Copper Thread, Rubber Thread, Sugar Thread

The exhibition Copper Thread, Rubber Thread, Sugar Thread accompanied the finishing of Sammy Baloji’s artistic doctoral project“Contemporary Kasala and Lukasa: Towards a Reconfiguration of Identity and Geopolitics” at Sint Lucas Antwerpen.

The title refers to copper, rubber and sugar – raw materials that for centuries shaped colonial trade routes, power relations and inequalities. At the same time, the“thread’stands for connection. Thread carries stories, links different times, and makes visible how history is not fixed but continually rewoven. Two monumental tapestries formed the visual heart of the exhibition, Seeing Katharina (2026) and Rethreaded Indies (2025). The sound works Le fil sucre-pourpre de Mulohò (2024) and a recording of Missa Utica (2024) added a polyphonic layer in the exhibition. Pœtry, music, and narration came together as a multi-voiced memory in which past and present cœxist. In the former Dominican church that houses Kunsthal Extra City, the exhibition became a space where no single narrative dominates, and where listening and resonance took center stage.