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Downstairs: Forced Love

, CATPC

Mar 26 – Apr 18, 2021

Forced Love by Irene Kanga portrays a man raping a woman. Kanga has been working with CATPC since 2014 and has sought to render visible the violence imposed on women – including herself – on the plantation. She links her personal experiences to an historic event: the rape of a Pende woman by a Belgian colonial agent in 1931, in the midst of one of many campaigns to forcibly round up men to become palm cutters for the Lever Brothers plantation in Lusanga (formerly known as Leverville).

During such a round-up, able-bodied men hid in the forest to avoid recruitment. In their absence, Kafutchi, one of the wives of chief Matema Kelenge was forced against an enclosure and raped by colonial agents. According to the historian Charles Sikitele Gize, this rape was one of the key events that led to the decapitation and dismemberment of colonial agent Maximilien Balot, and to the great Pende revolt of 1931, one of the last open rebellions before independence. Fought with bows and arrows against the machine guns of the colonial state, an untold number of Pende lost their lives, including much of the political and religious elite.

In Congo and elsewhere, plantations have generated massive profits, which in turn have funded the building of European and American museums. Art thus provided an opportunity for shareholders to distance themselves from the violence of the plantation system. Today, plantations in the global south are still closely linked to art production. Rain forests are cut down and subjected to monoculture, causing climate change and increasing inequality. The value extracted from these plantations is still partially invested in museums in cities such as New York, Dakar or Brussels, generating beauty and wealth in the surrounding economies. Even if these museums propagate inclusivity and diversity, few of these benefits return to the plantation.

You need to be fearless, and run right into the swamp of possible misunderstanding, to have any hope of making a difference

CATPC’s sculptures from river clay are digitally scanned using state of the art 3D technology, exported and reproduced in Amsterdam (the world’s biggest cocola port) in chocolate enriched with palm fat. CATPC’s first solo exhibition in New York City, highlighting these sculptures, led to much controversy and was hailed by the New York Times as ‘best art of 2017’. As journalist Jason Farago wrote: ‘This was the most challenging show of the year, and proudly “problematic,” but that was the point: You need to be fearless, and run right into the swamp of possible misunderstanding, to have any hope of making a difference’ (New York Times, 6 Dec 2017). Joanna Fiduccia went further: ‘Plantations were not just operations; they were ideologies, justifying the treatment of resources, people, and their sculptural “fetishes” alike as raw material that must subsequently be refined into first-world luxuries. A plantation workers’ art collective is transgressive because it establishes intimacy with material that has been historically denied to them: not chocolate, but sculpture’ (Even Magazine).

Through participating in the global art market, profitably producing and selling critically engaged art, CATPC buys back land. In collaboration with Dutch artist Renzo Martens, who launched a ‘reverse gentrification program’ in 2012, CATPC has opened an OMA-designed museum on their own land, near the plantation town Lusanga. Dubbed the White Cube, it operates like art museums do elsewhere: it functions as a vehicle for diversity and inclusivity, as well as for capital, visibility and legitimacy, in this case to start another type of plantation. With the sales of their sculptures, CATPC has so far acquired 85 ha, where its members develop a sustainable alternative to the destructive system of monoculture: a new, inclusive, worker-owned post plantation.

On a visit to CATPC’s studio in Lusanga in 2016, the former Congolese minister of Culture and Tourism, Elvis Mutira Wa Bashara, stated: “Plantations have financed European museums. This means that inequality is prolonged through these museums. Working class Congolese are not represented in art exhibitions in New York, London or Berlin. There is a wealth of artistic vision that lives in the population. Today, the adversity that lives in the plantation expresses itself through art.”

CATPC, Forced Love by Irene Kanga, 2020, cocoa and palm fat, mixed media, 68 x 50 x 122 cm, ed. of 7 + 2AP, foto: Ladislav Zajac
CATPC, Forced Love by Irene Kanga, 2020, cocoa and palm fat, mixed media, 68 x 50 x 122 cm, ed. of 7 + 2AP, foto: Ladislav Zajac
CATPC, Forced Love by Irene Kanga, 2020, cocoa and palm fat, mixed media, 68 x 50 x 122 cm, ed. of 7 + 2AP, foto: Ladislav Zajac
CATPC, Forced Love by Irene Kanga, 2020, cocoa and palm fat, mixed media, 68 x 50 x 122 cm, mixed media, 68 x 50 x 122 cm, ed. of 7 + 2AP, foto: Ladislav Zajac
CATPC, Forced Love by Irene Kanga, 2020, cocoa and palm fat, mixed media, 68 x 50 x 122 cm, ed. of 7 + 2AP, foto: Ladislav Zajac
CATPC, Forced Love by Irene Kanga, 2020, cocoa and palm fat, mixed media, 68 x 50 x 122 cm, ed. of 7 + 2AP, foto: Ladislav Zajac
CATPC, Forced Love by Irene Kanga, 2020, cocoa and palm fat, mixed media, 68 x 50 x 122 cm, ed. of 7 + 2AP, foto: Ladislav Zajac
CATPC, Forced Love by Irene Kanga, 2020, cocoa and palm fat, mixed media, 68 x 50 x 122 cm, ed. of 7 + 2AP, foto: Ladislav Zajac
CATPC, Forced Love by Irene Kanga, 2020, cocoa and palm fat, mixed media, 68 x 50 x 122 cm, ed. of 7 + 2AP, foto: Ladislav Zajac
CATPC, Forced Love by Irene Kanga, 2020, chocolate, mixed media, 68 x 50 x 122 cm, ed. of 7 + 2AP, foto: Ladislav Zajac
CATPC, Forced Love by Irene Kanga, 2020, chocolate, mixed media, 68 x 50 x 122 cm, ed. of 7 + 2AP, foto: Ladislav Zajac

cocoa and palm fat, 68 x 50 x 122 cm
ed. of 7 + 2AP
text by Zoe Gray for Wiels Centre d'Art Contemporain
fotos: Ladislav Zajac

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Current

Upcoming

2025

Alice Creischer

, Alice Creischer
Nov 30, 2024 – Jan 25, 2025

2024

Vul|ne|ra|ble

, Anna Boghiguian, Candice Breitz, CATPC, Alice Creischer, Chto Delat, Clegg & Guttmann, Heinrich Dunst, Anna Ehrenstein, León Ferrari, Peter Friedl, Sophie Gogl, Barbara Hammer, Ramon Haze, Hiwa K, Simon Lehner, Mario Pfeifer, Dierk Schmidt, Michael E. Smith, Franz Erhard Walther, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Tobias Zielony, Anna Ehrenstein & Rebecca Pokua Korang, Sophia Eisenhut & Max Eulitz, Hudinilson Jr., Pınar Öğrenci, Helena Uambembe
Sep 7 – Nov 16, 2024

Tools for Conviviality (Am Schwarzenbergplatz, Vienna)

, Clegg & Guttmann, Anna Ehrenstein, Oswald Oberhuber, cameron clayborn, Heinz Frank, Blerta Hashani, Veronika Pausova, Dardan Zhegrova
Jun 21 – Jul 7, 2024

Social Geometry

, Clemens von Wedemeyer
Apr 26 – Jun 29, 2024

I'll Remember April

, Anna Boghiguian, Alice Creischer, Eugenio Dittborn, Sophie Gogl, Barbara Hammer, Sandra Brandeis Crawford, Goshka Macuga, Monsieur Zohore
Apr 26 – Jun 29, 2024

No more, not yet (Am Schwarzenbergplatz, Vienna)

, Alice Creischer, Heinrich Dunst, Franz Erhard Walther, Frank Heath, Nova Jiang, Thomas Lerooy, Hanne Lippard, Emile Rubino, Nora Turato
May 15 – Jun 15, 2024

exercises in popular gymnastics

, Santiago Sierra
Mar 9 – Apr 13, 2024

CTRL V (Am Schwarzenbergplatz, Vienna)

, CATPC, Sophie Gogl, Simon Lehner, Julien Bismuth, Tatjana Danneberg, Sam Ekwurtzel, Katja Mater, Florian Meisenberg
Apr 3 – May 11, 2024

Fremdkörper (Am Schwarzenbergplatz, Vienna)

, Candice Breitz, Marco A. Castillo, Dierk Schmidt, Sharona Franklin, Baseera Khan, Brilant Milazimi, Hana Miletic, Mie Yim
Feb 17 – Mar 23, 2024

My Mountain Has No Summit

, Simon Lehner
Nov 18, 2023 – Feb 25, 2024

2023

Teatro Popular

, Peter Friedl
Sep 15 – Nov 4, 2023

Like a Good, Good, Good Boy

, Hiwa K
Apr 28 – Jul 22, 2023

Casa Negra

, Marco A. Castillo
Mar 17 – Apr 15, 2023

Barbara Hammer & Hudinilson Jr

, Barbara Hammer, Hudinilson Jr
Mar 17 – Apr 15, 2023

Watching TV in Narva

, Tobias Zielony
Jan 28 – Mar 4, 2023

Das Auto Rosi aber

, Anna Boghiguian, Candice Breitz, Marco A. Castillo, Alice Creischer, Chto Delat, Heinrich Dunst, Anna Ehrenstein, Peter Friedl, Sophie Gogl, Clegg & Guttmann, Barbara Hammer, Hiwa K, Simon Lehner, Renzo Martens, Oswald Oberhuber, Mario Pfeifer, Santiago Sierra, Michael E. Smith, Franz Erhard Walther
Nov 26, 2022 – Jan 14, 2023

2022

Proof of the Unthinkable

, Mario Pfeifer
Sep 16 – Nov 12, 2022

JOINT VENTURES: Carlos∕Ishikawa, London

Richard Sides – Basic Vision
Sep 16 – Nov 12, 2022

KOW at Sperling, Munich: Various Others 2022

, Anna Ehrenstein, Andrew Gilbert
Sep 10 – Oct 15, 2022

Latest News

Istvan Kantor
Jul 15 – Aug 20, 2022

Canary Archive

, Chto Delat
Jul 15 – Aug 20, 2022

KOW at LA MAISON DE RENDEZ–VOUS, Brussels: Kleine Beestjes

, Sophie Gogl
Jul 6 – Aug 31, 2022

Anna Boghiguian

, Anna Boghiguian
Apr 29 – Jun 25, 2022

Anna Boghiguian / Alice Creischer

, Anna Boghiguian, Alice Creischer
Apr 29 – Jun 25, 2022

BALOT

, CATPC, Renzo Martens
Feb 11 – Apr 8, 2022

The Albanian Conference: Home Is Where The Hatred Is

, Anna Ehrenstein, feat. DNA, Fadescha, Rebecca-Pokua Korang
Nov 12, 2021 – Jan 29, 2022

Idea / Ideal

, Marco A. Castillo
Nov 12, 2021 – Jan 29, 2022

2021

Michael E. Smith

, Michael E. Smith
Sep 10 – Oct 31, 2021

The Bell Project

, Hiwa K
Jun 18 – Jul 24, 2021

Joint Ventures: Felix Gaudlitz, Vienna

Milena Büsch, Simon Lässig, Vera Lutz
Jun 18 – Jul 24, 2021

Jars

, Sophie Gogl
May 1 – Jul 24, 2021

What must not be, cannot be

, Mario Pfeifer
May 1 – Jun 12, 2021

Joint Ventures: Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Wien

Sonia Leimer – Junks of Joy
May 1 – Jun 12, 2021

Downstairs: Forced Love

, CATPC
Mar 26 – Apr 18, 2021

Permanente Veränderung

, Oswald Oberhuber
Mar 8 – Apr 18, 2021

JOINT ventures: Modern Art, London

Collier Schorr - Day for Night (1992/2021)
Mar 8 – Apr 18, 2021

Online exhibition: works on paper

, Oswald Oberhuber
Feb 1 – Mar 26, 2021

KOLONNEN - hohenzollern ist jetzt ein Verb

, Dierk Schmidt
Nov 20, 2020 – Jan 30, 2021

Downstairs: Airmail Paintings 186 and 192

, Eugenio Dittborn
Nov 20, 2020 – Jan 30, 2021

Online exhibition: The films

, Eugenio Dittborn
Dec 4, 2020 – Jan 31, 2021

2020

Online exhibition: One night in a social network

, Chto Delat
Oct 4 – Dec 4, 2020

Would You Like to Meet Your Neighbor?

, Barbara Hammer
Sep 11 – Nov 7, 2020

Downstairs: Two recent films

, Tobias Zielony
Sep 11 – Nov 7, 2020

OUT OF THE DARK II

, Candice Breitz, Chto Delat, Clegg & Guttmann, Alice Creischer, Heinrich Dunst, Barbara Hammer, Ramon Haze, Hiwa K, Frédéric Moser & Philippe Schwinger, Oswald Oberhuber, Mario Pfeifer, Dierk Schmidt, Santiago Sierra, Michael E. Smith, Franz Erhard Walther, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Tobias Zielony, CATPC, Anna Ehrenstein, Christoph Schäfer
May 23 – Aug 15, 2020

Online exhibition: The Illusion of a Crowd

, Clemens von Wedemeyer
Apr 7 – May 31, 2020

Labour

, Candice Breitz
Feb 29 – Apr 30, 2020

Machines to change the world

Elena Asins
Feb 15 – Mar 14, 2020

Downstairs: Maschinen zur Veränderung der Welt

, Ramon Haze
Feb 15 – Mar 14, 2020

TOASTED ANGELS, SOUNDS OF STEEL

, León Ferrari
Nov 23, 2019 – Feb 1, 2020

Michael E. Smith

, Michael E. Smith
Sep 13, 2019 – Jan 25, 2020

2019

Stadtschlawinereien

, Alice Creischer, Dierk Schmidt, Michael E. Smith, Brandlhuber+, Larissa Fassler, Adelita Husni-Bey, Peng!, Andrea Pichl, Andreas Siekmann, Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, Weekend & Plaste, et al.
Sep 7 – Nov 9, 2019

Oberhuber. Un futuro.

, Oswald Oberhuber
May 31 – Jul 27, 2019

Clegg & Guttmann and Franz Erhard Walther

, Clegg & Guttmann, Franz Erhard Walther
Apr 26 – Jul 27, 2019

Make up

, Tobias Zielony
Mar 2 – May 18, 2019

Ostalgie

Henrike Naumann
Feb 2 – Apr 28, 2019

His Master's Voice

, Alice Creischer
Nov 24, 2018 – Jan 19, 2019

Crusoe

, Eugenio Dittborn
Nov 24, 2018 – Jan 19, 2019

Contribution to Light. The Early Works of Barbara Hammer

, Barbara Hammer
Sep 13, 2018 – Jan 31, 2019

2018

Was euch am Leben hält, ist, was bei uns zu Asche zerfällt *

, Alice Creischer, Mario Pfeifer, Michael E. Smith, Tobias Zielony, Henrike Naumann
Sep 8 – Nov 10, 2018

EL OTRO, EL MISMO / THE OTHER, THE SAME

Los Carpinteros
Apr 28 – Jul 21, 2018

Maskirovka

, Tobias Zielony
Mar 24 – Apr 15, 2018

Double Bodies

, Frédéric Moser & Philippe Schwinger
Feb 10 – Mar 17, 2018

Hotel Résistance

Ahmet Öğüt
Nov 25, 2017 – Jan 28, 2018

2017

Michael E. Smith

, Michael E. Smith
Sep 16 – Nov 5, 2017

Love Story

, Candice Breitz
Apr 29 – Jul 30, 2017

On the Possibility of Light

, Chto Delat
Feb 18 – Apr 9, 2017

On Fear and Education, Disenchantment and Justice, Protest and Disunion in Saxony / Germany

, Mario Pfeifer
Dec 1, 2016 – Apr 15, 2017

The Cabinet of Ramon Haze

, Ramon Haze
Nov 19, 2016 – Jan 29, 2017

Things, Not Words

, Heinrich Dunst
Nov 19, 2016 – Jan 29, 2017

2016

Barbara Hammer & Oswald Oberhuber

, Barbara Hammer, Oswald Oberhuber
Sep 17 – Nov 6, 2016

Out Of The Dark

, Chto Delat, Alice Creischer, Eugenio Dittborn, Heinrich Dunst, Barbara Hammer, Hiwa K, Renzo Martens, Chris Martin, Frédéric Moser & Philippe Schwinger, Mario Pfeifer, Dierk Schmidt, Michael E. Smith, Franz Erhard Walther, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Tobias Zielony, Ramon Haze
Jun 26 – Jul 31, 2016

The Citizen

, Tobias Zielony
Apr 30 – Jun 12, 2016

This Lemon Tastes of Apple

, Hiwa K
Apr 30 – Jun 12, 2016

Broken Windows 6.3

, Dierk Schmidt
Mar 12 – Apr 16, 2016

Cast Behind You The Bones Of Your Mother

, Clemens von Wedemeyer
Dec 19, 2015 – Feb 27, 2016

2015

Left To Our Own Devices

Hito Steyerl
Sep 17 – Dec 5, 2015

A Summer Of Films

, Chto Delat, Alice Creischer, Eugenio Dittborn, Heinrich Dunst, Barbara Hammer, Renzo Martens, Frédéric Moser & Philippe Schwinger, Mario Pfeifer, Michael E. Smith, Franz Erhard Walther, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Tobias Zielony, Screening program
Jun 28 – Jul 26, 2015

Approximation In The Digital Age To A Humanity Condemned To Disappear

, Mario Pfeifer
May 2 – Jun 25, 2015

A Lucky Day

, Renzo Martens, CATPC
May 2 – Jul 26, 2015

Time Capsule. Artistic Report on Catastrophes and Utopia

, Chto Delat
Feb 28 – Apr 18, 2015

Have A Crush

, Barbara Hammer
Jan 10 – Feb 14, 2015

Dream Lovers. The Films 2008–2014

, Tobias Zielony
Dec 6, 2014 – Feb 14, 2015

2014

Dämmstoffe

, Heinrich Dunst
Nov 1 – Dec 18, 2014

Pinturas Aeropostales

, Eugenio Dittborn
Sep 13 – Nov 23, 2014

Cool Drink on a Hot Day

, Chris Martin
May 3 – Jul 27, 2014

In The Stomach Of The Predators

, Alice Creischer
Mar 1 – Apr 19, 2014

2013

Körperformen

, Franz Erhard Walther
Nov 30 – Feb 13, 2013

40 cbm Of Earth From The Iberian Peninsula

, Santiago Sierra
Sep 14 – Oct 30, 2013

Michael E. Smith II

, Michael E. Smith
Apr 27 – Jul 13, 2013

Dignity

, Barbara Hammer
Feb 16 – Apr 14, 2013

Believers

, Alice Creischer, Chto Delat, Barbara Hammer, Frédéric Moser & Philippe Schwinger, Michael E. Smith, Franz Erhard Walther, Tobias Zielony, Zanny Begg, Joseph Beuys, Arno Brandlhuber, Ines Doujak, Philippe Halsman, Adrian Piper, Pussy Riot, Christoph Schlingensief, Andreas Siekmann, Santiago Sierra, Andreas Slominski, Sean Snyder
Nov 10, 2012 – Feb 3, 2013

2012

Im Archipel

Arno Brandlhuber
Sep 8 – Oct 21, 2012

Das Etablissement der Tatsachen The Establishment of Matters of Fact

, Alice Creischer
Apr 27 – Jul 22, 2012

Manitoba

, Tobias Zielony
Feb 3 – Apr 15, 2012

Tina Schulz


Nov 5, 2011 – Jan 28, 2012

2011

A Formal Film In Nine Episodes, Prologue & Epilogue

, Mario Pfeifer
Sep 10 – Oct 28, 2011

Social Violence

, Santiago Sierra, Cady Noland
Apr 30 – Jul 29, 2011

Barbara Hammer

, Barbara Hammer
Feb 12 – Mar 17, 2011

Franz Erhard Walther

, Franz Erhard Walther
Nov 6, 2010 – Feb 11, 2011

2010

Chris Martin

, Chris Martin
Sep 11 – Oct 24, 2010

Michael E. Smith

, Michael E. Smith
Jun 12 – Jul 25, 2010

Vele, Zgora

, Tobias Zielony
May 1 – Jun 5, 2010

The Fourth Wall

, Clemens von Wedemeyer
Jan 23 – Apr 22, 2010

Antirepresentationalism 3: Issues of Empathy Conceptual and Socially oriented Art in Leipzig 1997–2009

, Ramon Haze, Mario Pfeifer, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Tobias Zielony, Peggy Buth, Jan Caspers/ Anne König/ Jan Wenzel, Chat, Markus Dressen, Famed, Till Gathmann, Lina Grumm, Andreas Grahl, Henriette Grahnert, Mark Hamilton, Bertram Haude, Ramon Haze, Oliver Kossack, Andrea Legiehn, Thomas Lüer, Claudia Annette Maier, Ulrich Polster, Julius Popp, schau-vogel-schau, Julia Schmidt, Tilo Schulz, spector cut+paste, Christoph Weber, Arthur Zalewski
Nov 28, 2009 – Jan 15, 2010

2009

Antirepresentationalism 2: Trouble with Realism. Conceptual and Socially oriented Art in Leipzig 1997–2009

, Ramon Haze, Mario Pfeifer, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Tobias Zielony, Peggy Buth, Famed, Markus Dressen, Andreas Grahl, Henriette Grahnert, Eiko Grimmberg/ Arthur Zalewski, Mark Hamilton, Ramon Haze, Oliver Kossack, Claudia Annette Maier, Ulrich Polster, Julius Popp, schau-vogel-schau (Marcel Bühler, Alexander Koch), Julia Schmidt, Tilo Schulz, spector cut+paste, Christoph Weber
Oct 17 – Nov 21, 2009

Antirepresentationalism 1: Politics of Redescription. Conceptual and Socially oriented Art in Leipzig 1997–2009

, Ramon Haze, Mario Pfeifer, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Tobias Zielony, Peggy Buth, Jan Caspers/ Anne König/ Jan Wenzel, Chat, Markus Dressen, Famed, Till Gathmann, Lina Grumm, Andreas Grahl, Henriette Grahnert, Mark Hamilton, Bertram Haude, Oliver Kossack, Andrea Legiehn, Thomas Lüer, Claudia Annette Maier, Ulrich Polster, Julius Popp, schau-vogel-schau, Julia Schmidt, Tilo Schulz, spector cut+paste, Christoph Weber, Arthur Zalewski
Sep 4 – Oct 10, 2009

KOW ISSUE 5: Spirituality and Anti-Universalism

, Chris Martin
May 1 – May 30, 2009

KOW ISSUE 4: THE SOCIAL USE OF SIGNS (OBLIGATION TO EXPRESS)


Apr 3 – Apr 27, 2009

KOW ISSUE 3: Detroits' Post-Fordism

, Michael E. Smith
Mar 27 – Mar 29, 2009

KOW ISSUE 1: Participatory Minimalism

, Franz Erhard Walther
Feb 27 – Mar 21, 2009

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