On 17 April, a solo exhibition by Sammy Baloji arrived -like a mnemonic vessel of historical memory – at Kunsthal Extra City in Antwerp, a former Dominican monastery now functioning as a contemporary art space. The exhibition settles seamlessly into the interiors of the former Catholic church, illuminated by stained glass, enhanced by its natural acoustics, and curated by Samuel Saelemakers.
Titled “Copper thread, Rubber thread, Sugar thread”, the exhibition refers to three key export commodities from the artist’s native Congo (Baloji was born in the Katanga region). Through two monumental textile works and two sound installations, the artist unfolds five centuries of colonial history. Tapestry and sound form the core of the exhibition, where past, present and future are intricately interwoven. Rejecting a linear view of history, Baloji constructs a kind of non-Euclidean narrative of the historical relationship between Europe and Central Africa, beginning with the encounter between the Portuguese and the Kingdom of Kongo in 1483. These “threads” of copper, rubber and sugar are woven into two richly produced tapestries (manufactured in Tilburg, the Netherlands).
An intellectual artist, Baloji embeds numerous historical references throughout the exhibition.
In the tapestry “Rethreaded Indies” (2025), Baloji reconstructs a diplomatic scene in which Dutch envoys pay tribute to King Garcia II of Kongo. This monumental textile work connects Congolese weaving traditions with historical French tapestry-making, while drawing attention to a period when European and African kingdoms recognised one another as sovereign states and trading partners. These relations were later disrupted by colonial expansion and exploitative economic systems, the consequences of which continue to shape cultural, political and economic relations between Europe and Africa today.
Alongside the tapestry, the exhibition presents Missa Utica (2024), a vocal and musical composition conceived by Baloji. The work is inspired by the life of the first Black bishop appointed by the Catholic Church, who was meant to settle in Utica, in present-day Tunisia, but never reached his destination. Missa Utica retraces this journey, reflecting on the history of the Kingdom of Kongo in the 15th century and the evangelisation of Africa. The title also alludes to Missa Luba, a Latin mass inspired by musical traditions from the Katanga and Kasai regions, composed in 1958 by the Belgian missionary Guido Haazen.
The second tapestry is dedicated by Sammy Baloji to Antwerp. The image it draws upon is considered one of the earliest known depictions of a Black woman in Western art. It was created in Antwerp in 1521 by Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) during his journey through the Low Countries. By that time, Dürer was already a renowned artist whose prints, produced through techniques such as copper engraving, circulated widely across Europe. Katharina was around twenty years old when he made this portrait. She was most likely a servant of João Brandão, a commercial agent of the Portuguese king. Their presence in Antwerp reflects the city’s role in the 16th century as a major international trading hub, closely tied to emerging global and colonial networks.
As an enslaved Black woman (notably, slavery was officially prohibited in the Southern Netherlands), Katharina may not have borne this name at birth. Yet the fact that Dürer recorded her name and age is remarkable, as most Black figures in Western art history remain anonymous, often depicted merely as bodies rather than individuals.
In Baloji’s tapestry, she is reimagined as a dignified figure in an elaborate dress. She stands proudly – unlike in Dürer’s drawing, where her gaze is lowered – framed by velvet draperies that open onto a Flemish-style setting. For this composition, Baloji drew inspiration from the interiors of Venetian palazzi, visible in the characteristic terrazzo floor. In a fictional, provocative, even activist gesture, Katharina holds a small coat of arms of the historical Kingdom of Kongo.
For this tapestry, Baloji also created the sound installation “Le fil sucre-pourpre de Mulohò” (2024), addressing sugar as both a source of pleasure and a tool of exploitation, as well as a commodity of export and an artistic material. The work draws on a historical episode: on 25 July 1574, King Henry III of France was honoured with a lavish ball at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice. The halls were decorated with so-called Eastern carpets and Flemish tapestries, while Venetian noblewomen wore white silk dresses. Most striking were the hundreds of sugar sculptures adorning the tables. Inspired by hunting scenes, pastoral imagery and classical architecture, these delicate objects became a popular form of courtly art across Europe. The white, “exotic” material resembled marble and symbolised wealth and status.
Yet sugar in the early modern period was the product of brutal colonial exploitation, produced on transatlantic plantations by enslaved Africans. This material, now often perceived as ordinary, reveals a far more complex and troubling history of global inequality, while remaining central to a contested global industry today.
Curator Samuel Saelemakers:
“I am pleased to work again with Sammy Baloji, especially as this exhibition continues the research underpinning his work The Long Hand, developed as part of his PhD. In his practice, he connects materials, people and ideas, creating beautiful, unexpected and sometimes uncomfortable narratives that expand our understanding of the world and of shared history.”