Sammy Baloji: In Borrowed Tongues: On Extraction, Architecture, and Ornament

In Borrowed Tongues: On Extraction, Architecture, and Ornament marks the first solo museum exhibition of Sammy Baloji’s work in the United States. A Congolese artist based in Brussels, Belgium, his work highlights his ongoing research into the material, formal, and symbolic traces of colonialism and extractive economies in Western architecture and the decorative arts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Exploring the historical connections between Europe, Central Africa, and the Atlantic world, this series presents architecture as a field shaped not only by design, but also by imperial histories, global trade, and systems of representation.

Through a dynamic selection of works and collaborations, this exhibition brings these often-overlooked histories into focus, inviting audiences to see architecture in new ways and to consider how its histories continue to shape the present. By making visible the colonial conditions embedded within these structures and objects, the exhibition opens space for critical reflection, dialogue, and new ways of thinking about architecture’s past, present, and future.