Kanal – Centre Pompidou, Brussels, Belgium

Commissioned for the opening of Kanal – Centre Pompidou in Brussels, Otobong Nkanga presents an installation that transforms one of the museum’s expansive spaces into a site for encounter and collective creation. Centred on a series of wooden looms, the work brings participants together to exchange skills and experiences, weaving personal and collective narratives into an evolving textile. Through this process, Nkanga explores weaving as a social act, fostering dialogue around collaboration, sustainability and shared authorship.

Situated within the former car garage and industrial production site that now houses the museum, the installation reflects on the structures of labour and economic exchange that underpin cultural institutions and the wider world. These concerns are central to Nkanga’s multidisciplinary practice, which examines the interconnected relationships between people, materials and their environments. By bringing together a network of partners and participants, the project considers how resources and responsibilities might be shared, foregrounding the museum’s role as a site for community-building and social exchange.