#kingelez

[simoneschiefer]

#kingelez (à Fondation Louis Vuitton)

[artand-what-blog]

Pt. 3

    Lastly, some artists are using VR to accompany their installations to push their piece further in the direction of personal relations. One artist that had used this tactic was the late Bodys Isek Kingelez. Kingelez was an African native who’s main area of focus was sculpture, and he used those sculptures to present the hopes and dreams for his country. Kingelez had adapted well to global and continent-specific geopolitics, and this was visible within his works as his sculptures were demonstrating an amicable society through the soft, colourful materials, as well as the harm-free communal structures (6).[8] Kingelez had attempted and succeeded at exuding the message of kindness and generosity throughout the exhibition that is on display at the MoMA. All of the works in City Dreams (fig. 3) are excellent examples of the previously mentioned concepts.

Figure 3. Bodys Isek Kingelez, City Dreams, Museum of Modern Art

    In the City Dreams exhibition, Kingelez has incorporated a VR piece titled Ville Fantôme (fig. 4). This piece allows the visitor to immerse themselves within the virtually constructed city, and explore the peaceful environment. Kingelez had specifically designed for Ville Fantôme to not include any form of police or  security, and the purpose of that choice was to embody the peaceful nature Kingelez was dreaming of. The simulation is “allowing them [the participant] to jump from one place to another—to plazas, roofs—and to look up, down, and around” (98).[9] There was no limit of where the visitor could explore because the virtual space offers the 360º view. 

    This piece is educational to museum visitors because it is providing them with a perspective of what life can be like without the harm, and without the fear of authority that many walk the Earth with. Visitors can take the experience home with them, and apply the kindness to their own accord. The installation has the potential to open the minds of the participants, and can spark interest in making a change towards how situations are handled. 

Figure 4. Bodys Isek Kingelez, Ville Fantôme, 1996, Museum of Modern Art

Click down here to view Kingelez’s MoMA page and to watch some cool footage

 https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3889?locale=en

[8] Eben Shapiro, Dreaming of a Brighter, More Fantastical World, (Time, 2018) 58-59.

[9] Peter Schjeldahl, Views of Utopia, (New Yorker, 2018), 98.

[run-with-raks]

A short helicopter ride around #fantasticcities #bodysisakkingelez #villefantome #kingelez ❤️ https://www.instagram.com/p/BnjaRhbF_x_/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=k2rtou1f6v4l

[artbookdap]

BE AMAZED. Bodys Isek Kingelez (1948–2015) @themuseumofmodernart Kingelez anchored his work in the present and the recent past and in the fabric of the city around him, inspired equally by colonial architecture, the ambitious buildings of post-Independence Zaire, and the idioms that typify national building styles," MoMA curator Sarah Suzuki writes. "But his work was always future facing. In an era in which cities, including Kinshasa, were (and continue to be) under pressure to accommodate unprecedented rates of growth and the attendant challenges to civic life, Kingelez pointed a way forward offering models of beauty, harmony and functionality His work addressed the great challenges of the twentieth century—decolonization, health crises, the quest for nationhood and national identity—but it is infused with potential, both philosophical and formal. In his hands, new, cooperative ways of living and working were possible and the most mundane of materials could become technically precise, inventive and elegant objects. He declared himself 'a designer, an architect, a sculptor, engineer, artist.' His dazzling sculptures, manifestations of a future that perhaps only he could see, suggest one additional role: 'a visionary,' he said,' is someone who dreams of what doesn't yet exist.'" #bodysisekkingelez #kingelez #urbanutopia #afrofuturism #africanart #utopia

[thegazeofaparisienne]

Beauté Congo 1926-2015 à la Fondation Cartier

Beauté Congo 1926-2015 à la Fondation Cartier

Fondation Cartier – Beauté Congo 1926-2015 Les artistes

On croit qu’on va faire un voyage, mais bientôt c’est le voyage qui vous fait et vous défait” Nicolas Bouvier 

Bodys Isek Kingelez (1948-2015)

Cette fois-ci la fondation Cartier nous nous offre un voyage de 90 ans en Afrique, c’est l’impression première que nous ressentons, mais très vite nous oublions le point géographique  et nous nous…

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[applesandtumbledryers-blog]

Bodys Isek Kingelez is a self-taught a Congolese artist who creates vast public buildings out of cardboard boxes and scrap paper. Kingelez defines himself as a maquettiste, a model maker; indeed, his works have the precision of an architectural model. However, they are brightly coloured and oddly shaped. Recognisable fragments of household waste turn up in unexpected places - like the teabags in International Sports. Even as small scale models, Kingelez’ constructions appear towering - as if they had thousands of floors. With names like Aereoport Moderne, Soviet Mongolia, International Sports they are clearly intended as public buildings. And as public buildings on a weekend, they are completely deserted. Even though their plans provide for interaction at street-level, there is no pedestrian crossing the carefully delineated plazas in U.N., or looking out from the diapositive-shaped windows in Papillon de Mer. Despite all the colour, there is something hostile in the way the interior/exterior boundaries are marked here. These buildings are different to what we are used to not only because they are coloured and crafty, but also because they are on a different scale than the humans who should inhabit them, and because they make no allowance for the unavoidable changes which pedestrians and inhabitants would bring.

Could Kingelez's fantasy world be a denunciation of larger-than-life architectural commissions and not only a day-dream?

(These and other works are on show at An Alternative Guide to the Universe, Hayward Gallery, until the 26th of August)