October 14 — November 27, 2016
MAAN Luanda, Angola

Project description
“We have to understand that the past is present in our present. On the side of the victims’ and the offenders’ feelings and fears are still effec-
tive in the generations of the grandchildren and their children. […] Horror and despair passed
on through silence. It took time to realize how immortal the past can be. Not because we want to keep it in mind as memory, sorrow and warning. But because the past becomes effec-
tive in men, who were only born when the visibly destructive events had already come to an end. […] Psychologists call it transgenera-
tional trauma, even though emotional injury is passed on differently between siblings in a family system. […] Let us understand how the past is ‘between us’. How we live in several time layers – whether we want or not. How others, beside us, carry and feel the past.” (The pain
of the future generations)

The project was initially inspired by the novel
“A Sul. O Sombreiro”, written by Pepetela. The novel takes us to Angola in the XVI and XVII Centuries and takes place during the beginning of colonial rule. The arrangement of the faceless suspended figures reminds of a chess game or a typical museum display of an ancient knight’s armour or clothing. The figures appear as meta-
phors of military power, the ecclesiastical power of the church and the secular power of the royal court. The female wig reminds of a lady at court; the male wig refers to a judge. The chosen medi-
um is braided hair, definitive of African hairstyles.

Over one thousand plaits have been braided in collaboration with an Angolan community close to the studio and one hairdresser. The feather
of the military helmet is also reproduced with thin plaits. The Sona design on the imperial mantel robe tells the legend of the Cokwe people telling why man is mortal. The feathers refer to the Latin American part of my family, my aunt: the illegitimate child of my grandfather born
to a native American women in Guatemala.
The color scheme of the feathers is based on the famous feather headdress of Moctezuma II (Aztec). The original is exhibited in the Weltmu-
seum in Vienna, Austria. The Mexican govern-
ment has asked for the return of the object, for many years in vain, which has an enormous cultural value for the Mexican people, raising the question of ownership.

The exhibition space is dark and the objects are illuminated in a theatrical way. The projections reflect the spirits of the Bakamas from the north of Angola (Cabinda) in a poetic way, permitting interaction between the living and occult spirits – the Gods and the Ancestors – to secure the reconciliation between the Dead and the Living. The basis of the exhibition sound is composed
of bird cawing imitated by a human voice, an entire soundworld refering to the tropical rainforest has been composed by the Angolan musical artist Victor Gama.

During the opening the Angolan singer and songwriter Irina Vasconcelos will perform “le fou du roi”, who invents a dialogue with the suspended figures: a reflection on how the past maybe reconciled with the contemporary.

Various series of wooden framed wax studies/drawings complete the exhibtion.

It’s about shifting the gaze. The consequences and traumas left by colonialism on the still
very young post-colonial nations, has been and remains omnipresent throughout the genera-
tions. It is not just about reflecting on the past, considering how the very conception of modern European society and its economic system can-
not be approached without its colonial condi-
tionality and crimes; it is to look at where we are today in amongst a perpetual politics of expan-
sion and racism. In this global game of chess,
all too often hypocrisy wins over humanity.

Being German inevitably reflects the legacy of the Holocaust into this work, and significantly also, the Herero and Namaqua genocides Germany committed in German South-West Africa (modern-day Namibia) at beginning of last Century. The slow process of recognizing and accepting historical and moral responsi-
bility is there.

MAAN — Memorial Dr. António Agostinho Neto
Avenida Dr. António Agostinho Neto,
Praia do Bispo,
Ingombota, Luanda, Angola

Patron
Pepetela

Artist
Iris Buchholz Chocolate

in collaboration with
Victor Gama (sound)
Irina Vasconcelos (performance)

Curator
André Cunha

Educational Program
vamos ler!
Ludmila Böse

Executive Producer
Jahmek Contemporary Art
Mehak Vieira

Exhibition Design
Atelier Mulemba
Coral Gillett, Helder Pereira

Colaborators
Helena Paulo Zau (plaiting)
Edna Bernadete (hairdresser)
Atelier Renato & Co,
Norbert Tlusti & Peter Sramek
(Feather & Couture)

Exhibition
Terça à Sexta das 9 às 16 horas
Sábados, Domingos e Feriados
das 10 às 16 horas

Main sponsor
BCGA Banco Caixa Geral Angola

Sponsors
Goethe-Institut Angola
Lufthansa Cargo Johannesburg
ITA – Internet Technologies Angola
ENSA Empresa Nacional de Seguros de Angola

Support
Embaixada da República Federal da Alemanha
Alliance Française Luanda
BIG Media

Acknowledgements
Alain van Rossum
Natascha Mendes
Andrea Krolo
Lothar Heinrich
Eva Natzke
Natalie Weber
Hilla Poma
Marisa Sousa Cristino
Rui Casal and Ernestinho
João Vunga (Juju)
Claudio Chocolate