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

Beyond Entropy and Nuova Icona present Mónica de Miranda no longer with the memory but with its future curated by Paula Nascimento. 

On the occasion of the 59th Venice Biennale, Beyond Entropy Africa and Nuova Icona present, at the Oratorio di San Ludovico in Venice, the solo exhibition “no longer with the memory but with its future” by the artist Mónica de Miranda, curated by Paula Nascimento, produced by Beyond Entropy Africa and Nuova Icona with the support of Fondazione Morra and of AlbumArte, and thanks to the sponsorship of the platform for art Materia and the Caluste Gulbenkian Foundation.

The show is open to the public from April 20 to May 29 (Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 7pm) and will be inaugurated on April 20 (from 5 to 8pm). A private view with the artist and the curator will be on Saturday, April 23 (from 5 to 8pm) at the Oratorio di San Ludovico, Calle dei Vecchi, Dorsoduro 2552, Venice. 

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 own geographies of affection—and is structured around a video work Path to the Stars (2022) 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 the 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.

Hours: Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 7pm

Press office: The Link PR, press [​at​] thelinkpr.it / Info: Nuova Icona, info [​at​] nuovaicona.org / AlbumArte, info [​at​] albumarte.org

Produced by: Beyond Entropy Africa and Nuova Icona in partnership with Fondazione Morra e AlbumArte
Thanks to Sponsorship: Materia—Gold Sponsorship, Fondazione Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbona.
Galleries support:  Sabrina Amrani Gallery, Jahmek Contemporary Art, Carlos Carvalho Arte Contemporânea 
Collaboration of: Mercedes Vilardell, Mário Castelbranco, Artworks, Fineprint, Geração 80