Aesthetic Autopsy. Collective Memory and Trauma in Contemporary Art from Angola

Angolan history is mainly a history of wars. After the long anti-colonial fight (1961 – 1974) that ended with the independence of the country in 1975, a civil war between the former independence movements started. In the 1980s, Angola was the venue for a proxy war between the Socialist bloc and Western countries, supporting the different protagonists fighting on Angolan territory. After the crumbling of cold war ideologies in 1989, the war continued as a struggle for political hegemony and access to natural resources until 2002, devastating lands, economy and social structures. These historical events might have led to trauma with the utmost probability. Nevertheless, there is no public discourse on the civil war and no reconciliation policy. This might be due to its adjacency, suggesting that traumatising events need several years before being far away enough to be talked about. But still there are some approaches by contemporary artists worth to look at. In this paper I critically explore the perspectives employed by the artists dealing with these topics. My central question is, if art might offer another, maybe even alternative perspective on engagement with the memory of the civil war that goes beyond the normative truth and reconciliation discourse dominant in southern Africa that focuses on forgiveness. Can art be a coherent form to remediate memory or is it actually rather pointing towards the unrepresentability of trauma

Climate controls on the variability of fires in the tropics and subtropics

In the tropics and subtropics, most fires are set by humans for a wide range of purposes. The total amount of burned area and fire emissions reflects a complex interaction between climate, human activities, and ecosystem processes. Here we used satellite-derived data sets of active fire detections, burned area, precipitation, and the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (fAPAR) during 1998-2006 to investigate this interaction. The total number of active fire detections and burned area was highest in areas that had intermediate levels of both net primary production (NPP; 500-1000 g C

Comparative genomic profiling of glandular bladder tumours

Abstract Primary glandular bladder tumours (bladder adenocarcinoma [BAC], urachal adenocarcinoma [UAC], urothelial carcinoma with glandular differentiation [UCg]) are rare malignancies with histological resemblance to colorectal adenocarcinoma (CORAD) in the majority of this subgroup. Definite case numbers are very low, molecular data are limited and the pathogenesis remains poorly understood. Therefore, this study was designed to complement current knowledge by in depth analysis of BAC (n = 12), UAC (n = 13), UCg (n = 11) and non-invasive glandular lesions (n = 19). In BAC, in addition to known alterations in TP53, Wnt, MAP kinase and MTOR pathway, mutations in SMAD4, ARID1A and BRAF were identified. Compared to published data on muscle invasive bladder cancer (BLCA) and CORAD, UCg exhibited frequent “urothelial” like alterations while BAC and UAC were characterised by a more “colorectal” like mutational pattern. Immunohistochemically, there was no evidence of DNA mismatch repair deficiency or PD-L1 tumour cell positivity in any sample. Depending on the used antibody 0–45% of BAC, 0–30% of UCg and 0% UAC cases exhibited PD-L1 expressing tumour associated immune cells. A single BAC (9%, 1/11) showed evidence of ARID1A protein loss, and two cases of UCg (20%, 2/10) showed loss of SMARCA1 and PBRM1, respectively. Taken together, our data suggest at least in part involvement of similar pathways driving tumourigenesis of adenocarcinomas like BAC, UAC and CORAD independent of their tissue origin. Alterations of TERT and FBXW7 in single cases of intestinal metaplasia further point towards a possible precancerous character in line with previous reports

Jesus, Che, Luaty: on the relationship between a digital picture and an iconic image in political iconography in Angola

This essay makes a close examination of a selection of images of the Angolan rapper Luaty Beirão, who became internationally known as a political activist during his imprisonment in June 2015, accused of staging a coup d'état. By analyzing and interpreting images that were highly mediatized during that period, this article shows how political iconography can be traced back to Christian iconography and other images. Such filiations of images and their mediatization invoke a power that contributes to the formation of political and popular icons. This article analyzes this nexus by deconstructing the transmutation of a photograph into a popular icon

Art topples monuments: artistic practice and colonial/postcolonial relations in the public space of Luanda

Even though there have been very few modern and contemporary artworks in the urban space of Luanda in the years after independence in 1975—and especially after the end of the civil war in 2002—there are two works by Angolan artists that are of particular interest: the sculpture Mitologias II (1984) by António Ole (b. 1951) and the photographic series Redefining the Power (2011) by Kiluanji Kia Henda (b. 1978). Both works address the possibility of using contemporary art as a symbolic form of the replacement of power, since both are built on pedestals that had previously supported monuments of Portuguese colonial power. They might, therefore, be read as a form of substitution for monuments that would commemorate and celebrate independence or the end of colonialism. This article also discusses whether these two artworks can also be regarded as counter-monuments and this contributes to the discourse on the visual and material culture of Lusophone Africa

Archive re(mix): Vues d'Afrique

International audienceThe production of art, visual and textual, as an exercise in exploring archival materials and techniques has been with us for some time now. While much has been written on the subject, its deployement in Africa has drawn relatively little attention. In this collection of essays, scholars in the field of literature and visual arts engage with cultural practitioners at work on these and related matters across the continent. The approach is emphatically multi and trans-disciplinary. The authors seek to mix and to meld approaches, bringing literary and art historical studies into the ambit of anthropology and sociology, epistemology and philosophy - and vice versa. The goal is to break down boundaries between genres. This is expressed both in the subjects covered - from hip hop to museology, sculpture, installation, film, photography and theatre- and in the ways they are addressed by authors intent on exploring multiple layers of encounter between artist(s) and archive(s).La production d'art, visuel et textuel, en tant qu'instrument d'exploration des matériaux et des techniques relatifs à l'archive, est une pratique qui nous est familière. Si le sujet a fait couler beaucoup d'encre, la place qu'il occupe en Afrique a attiré relativement peu d'attention. Dans cette collection d’essais, des chercheurs en littérature et en arts visuels se penchent sur les travaux archivistiques de créateurs à l’œuvre à travers le continent. L'approche est multi- et transdisciplinaire. Les contributions s’efforcent de mélanger et de faire fusionner les approches, faisant évoluer les études de littérature et d'histoire de l'art dans les champs de l'anthropologie, la sociologie, de l’épistémologie ou encore de la philosophie - et vice versa. Le but est d'abolir les frontières entre les genres. Ce qui transparait tant à travers les modes d'expression abordés - qui vont du hip-hop à la muséologie, à la sculpture, en passant par l'installation, le film, la photographie ou le théâtre- qu'à travers la façon dont ils sont évoqués par des auteurs déterminés à explorer les multiples facettes de la rencontre entre artiste(s) et archive(s)

Archive re(mix)

La production d'art, visuel et textuel, en tant qu'instrument d'exploration des matériaux et des techniques relatifs à l'archive, est une pratique qui nous est familière. Si le sujet a fait couler beaucoup d'encre, la place qu'il occupe en Afrique a attiré relativement peu d'attention. Dans cette collection d’essais, des chercheurs en littérature et en arts visuels se penchent sur les travaux archivistiques de créateurs à l’œuvre à travers le continent. L'approche est multi- et transdisciplinaire. Les contributions s’efforcent de mélanger et de faire fusionner les approches, faisant évoluer les études de littérature et d'histoire de l'art dans les champs de l'anthropologie, la sociologie, de l’épistémologie ou encore de la philosophie - et vice versa. Le but est d'abolir les frontières entre les genres. Ce qui transparait tant à travers les modes d'expression abordés - qui vont du hip-hop à la muséologie, à la sculpture, en passant par l'installation, le film, la photographie ou le théâtre- qu'à travers la façon dont ils sont évoqués par des auteurs déterminés à explorer les multiples facettes de la rencontre entre artiste(s) et archive(s).The production of art, visual and textual, as an exercise in exploring archival materials and techniques has been with us for some time now. While much has been written on the subject, its deployement in Africa has drawn relatively little attention. In this collection of essays, scholars in the field of literature and visual arts engage with cultural practitioners at work on these and related matters across the continent. The approach is emphatically multi and trans-disciplinary. The authors seek to mix and to meld approaches, bringing literary and art historical studies into the ambit of anthropology and sociology, epistemology and philosophy - and vice versa. The goal is to break down boundaries between genres. This is expressed both in the subjects covered - from hip hop to museology, sculpture, installation, film, photography and theatre- and in the ways they are addressed by authors intent on exploring multiple layers of encounter between artist(s) and archive(s)