Carsten Höller curates JapanCongo in Grenoble

Japanese art works
Carsten Höller has installed Japanese art works, taken from the Jean Pigozzi colllection, on a flat wall inside Le Magasin in Grenoble...
(Image credit: press)

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.

curving wall of works

.. opposite a curving wall of works by Congolese artists. The most ’similar’ pieces hang where the two walls come closest

(Image credit: Photography by Blaise Adilon, courtesy of Le Magasin, Grenoble)

Room full of exhibition

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

(Image credit: Photography by Blaise Adilon, courtesy of Le Magasin, Grenoble)

Japanese art

Japanese art: ’Mysterious Deliverance’ by Keiichi Tanaami, 2010

(Image credit: Image © Keiichi Tanaami, courtesy of Nanzuka Underground, Tokyo, and the Jean Pigozzi Collection, Geneva)

On Slope’ by Hiroki Tsukda

Japanese art: ’On Slope’ by Hiroki Tsukda, 2009

(Image credit: Image © Hiroki Tsukda, courtesy of Nanzuka Underground, Tokyo, and the Jean Pigozzi Collection, Geneva)

Congolese art

Congolese art: ’Cité des étoiles’ by Rigobert Nimi, 2006

(Image credit: Photography by Blaise Adilon, courtesy of Le Magasin, Grenoble)

’Le Nid dans le nid’ by Cheri Samba,

’Le Nid dans le nid’ by Cheri Samba, 1996

(Image credit: Courtesy CAAC and the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva)

’Réfléchir avant d’agir’ by Chéri Samba

’Réfléchir avant d’agir’ by Chéri Samba, 1990

(Image credit: Courtesy CAAC and the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva)

Untitled by M Sidibé, 1971

Untitled by M Sidibé, 1971

(Image credit: Courtesy CAAC and the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva)

’Inconscience naturelle de la femme’ by Maitre Syms

’Inconscience naturelle de la femme’ by Maitre Syms, 1999

(Image credit: Courtesy CAAC and the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva)

’L’obscurité en Afrique Noire’ by Maitre Syms

’L’obscurité en Afrique Noire’ by Maitre Syms, 1999

(Image credit: Courtesy CAAC and the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva)

’Nelson Mandela’ by Cheik-Ledy

’Nelson Mandela’ by Cheik-Ledy, 1990

(Image credit: Courtesy CAAC and the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva)

’Photo Passeports’

Photo Passeports’ by 3Z, 1975

(Image credit: Courtesy CAAC and the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva)

Untitled by Moké, 1998

Untitled by Moké, 1998

(Image credit: Courtesy CAAC and the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva)

’Mais quoi peindre? (Tryptique III) by Moké, 2010

’Mais quoi peindre? (Tryptique III) by Moké, 2010

(Image credit: Courtesy CAAC and the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva)

Tryptique II by Moké, 2010

Tryptique II by Moké, 2010

(Image credit: Courtesy CAAC and the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva)

Tryptique III by Moké, 2010

Tryptique III by Moké, 2010

(Image credit: Courtesy CAAC and the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva)

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Site Bouchayer-Viallet
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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.