo art collective pioneered an immersive art boom
With an operatic intervention and a show at Pace Geneva, teamLab, the now-700-strong Tokyo-based collective that blazed a trail for experiential, tech-fuelled art, continues to value ‘physical interaction in physical space’
By Nick Compton Last updated
-
Tanabe Chikuunsai IV wraps Casa Loewe Barcelona in 6,000 strips of tiger bamboo
Inside the newly revamped Casa Loewe Barcelona, Japanese artist Tanabe Chikuunsai IV reflects on family traditions and environmental destruction with a staggering bamboo installation
By Malaika Byng Last updated
-
Botanical sculptor Azuma Makoto creates a sculptural ecosystem at Mexico’s SFER IK
Japanese artist Azuma Makoto’s largest flower sculpture to date responds to SFER IK’s unique biophilic design and the surrounding wilderness
By Pei-Ru Keh Last updated