Pavilion of the Democratic Republic of Congo

“Not all flames destroy; often they fertilize. Each person, in the forge, by learning to seize them, commits to transforming the very fabric of the world.” - Nadia Yala Kisukidi

Curated by Nadia Yala Kisukidi, Jean Kamba, Aimé Mpané and Johnny Leya, and commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage of the DRC, the installation, titled “Seize the fire!”, will mark the debut of a pavilion by the DRC, on show at the Refettorio Hall Hospital.

Bongoy will present two works - The Revenants I (2016), and The Revenants III (2017) – both of which are in line with his intention to convey the complex narratives around migration, displacement, and exploitation in textural sculptures and wall works made with locally sourced, historically loaded materials like recycled rubber and hessian sacking. The figures in his works are often trapped in dense, knotted webs of rubber and jute strips, a visual metaphor for the impact of state oppression and environmental degradation on the individual.


“An artist is like a mirror of the society they live in. We are reflecting the images that have been projected to us and showing them back to the same society in order to entertain, educate, awake, and raise awareness. It is also a responsibility, because we are holding the power of the past, present and future.” – Patrick Bongoy


The Revenant series explores themes of memory, survival, and the lingering effects of colonial exploitation and conflict in the DRC. By transforming discarded materials into powerful sculptures, Bongoy suggests that histories and identities can return and endure, even after trauma or erasure.

MORE ABOUT “SEIZE THE FIRE!”

“The aesthetic installation “Seize the fire!” presents itself as a luminous forge, a ritual space where artists invite everyone to feed a transformative fire: through sounds, images, volumes, gestures, and words”, explains curator Nadia Yala Kisukidi. “At the centre of the forge, a fire abolishes all regimes of darkness, the flames representing imagination, mutual care, the visible and invisible presences that persist and resist.”

She continues: “The “Seize the Fire!” installation paves the way for the creation of new narratives that, confronted with contemporary emergencies, challenge the discourses of lack, pain, and death. They draw their strength from ancient worldviews, from the radical Congolese imaginations of the 20th and 21st centuries, but also from the Black libraries of freedom which, born in the modern era, have continuously maintained a dialogue with the African continent.”

Complete list of featured artists:
Arlette Bashizi, Patrick Bongoy, Damso, Gosette Lubondo, Nelson Makengo, Aimé Mpané, Sammy Baloji, and Léonard Pongo.

MORE ABOUT THE 61st VENICE BIENNALE
In Minor Keys will take place at the Giardini and the Arsenale venues, as well as in various locations around Venice. With the full support of the late Koyo Kouoh’s family, La Biennale di Venezia decided to carry out her exhibition and will do so by following the project just as she conceived and defined it, with the purpose of preserving, enhancing and disseminating her ideas and the work she pursued.

Matricylism: An Archeology of Connections Lost

“At first glance, this exhibition centers on issues of femininity, power, and ecological consciousness, but at its core it is about memory, both profoundly personal and alarmingly global.” - Jewel

Presented in association with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and Joe Thompson, curator-at-large for the museum, Matricylism: An Archeology of Connections Lost explores themes of motherhood, feminine power, and the consequences of its loss. The exhibition will feature never-before-seen painting, sculpture, tapestry, installation, glass work and sound works that artist and singer-songwriter Jewel has created specifically for this exhibition - the largest presentation of this multi-faceted artist to date. The exhibition will be on view May 10 to November 23, 2026.

A culminating piece that serves as a beginning and conclusion to the exhibition is a monumental sculptural work of a pregnant kneeling woman titled First Mother, made in collaboration with Bongoy. The sculpture references the so-called mitochondrial mother, the single woman to whom the chromosomal threads of all humanity can be traced. It will be outside for the eight months of the exhibition, exposed to sun and rain, its organic elements left to grow, transform, and decay. Together, the artists have woven the First Mother’s skin from strands of hessian thread, embedding it with emblems of creation, renewal, and death, symbolising the path of humanity, particularly mothers.

"It was very important I made a work collaboratively with a man, and to make it in South Africa," explains Jewel. "I see it as a mending. A healing. I had been a fan of Patrick's work and was delighted he agreed to make this work with me in Cape Town. Two people coming together to honor the feminine."

Through shifting sculptural forms, rhythmic soundscapes, myth-inspired textiles and paintings, and data-driven works, the entire exhibition is accompanied by a mesmerising soundtrack with original music and voicework by Jewel. A body of new paintings created in her signature realist, surrealism-tinged style, spark reflection on motherhood and the divine feminine.

Of the exhibition, curator Joe Thompson states: “At first, Jewel seems to be documenting the risks and losses that accrue when society loses touch with essential matriarchal character and force. But those with an eye for detail will discover a theme that is much more personal, and, in a way, even more striking, about the power and essential promise, sometimes broken, of motherhood itself.”