Exhibition: A Spontaneous Tour of Some Monuments of African Architecture

Curated by: Bruno Leitão

Opening: June 2nd, 4pm to 9pm

Dates: Exhibition open until July 24th, from Wednesday to Saturday, between 3pm and 7pm

Place: R. Damasceno Monteiro, 12 R/C | 1170-112 – Lisbon

© Ângela Ferreira, studio coruchéus, Lisbon, October, 2020

HANGAR opens on 2nd June Ângela Ferreira’s solo exhibition A Spontaneous Tour of Some Monuments of African Architecture, curated by Bruno Leitão.

Ângela Ferreira’s (Maputo, 1958) new sculptural work A Spontaneous Tour of Some Monuments of African Architecture, questions the possibility of conceiving a Pan-African architecture through a hybrid language impregnated with traditional African and modernist colonial architecture.

Taking inspiration from Miriam Makeba’s house in Dalaba (Guiné Conacri), characterized by a traditional African structure and enriched with modernist details, the artist followed an instinctual and cumulative approach to produce sculptures that set the basis for an intercultural communication through architecture in the African geo-locality.

Using concrete and basketry and making reference to control towers and rondavels, Ferreira trespasses the dialectic between the so-called rational modern architecture and the more spontaneous constructions resulting from collective work that proliferate in the neighbourhoods of cities like Maputo.

The result of this imaginary-led research is a three-dimensional space to inhabit, where to think about the possibility of a less fragmented, yet more inclusive African architectural landscape.

Ângela Ferreira. Born in Maputo in 1958, she grew up in South Africa and currently lives and works in Lisbon, teaching Fine Art at Lisbon University, where she obtained her doctorate in 2016. Her artistic practise is led by in-depth research on the ongoing impact of colonialism and post-colonialism on contemporary society, and architecture serves her as a starting point to observe the erasure of colonial memory and the refusal of reparation. Her sculptural, sound and videographer homages have continuously referenced economics, political and cultural history of the African continent.

Selected works: Talk Tower for Forough Farrokhzad, 2020; 1 Million Roses for Angela Davis, 2020; Power Structures, 2020; Dalaba: Sol d’Exil, 2019; Pan African Unity Mural, 2018; Remining, 2017; Talk Tower for Diego Rivera, 2017; Boca (2016); Wattle and Daub (2016); Hollows Tunnels, Cavities and more… (2016); A Tendency to Forget (2015); Messy Colonialism: Wild Decolonization, 2015; Revolutionary Traces, 2014; SAAL Brigades, 2014; Independance Cha Cha, 2014; Entrer dans la mine, 2013; Mount Mabu, 2013; Stone Free, 2012; Political Cameras (from Mozambique séries), 2012; Collapsing Structures/Talking Buildings, 2012; Cape Sonnets, 2010-2012; For Mozambique, 2008; Maison Tropicale, 2007.