INDEPENDENCE CHA CHA (2014 / 2021) Ângela Ferreira Middelheim Antwerp Belgium
Info from Middelheim exhibition :
This installation sculpture is a wooden copy of the facade of a gas station in Lubumbashi (DRC). The Belgian architect Claude Strebelle designed this modernist building in the 1950s for what was then still Elisabethville. The modern interplay of lines symbolized optimism and a so-called progressive colonialism. By showing only the facade of the building, Ferreira makes it clear that these were empty promises. After all, Elisabethville was a segregated city, reserved for white people. The artist develops this idea further in the videos. In one video, two Lubumbashi residents sing a traditional song on the roof of the gas station about the horrors of working in the mines – symbolizing the empty promise that colonialism would bring progress and prosperity to Congo.
An interesting sculpture and a fascinating back story - fav!
(It was dissapointing that England lost last night, but this English team have been an inspiration for many. Sadly, some fans and their terrible behaviour have just been an embarrassment)
(It was dissapointing that England lost last night, but this English team have been an inspiration for many. Sadly, some fans and their terrible behaviour have just been an embarrassment)
Ian