November 23 — December 21, 2021
Fórum Pan-Africano para a Cultura de Paz,
Bienal de Luanda 2021

Installation: metal frame, PVC boards,
8.665 ribbons, 522 x 400 x 79 cm.
Luanda, Angola

Conceived for
Unfolding urban ambiguities – Prédio do Livro, a project by Paula Nascimento, Jaime Mesquita, Iris B. Chocolate, Kiluanji Kia Henda at 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2021

Emotions raining inside people’s bodies, flowing down into dreams, came into being by thinking about all the people who have lived, loved and maybe died in this modernist building in the shape of a book from colonial time to to-
day. As you mark a page in a book with a ribbon marker, each ribbon symbolizes a momentum in life.

The only thing we can rely on is the fact that
“all things are momentary and pass away.” Scientists have developed a profound under-
standing of the patterns of change and stability that continue the universe. From one day to the next, the water molecules flowing along a river are entirely different, yet the river may stay recognizable intact for millennia.

Neo-Confucianism philosophers stated: “The ways in which things connect are frequently more important than the things themselves.” They recognized that all the patterns of the universe ultimately affect each other, just like multiple ripples on a lake intersecting and creating new patterns.

Likewise, the ribbons create ripples and patterns, they move and interact like a living organism as the wind passes through them. Movements, small or large, invite the observer to meditate and to dream.
(artist statement)

Prédio do Livro, a book-shaped block of flats, is a border between two historical neighbourhoods: on the one hand, the planned colonial residen-
tial area (Miramar) and, on the other hand, what was once considered ‘indigenous’ space, which grew organically with informal settlements (Sambizanga). However, in a city where spaces constantly morph into each other and overlap, the notion of a fixed dividing line, establishing rigid differences, is not possible. In light of new developments and urban regeneration projects, there was a possibility of demolishing the building. There is nothing formally planned; however, our project starts at the fictional moment of WHAT IF Prédio do Livro were to disappear and the boundary open up? How would Sambizanga and Miramar relate to each other? How could we mediate between these disparate zones and the in-between that is revealed, activated and realised?

This project was conceived for the 17th Interna-
tional Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2021. Due to lack of funding only a part of the initial project was exhibited in Venice. The missing part – a poetic installation that refers to the hi(e)stories and memories of the Prédio do Livro – was exhibited at the Bienal de Luanda 2021. Through time and space, in two Biennales, on two continents, the initial proposal came to life.

Partner
Goethe-Institut Angola

Support
Government of Angola, MCTA – Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Environment

Prédio do Livro é uma fronteira entre dois bairros históricos: por um lado, a zona residen-
cial colonial planeada (Miramar) e, por outro,
o que em tempos foi considerado um espaço “indígena” que cresceu organicamente com assentamentos informais (Sambizanga).
No entanto, numa cidade onde os espaços se sobrepõem constantemente, a noção de uma linha divisória fixa, estabelecendo diferenças rígidas, não é possível. À luz dos novos desen-
volvimentos e projectos de regeneração urbana, havia a possibilidade de demolir o Prédio do Livro. Não há nada formalmente previsto; contudo, o projecto começa no momento fictício do E SE o Prédio do Livro desaparecesse e a fronteira se abrisse? Como é que Sambizanga
e Miramar se relacionariam um com o outro? Como poderíamos mediar entre estas zonas díspares e como o intermediário que é revelado, activado e realizado?

O projecto foi concebido para a 17th Interna-
tional Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2021. Devido à falta de financiamento apenas uma parte do projecto inicial foi exibido em Veneza. A parte em falta – uma instalação poética que remete as hi(e)stórias e memórias do Prédio do Livro – foi exibida durante a Bienal de Luanda 2021. Através do tempo e do espaço, em duas Bienais, em dois continentes, a proposta inicial ganhou vida.