Mónica de Miranda: no longer with the memory but with its future

Beyond Entropy Africa and Oratorio di San Ludovico by Nuova Icona present “no longer with the memory but with its future” an exhibition by the artist Mónica de Miranda, curated by Paula Nascimento on the occasion of Biennale Arte 2022, La Biennale di Venezia.

The exhibition brings together a new body of work by Mónica de Miranda – an interdisciplinary Portuguese artist of Angolan origin whose research-informed practice investigates convergences between politics, identity, gender, memory, and place, as well as the complexities of identity construction within her geographies of affection – and is structured around a video work “Path to the Stars” that finds inspiration in Agostinho Neto’s homonymous poem and was shot in the River Kwanza, Angola’s longest river. The vitality and strength of the ecosystem of the river function as an analogy between the body and water and its relationship to history– the river is linked to the history of the Atlantic.

The exhibition also features photographic work exploring the entanglements between femininity and nature and a text-based installation. Through an oppositional gaze towards history, Mónica’s works advance important discussions about belonging and future-making in the contemporary Anthropocene era.

The exhibition’s title, “no longer with the memory but with its future”, reflects on the dialectic relations between past, present, and future through creative engagement with historical traces to project and imagine new futures. It displays a cosmovision towards new modes of understanding human subjectivity, moving forward the necessary discussion around the relations between human dimensions, such as language and politics, and the environment in which we dwell.

The film Path to the Stars follows the journey of a Heroine from sunrise to sunset, confronted by her own shadow and by different temporalities and micro-narratives, proposing a counter-narrative composed of the complex biographies that overlap and interact: the past and the anti-colonial freedom fighters, the uncertainty of the present and the desire to belong, and projection of the future and the desire to reach a symbiosis with nature and to unfold the ecological crisis that destroys our nature. The central piece works structurally and conceptually as a river from which branches and layers of stories and metaphors unfold.

At a time when humanity is facing various challenges such as increased discrimination, global warming, wars and ecological disasters, “no longer with the memory but with its future” functions as an opportunity to share and seek future directions through creative reflection and imagination.

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication with a foreword by Vittorio Urbani and texts by Paula Nascimento, Ana Nolasco, Marisa Moorman and Yara Nakahanda Monteiro.

Preview Dates
April 20, from 5 pm to 8 pm – Opening Reception
April 23, from 5 pm to 8 pm – Private View with the presence of Monica de Miranda and Paula Nascimento

Exhibition dates:
April 23 to May 29, from Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 7pm

Location: Oratorio di San Ludovico, Calle dei Vecchi, Dorsoduro 2552, Venezia
(vaporetto /water bus stop: S. Basilio)

monicademiranda.org