Villa Romana and the Gwaertler Stiftung are pleased to announce Nelson Makengo as the recipient of the Gwaertler x Villa Romana Residency. He was selected from an open call among artists previously supported through the Gwaertler Grant. The residency is conceived as a moment of retreat, exchange, and concentrated research within the context of Villa Romana’s international artist community.
Based in Kinshasa, Makengo is a visual artist and filmmaker whose practice navigates the intersection of contemporary art and experimental documentary. Recognised for its visual intensity and social engagement, his work has been presented internationally and backed by institutions including the Sundance Institute and the Doha Film Institute. In 2019, he received the Sharjah Art Foundation Residency Prize at Videobrasil. He is currently developing his project Vieux Kilo and is representing the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026.
The four-week residency will take place in Florence in July 2026 at Villa Romana, a German institution founded in 1905 by artists for artists as a space for autonomy, experimentation, and exchange. During his stay, Makengo will live and work within the rich communal environment of the house, in dialogue with fellow residents and the wider network of curators, researchers, writers, and cultural practitioners.
The Gwaertler Stiftung is an artist-founded Swiss foundation that has supported hundreds of artists worldwide through research and long-term grants for over a decade.
The collaboration between the two institutions seeks to foster contemporary practice through sustained encounters across different artistic and cultural contexts.
