Curated by Paula Nascimento, the exhibition, an initiative of the Italian association Nuova Icona and the collective Beyond Entropy Africa with the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, opens on April 23, as part of the parallel program of the 59th International Art Biennial of Venice, reads a statement released this Tuesday by the artist's studio.
The exhibition is structured around the video work "Path to the stars".
"Inspired by the homonymous poem by Agostinho Neto, this video was filmed along the Kwanza River, the longest river in Angola, and the vitality and strength of the river's ecosystem works as an analogy between the body and water and their relationship with history – the river is directly in the history of the Atlantic", reads the statement.
This video, considered the exhibition's central work, "works structurally and conceptually like a river with its ramifications and layers of unfolding stories and metaphors".
"No longer with the memory but with its future" also includes photographic works "that explore the relationship between femininity and nature, and an installation with text".
The works exhibit "an opposing view of history, develop important discussions about belonging and about building the future in the contemporary Anthropocene".
The exhibition's title "reflects on the dialectical relationships between past, present and future through creative engagement with historical traits as a way of projecting and imagining new futures". Furthermore, "it presents a cosmovision towards new ways of understanding human subjectivity, developing a necessary discussion around the relationships between human dimensions, such as language and politics, and the environment in which we live".
Mónica de Miranda's studio highlights that, "at a time when humanity faces several challenges, such as increasing discrimination, global warming, wars and ecological disasters, 'no longer with the memory but with its future' serves as an opportunity to share and seek future directions through creative reflection and imagination".
The exhibition is complemented with a publication, which includes an introduction written by Vittorio Urbani and texts by Paula Nascimento, Ana Nolasco, Marisa Moorman and Yara Monteiro.
Mónica de Miranda, who was born in Porto in 1976, is a Portuguese artist of Angolan origin, who lives and works between Lisbon and Luanda.
Using drawing, installation, photography, video and sound, Mónica de Miranda's work is based on themes of urban archeology and personal geography.
Co-founder of Hangar (Centre for Artistic Research), in Lisbon, Mónica de Miranda was nominated in 2019 for the EDP Novos Artistas Award, and in 2014 for the Novo Banco de Fotografia Award.
Mónica de Miranda's work is represented in several collections, both public and private, including the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the National Museum of Contemporary Art and the Nesr Art Foundation and the Lisbon Municipal Archive.
