Sights and Sounds: Angola
Sights and Sounds: Angola features new work by Binelde Hyrcan, Paulo Azevedo, Angel Ihosvanny Cisneros Felicidade, and Iris Buchholz Chocolate, selected by Suzana Souza.
The four artists whose work is featured in this exhibition – Binelde Hyrcan, Paulo Azevedo, Angel Ihosvanny Cisneros Felicidade, and Iris Buchholz Chocolate – blend imagination and history, revealing new narratives as they reinterpret Angolan stories. These four artists share a willingness to question, reflect upon, and tell stories from Angola, a young country, independent since 1975. Their videos are global in their use of language and visual elements. However, their storytelling is complicated by the way they present their subjects: more often than not, we find historical moments and cultural details reinterpreted, rather than presented in a natural way.
In some cases, only fragments of the real world are visible: the city walls of Luanda, for instance, as they appear in Ihosvanny’s Noise, or the partial view of Carnival and its traditions as seen in the slow-motion gestures of dancers in Azevedo’s work. Without the music and background crowds, the subject would be unrecognizable. Meanwhile, Chocolate offers her own poetic reading of the country by immersing herself in the local culture, past and present. And Hyrcan engages the viewer through the fantasy life of kids. For these artists, imagination and history connect and construct meaning, allowing the viewer to discover new narratives in otherwise known stories.
Suzana Sousa (b. Luanda, 1981) has a Master of Arts in postcolonial cultures and global policy at Goldsmiths College, University of London. An independent curator, she has worked in Angola since 2003.
About Sights and Sounds: Global Film and Video
This long-term series offers a rotating selection of vigorous film and video works by contemporary artists from around the world — with a particular emphasis on work being made outside western Europe and the United States.
Sights and Sounds: Global Film and Video is a long-term presentation of new film and video works made in the sphere of the visual arts. The series offers a rotating selection of vigorous works by contemporary artists from around the world. It introduces New York audiences to the latest developments in filmmaking within the art context and underlines the Jewish Museum’s holistic and global approach to the understanding and presentation of art and culture.
Sights and Sounds takes advantage of the straightforward way film and video travel: shipped on discs or streamed online, these works provide an instant connection to new creative practices from even the most remote locations.
Twenty-five international curators have selected new film and video work from their respective regions of the world—ranging from Argentina to Vietnam, Nigeria to Romania, New Zealand to China, and many places in between. Their picks are screened for one month each in the museum’s media center, which has been turned into a miniature cinema for the occasion.
The works in Sights and Sounds touch on themes significant to both Jewish culture and universal human experience: spirituality, exile, language, conflict, family, humor, history. The series creates a broad network of artistic expression and curatorial perspectives that takes stock of what is happening in film and video art at this moment in time across the globe—with a particular emphasis on work being made outside western Europe and the United States.
Sights and Sounds will culminate with a selection of highlights from the series. One work from each country will be presented in the gallery from February 5, 2016 to June 30, 2016.
Jens Hoffmann
Deputy Director
Exhibitions and Public Programs
Installation view of Sights and Sounds: Global Film and Video in the Goodkind Media Center. Photo by David Heald.
Exhibition highlights
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Binelde Hyrcan, still from Cambeck, 2010, video, sound, 10 min., 11 sec. Artwork © Binelde Hyrcan, provided by Foundation Sindika Dokolo and Luis Silva Collections
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Paulo Azevedo, still from Kazukuta 365 Degrees, 2012, video, sound, 3 min., 12 sec. Artwork © 2012 Paulo Azevedo
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Angel Ihosvanny Cisneros Felicidade, still from Noise, 2013, video, sound, 2 min., 52 sec. Artwork © Angel Ihosvanny Cisneros Felicidade
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Iris Buchholz Chocolate, still from Os sonhos do embondeiro (Baobab’s Dreams), 2012, video, sound, 14 min., 14 sec. Artwork © Iris Buchholz Chocolate