© Kiluanji Kia Henda

Site specific conceived, A Ilha de Vénus (The Island of Venus) physically transforms the space of Hangar’s gallery and joins elements of European history and culture in one object. Kiluanji Kia Henda addresses the apparent mobility of culture in European and African contexts. Mobility also serves to rethink some of the current and past processes of the European institutions.

Bios

Kiluanji Kia Henda was born in Angola in 1979, he lives and works in Lisbon and Luanda. Being a self-taught artist, Henda was inspired by South African John Liebenberg’s photojournalism on apartheid and the Angolan civil war. In his multimedia works he engages with the colonial past of Angola and the African continent in a humorous and ironic way, challenging notions of identity, politics and modernity. In his most recent creations he also looks at urban and architectural elements. In 2012 Kiluanji Kia Henda received the National Award for Culture and the Arts from the Angolan Ministry of Culture

Bruno Leitão (b. Lisbon, 1979) lives and works between Madrid and Lisbon. With a degree in Fine Arts (ESAD-CR) and diploma in Curatorial Studies at FBAUL/Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Bruno Leitão is a PhD candidate at UCLM (Spain) – thesis title “Curating between the political and formalism.” Leitão is a contributor for Dardo Magazine, Artishock and Atlantica (CAAM) and his texts can be found in catalogues such as The Gap (curated by Luc Tuymans for the Parasol Unit and MUKHA).He is the curatorial director of Hangar Centre for Artistic Research.As independent curator, some of his most relevant works are Bienal de Vila Franca de Xira, 2015; You love me You love me notat Galeria Municipal Almeida Garrett, Porto, Portugal, 2015; El Buen Caligrama with Alain Arias Misson, Detanico Lain, Musa Paradisiaca and Los Torreznos at Gallery The Goma, Madrid, Spain, 2015; Narrativas Culturales, with Carlos Amorales, Sara Ramo, Marlon de Azambuja and Miguel Palma at Galería Paula Alonso, Madrid, Spain 2014; Atelier Utopia Miguel Palma, EDP Foundation Porto, Portugal, 2012; Contra/cto with Carlos Nogueira, Felipe Ehrenberg, Los Torreznos, Sandra Gamarra and Sara e André, 3+1 Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon, Portugal, 2014.