2002, Year Zero: History as Anti-Politics in the ‘New Angola’

Aesthetic Dissent: Urban Redevelopment and Political Belonging in Luanda, Angola

“…As is the case for worlding projects in other parts of the globe, in African cities hyperbuilding is both a product of transnational capital speculation and about the capacity of the state to perform its sovereign power on an international stage (Ong ). However, literature on Angola has also shown that Luanda's world‐city projects were in many ways less dominated by international inter‐city competition, and more inspired by a political project aimed at entrenching the ruling MPLA's (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) post‐conflict power (Schubert ; Soares de Oliveira ). Constructing the new city involved the effacement of the old, eliminating mnemonic sites that indicated a history outside of MPLA narratives.…”

Descolonização em, de e através das imagens de arquivo “em movimento” da prática artística

“…Ao olhar para este período de descolonização, independência, revolução e início da guerra civil, num contexto de Guerra Fria, Henda está também a oferecer-nos um retrato cinemático, um arquivo visual dos resquícios contemporâneos do patrimó-nio arquitectónico modernista de Luanda (Magalhães & Gonçalves, 2009;Vaz Milheiro, 2012). Construído no período colonial tardio e reapropriado após a independência, este património tem sido demolido e substituído por grandes projectos de renovação urbanística, nomeadamente na baixa e na marginal de Luanda, nos quais se destacam os arranha-céus ao estilo do Dubai (Schubert, 2015;Soares de Oliveira, 2015). Por serem tão caros, estes são muitas vezes deixados vazios e desertos, ilustrando assim um outro tipo de desertificação nesta história.…”

“…Tal como nas obras discutidas anteriormente, o que aqui se examina criticamente são as consequências de uma não-inscrição e de uma amnésia, não só em Portugal, mas também no tecido urbano e na paisagem arquitectónica de Luanda em acelerado processo de gentrificação (Schubert, 2015;Soares de Oliveira, 2015). A inscrição, efectuada através de obstrução visual e material, é posta ao serviço de uma política da história e de uma ética da memória.…”

Decolonization in, of and through the archival “moving images” of artistic practice

“…To these, he adds the stamps typically found in passports and visas, some of which explicitly refer to the departures from Angola and Portugal in 1961 -that is, to the movements of those trying to escape war and conscription -, while others, issued by the Immigration and Borders Service in Portugal, or the Migration and Foreigners Service in Angola, display much more recent dates. As in the works discussed previously, what is being critically examined here is the consequences of non-inscription and amnesia, not only in Portugal, but also in the urban fabric and architectural landscape of Luanda, going through accelerated gentrification (Schubert, 2015;Soares de Oliveira, 2015). Inscription through visual and material obstruction is at the service of a politics of history and an ethics of memory.…”

“…By looking at this period of decolonization, independence, revolution and beginning of the civil war, in a Cold War context, Henda is also offering a cinematic portrait, a visual archive of the contemporary remnants of Luanda's modernist architectural heritage (Magalhães & Gonçalves, 2009;Vaz Milheiro, 2012). Built in the late colonial period and re-appropriated upon independence, this heritage has been going through processes of demolition and replacement by grand new urban regeneration projects, notably in Luanda's downtown and seaside, where Dubai-like skyscrapers stand out (Schubert, 2015;Soares de Oliveira, 2015). Because they are so expensive, many are often left empty and deserted, in what constitutes yet another type of desert in this story.…”