{"id":127131,"date":"2018-07-02T13:00:26","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T17:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=127131"},"modified":"2018-07-02T13:15:46","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T17:15:46","slug":"city-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"City Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Bodys Isek Kingelex with \u00c9toile Rouge Congolaise<\/em> in Nantes, 1993. Photo: Andr\u00e9 Magnin.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the thirty-minute documentary that accompanies the first U.S. retrospective of his work<\/a>, Bodys Isek Kingelez notes that\u00a0\u201ca building without color is like a person without clothes.\u201d Kingelez, who began his artistic career restoring tribal masks at the National Museum in Kinshasa, designed buildings of a multitude of colors. When then Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) won independence from Belgium in 1960, Kingelez began imagining the rehabilitative possibilities of architecture. With colored paper, commercial packaging, plastic, soda cans, and bottle caps, he built models of individual buildings and then, eventually, entire African megacities.\u00a0From now through January 1, the Museum of Modern Art is showing work spanning his full career, from early single-building sculptures to his futuristic late works, which incorporate increasingly unorthodox materials. \u201cThanks to my deep hope for a happy tomorrow,\u201d Kingelez said, \u201cI strive to better my quality, and the better becomes the wonderful.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bodys Isek Kingelez,\u00a0Untitled<\/em>,\u00a0ca. 1980, paper, paperboard, other various materials, 32 15\/16″ \u00d7 14 7\/8″ \u00d7 9 5\/8″.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bodys Isek Kingelez,\u00a0Paris Nouvel<\/em>,\u00a01989, paper, paperboard, other various materials, 33 7\/16″ \u00d7 24″ \u00d7 27 9\/16″.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bodys Isek Kingelez,\u00a0Stars Palme Bouygues<\/em>,\u00a01989, paper, paperboard, other various materials, 39 3\/8″ \u00d7 15 3\/4″ \u00d7 15 3\/4″.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bodys Isek Kingelez,\u00a0Belle Hollandaise<\/em>,\u00a01991, paper, paperboard, other various materials, 21 5\/8″ \u00d7 31 11\/16″ \u00d7 22 1\/16″.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bodys Isek Kingelez,\u00a0Kinshasa la Belle<\/em>,\u00a01991, paper, paperboard, other various materials, 24 13\/16″ \u00d7 21 5\/8″ \u00d7 31 1\/2″.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>


Bodys Isek Kingelez,\u00a0Africanisch<\/em>,\u00a01994, paper, paperboard, plastic, other various materials, 19 11\/16″ \u00d7 22 7\/16″ \u00d7 24″.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bodys Isek Kingelez,\u00a0U.N<\/em>., 1995, paper, paperboard, other various materials, 35 13\/16″ \u00d7 29 1\/8″ \u00d7 20 7\/8″.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bodys Isek Kingelez,\u00a0Sports Internationaux<\/em>,\u00a01997, paper, plastic, other various materials, 35 7\/16″ \u00d7 33 7\/16″ \u00d7 9 13\/16″.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bodys Isek Kingelez,\u00a0Kimbembele Ihunga<\/em>,\u00a01994, paper, paperboard, plastic, other various materials, 51 3\/16″ x 72 13\/16″ x 10′ 5″.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

All images courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  In the thirty-minute documentary that accompanies the first U.S. retrospective of his work, Bodys Isek Kingelez notes that\u00a0\u201ca building without color is like a person without clothes.\u201d Kingelez, who began his artistic career restoring tribal masks at the National Museum in Kinshasa, designed buildings of a multitude of colors. When then Zaire (now the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1539,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2384],"tags":[34551,34553,34552,964],"class_list":["post-127131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-look","tag-bodys-isek-kingelez","tag-democratic-republic-of-congo","tag-kinshasa","tag-sculpture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCity Dreams by Bodys Isek Kingelez<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With colored paper, commercial packaging, plastic, soda cans, and bottle caps, Bodys Isek Kingelez built models of individual buildings and then, eventually, entire African megacities.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"City Dreams by Bodys Isek Kingelez\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"July 2, 2018 \u2013   In the thirty-minute documentary that accompanies the first U.S. retrospective of his work, Bodys Isek Kingelez notes that\u00a0\u201ca building without\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-02T17:00:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-02T17:15:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bodys-isek-kingelez-1-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"674\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bodys Isek Kingelez\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bodys Isek Kingelez\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bodys Isek Kingelez\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/94cd81131344501116ff28246f166713\"},\"headline\":\"City Dreams\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-02T17:00:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-02T17:15:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/\"},\"wordCount\":349,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bodys-isek-kingelez-1-2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Bodys Isek Kingelez\",\"Democratic Republic of Congo\",\"Kinshasa\",\"sculpture\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Look\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/\",\"name\":\"City Dreams by Bodys Isek Kingelez\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bodys-isek-kingelez-1-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-02T17:00:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-02T17:15:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"With colored paper, commercial packaging, plastic, soda cans, and bottle caps, Bodys Isek Kingelez built models of individual buildings and then, eventually, entire African megacities.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bodys-isek-kingelez-1-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bodys-isek-kingelez-1-2.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"City Dreams\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/94cd81131344501116ff28246f166713\",\"name\":\"Bodys Isek Kingelez\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0ef944ac979a262c100b4c1e130fc3a5c00967f3dc8c2a15a31680f536ce65e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0ef944ac979a262c100b4c1e130fc3a5c00967f3dc8c2a15a31680f536ce65e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bodys Isek Kingelez\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/bisekkingelez\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"City Dreams by Bodys Isek Kingelez","description":"With colored paper, commercial packaging, plastic, soda cans, and bottle caps, Bodys Isek Kingelez built models of individual buildings and then, eventually, entire African megacities.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"City Dreams by Bodys Isek Kingelez","og_description":"July 2, 2018 \u2013   In the thirty-minute documentary that accompanies the first U.S. retrospective of his work, Bodys Isek Kingelez notes that\u00a0\u201ca building without","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2018-07-02T17:00:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-07-02T17:15:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":674,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bodys-isek-kingelez-1-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bodys Isek Kingelez","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bodys Isek Kingelez","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/"},"author":{"name":"Bodys Isek Kingelez","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/94cd81131344501116ff28246f166713"},"headline":"City Dreams","datePublished":"2018-07-02T17:00:26+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-02T17:15:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/"},"wordCount":349,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bodys-isek-kingelez-1-2.jpg","keywords":["Bodys Isek Kingelez","Democratic Republic of Congo","Kinshasa","sculpture"],"articleSection":["Look"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/","name":"City Dreams by Bodys Isek Kingelez","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bodys-isek-kingelez-1-2.jpg","datePublished":"2018-07-02T17:00:26+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-02T17:15:46+00:00","description":"With colored paper, commercial packaging, plastic, soda cans, and bottle caps, Bodys Isek Kingelez built models of individual buildings and then, eventually, entire African megacities.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bodys-isek-kingelez-1-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bodys-isek-kingelez-1-2.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/city-dreams\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"City Dreams"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/94cd81131344501116ff28246f166713","name":"Bodys Isek Kingelez","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0ef944ac979a262c100b4c1e130fc3a5c00967f3dc8c2a15a31680f536ce65e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0ef944ac979a262c100b4c1e130fc3a5c00967f3dc8c2a15a31680f536ce65e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bodys Isek Kingelez"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/bisekkingelez\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127131"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127163,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127131\/revisions\/127163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}