Ndayé Kouagou
Ndayé Kouagou (1992) is an artist and performer based in Paris; his practice begins with text, which is expanded upon through performance, film, textiles, sculpture and installation. Kouagou manipulates the reduced language of aphorism and aesthetics on which the digital landscape of TikTok and Instagram is built, creating immersive environments that both confront and seduce the viewer. Using screens, plexiglass, resin and aluminium, Kouagou presents the viewer with elliptical statements and open-ended, existentially leading questions, simulating a meandering dialogue that borrows from the language of online influencers and self-help. Surface and depth, humour and sincerity, clarity and confusion are granted equivalent significance in Kouagou’s work as he playfully explores the forms and effects of mediated communication.
Gathering and Kouagou’s collaboration began with the exhibition of his 2023 video work A Change of Perspective in the group show Violins/Violence and continued with the gallery’s support of his commission for the Palais de Tokyo this year. In November 2024, Gathering will present a solo exhibition of Kouagou’s work.
Solo and Group Exhibitions
2024
Sorry, but your Beloved Mum is Not Always Right!, Westfalischer Kunstverein. Munich, Germany
Please don’t be yourself, Fragment Gallery, New York, USA
Please don’t be, MOMA Warsaw, Poland
A message for everybody, Gathering, London, UK
2023
A Change of Perspective, Frac-Ile-de-France. Paris, France
The Guru, Fondation Louis Vuitton. Paris, France
Position and Balance, Nir Altman. Munich, Germany
Direction, Direction?, Sundy Gallery. London, UK
Violins/Violence, Gathering. London, UK
2021
I'll Only Swallow My Own Fluid, Centre Pompidou. Paris, France
Good People TV, Frieze London, curated by Cédric Fauq. London, UK
Will You Feel Comfortable in My Corner? #2, Ariel Feminisms, performance curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah
2020
TBH if it's not about me I'm not really interested, Nir Altman. Munich, Germany
Will You Feel Comfortable in My Corner?, Ariel Feminisms, performance curated by Karen Vestergaard Andersen & Nina Wöhlk. Copenhagen, Denmark
I Like Them They're Nice, Nir Altman, curated by Ndayé Kouagou. Munich, Germany
What is Not Tall, is Not Necessarily Small, HEAD. Geneva, Switzerland
2019
A Simple and Easy Talk About Love, Les Urbaines, performance curated by Deborah Joyce Holman
One Side is Rarely Similar to The Other, Auto Italia. South East London, UK
Gathering Exhibitions
Selected Press
12 Dec 2024
Keshav Anand interviewed Ndayé Kouagou for Something Curated
2 Dec 2024
Ndayé Koaugou’s solo exhibition A Message for Everybody is featured in Wallpaper
24 Oct 2024
To celebrate the opening of the Museum of Modern Art’s headquarters in Warsaw, Ndayé Kouagou will prepare a new performance commissioned by the museum
22 Aug 2024
Frieze features Ndayé Kouagou’s solo exhibition Sorry, but your beloved mom is not always right! at Westfälischer Kunstverein in Münster
27 Jul 2024
Two of Ndayé Kouagou’s videos; Will you feel comfortable in my corner? (2021) and A coin is a coin (2022) have entered French public collections, Fonds d'art contemporain and frac île-de-france collection respectively