Angola, a kingdom

At the Gopher Hole, a new pop-up show by Paulo Moreira presents an investigation on the Angolan territory of Luanda shown through artefacts, research and interviews.

On April 5, the new exhibition "Angola is not a small kingdom" will open at the Gopher Hole in London. Curated by Paulo Moreira, a Portuguese architect and researcher who was just awarded the Prémio Távora 2012 (one of Portugal's most prestigious architecture prizes), the pop-up show presents an investigation on the Angolan territory of Luanda through artifacts, research and interviews, including the screening of two short films featuring testimonies from Angolan urban migrants and former Portuguese colonisers, focusing on social and spatial circumstances before and after Angola's independence.

"Angola is not a Small Kingdom", Paulo Moreira 2012. A provocative re-ennactment of the colonial map, inverting the places of former colonizer and colonized nations, made exclusively for the exhibition at The Gopher Hole

Ten years have passed since the end of Angola's civil war, in 2002. Since then, the country's neoliberal trajectory, fueled by the burgeoning oil industry, has turned its capital, Luanda, into the World's most expensive city. However, current debates fall short on grasping the numerous stakeholders in Angola's recent development, mainly because they fail to embrace aspects of urban "informality". The exhibition delves into the hidden territories of Luanda, which turns out to be far more complex than a commonplace "World Class City" surrounded by desperate "informal settlements". Which aspects tie the urban continuum together? How does the city work? A collection of visual elements and artefacts, produced during on-site participatory workshops and off-site research and editing, contribute to address these questions.

Angolan Flag built with recycled materials provided by Angolan citizens. Paulo Moreira 2010. Photo by Paulino Damião

The exhibition presents drawings and maps based on "outdated" (colonial) modes of representing the territories of Angola. The intention is to interpret the historical role of maps: does this strategy make sense now that the political situation has changed? The materials produced during fieldwork result from an ongoing dialogue between planning entities and city-dwellers, ranging from local authorities and citizens, to NGOs and architecture students. The "Chicala 2011: Workshop for Social Architecture", organized in collaboration with two schools of architecture, had the participation of over 70 local architecture students and 200 residents. It consisted of data collection and design proposals that not only provided rich materials, but invoked, to some extent, absent institutions and future aspirations.

Chicala 2011: Workshop for Social Architecture. Photo by Willyan Evandro

"Angola is not a small kingdom" will include the launch of a book edited by Paulo Moreira — "Chicala is not a small neighbourhood" — presenting a a comprehensive compilation of contributions by emerging and established experts, practitioners and researchers from different fields, focusing on topics of urban informality in Luanda. This will be followed by a closing party, to the sound of Angolan music.

Chicala 2011: Workshop for Social Architecture. Photo by Paulino Damião

Angola is not a small kingdom
The Gopher Hole
350—354 Old Street, London
5 April 2012

"Portugal is not a Small Country", Henrique Galvão 1934. Image credit: Secretariado da Propaganda Nacional

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