Kapwani Kiwanga “Rudiments” in MOUSSE Magazine
This show was selected as part of London Oomph—a curated roundup of the best contemporary art exhibitions and events held by galleries, museums, and institutions in town during Frieze Art Fair, October 2024.
“Rudiments” is a new solo exhibition by Kapwani Kiwanga marking her return to the London gallery following 2024 Venice Biennale Canada Pavilion solo presentation “Trinket” and her 2023 mid-career retrospective, “The Length of the Horizon” at Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg.
Rooted in historiography and involving research of archival materials, Kiwanga’s practice reveals hidden histories that shape our present. “Rudiments” continues the artist’s exploration of various forms of world-making, delving into how diverse cultures construct and interpret their origins while also drawing attention to how conditions of trade and exchange affect realities.
Often, Kiwanga focuses on the body as the primary receptor, drawing attention to the unique bodily sensations and perceptions experienced within specific environments. Through this approach, she transforms the imagination of our interaction with the world around us, challenging the accepted systems embedded within structures throughout time. Although the works in the show are less overtly somatic, they remain sensorial, stimulating perception through line, colour, shape, and form, emphasising basic rhythms and tectonic scales.
The exhibition draws attention to the essential elements that seem foundational to world-building. The materials in the exhibition subtly point to the primacy of earth, air, fire and water, meditating on their role in shaping the physical environment. Be it hand-made ceramic tiles and wood frames that resonate with the solidity of earth, gold leaf that evokes histories of extraction, the pliability of rope, or metal characterised by its strength, durability, and malleability.
The structure of “Rudiments” is such that each level of the gallery addresses two distinct ideas, each explored through the thoughtful use of materials and the precise arrangement of objects. Works on the upper level of the gallery, A Coincidence of Wants—made with glass beads, metal and gold leaf—Kiwanga draws attention to the historical and ongoing impact of transoceanic trade exchanges. By highlighting these materials, she gestures to how the movement of goods across continents has shaped our contemporary world, influencing economic systems, cultural exchanges, and material culture. The work not only reflects on the legacy of trade routes but also invites us to consider how such historical processes continue to resonate in our current global landscape. The works in the lower level of the gallery—made from handmade ceramic tiles, acrylic paint, rope, metal profile, gold leaf and wood frame—take the notion of the earth as an element in the construction of worlds and cosmogonies, reflecting on imagined landscapes. Kiwanga nudges towards these elements in both form and title; Magma, Rift, Cascade, Dune, Canopy, Astres (translated as stars in English).
Notions of utopia, which course through the exhibition, challenge and expand our knowledge of possibility (and possibilities of knowledge). By suggesting the possibility of new worlds, “Rudiments” reflects the limitless potential of existence—spaces that exist alongside our conventional reality, yet reveal different facets of human experience and alternative possibilities. The exhibition encourages us to reconsider existing structures.