M HKA Ensembles

M HKA, Antwerpen

14 October 2015 19:00 - 17 January 2016 18:00

The IN SITU programme is a series of mid-sized monographic exhibitions of some of the most important fledgling and mid-career artists from around the world. The programme focuses exclusively on the commissioning of new artworks and on experimental presentations in the largest and most atypical exhibition space of the museum.

Throughout her multifaceted artistic practice, Antwerp artist Otobong Nkanga (born in 1974, Kano, Nigeria) presents active proposals for thinking about some of the most pressing problems of our time. One of the major and persistent issues revolves around the world's natural resources. Nkanga makes art about the relationships between, and the exploitation of, the landscape, people and work. She wants to expose the relationship between rarity and desire, which is a key point in the complex networks of supply and demand which govern globalisation.

Otobong Nkanga is fascinated by what she describes as 'gloss'. To her, this does not just mean thinking about the shiny surfaces of natural resources, such as rare minerals, but also the desire to be seduced by exotic consumption objects. Glimmer is the lesser-known Dutch name for the valuable mineral mica, which is the subject of her installation In Pursuit of Bling (2014).

Nkanga's works - drawings, performances, sculptures and other media - are built around a more holistic understanding of place and time in which non-linear fragments of stories, experiences and photos are linked. In addition to In Pursuit of Bling, the artist created a new series of large-scale tapestries and carpet for the exhibition. Along with drawings and installations, these elements brought forward the ideas for a series of performances and participatory actions which Nkanga organized during the exhibition.

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