Transfer III, 2023

Wood, Pernambucopigment, copper, glass beads
© Kapwani Kiwanga

Kapwani Kiwanga’s freeform sculpture Transfer III resembles a suspended arabesque with a stunning patterned border of vivid green glass beads. The work originates from Trinket, her site-responsive installation in the Canadian Pavilion of the 2024 Venice Biennale. As with her previous research-driven work, here Kiwanga traced how various forms of power manifest through material culture, commerce, and cultural transformation. The “trinket” of the exhibition’s title are glass beads from Murano, Italy, which is renowned for its long tradition of glassmaking. In the sixteenth-century, beads were employed as currency and items of exchange, as the artist explains: “The Venetian trade of glass beads symbolizes power, decoration, and the facilitation of trade.” Thanks to a supplier in Murano with a sizable stock of assorted antique beads, Kiwanga was able to gather an estimated seven million vintage glass droplets, or conterie, and these formed the primary component of the various works in Trinket. Kiwanga skillfully incorporated these into sculptures such as the gravity-defying Transfer III that emerged from the pavilion’s floor or that spilled onto walls outside the space.