Flag of Angola II revisits and reconstructs the original Flag of Angola produced in Luanda in 2010, at the beginning of Paulo Moreira’s doctoral research. Recreated in Portugal in 2017, the work preserves the form and material language of the original piece while relocating it to a new geographical and institutional context.
Produced during the construction works of INSTITUTO, then still an unfinished building site in Porto, the sculpture was assembled using reclaimed and readily available materials. As in the original version, the familiar red and black composition of the Angolan flag is transformed into a three-dimensional object, shifting attention from the symbolic image itself to the material conditions of its making. The use of concrete, found materials, and manual labour foregrounds processes of construction, reuse, and adaptation, while revealing the physical substance behind a national symbol.
Presented in the exhibition Poder Arquitetura at the inaugural programme of the Casa da Arquitectura, Flag of Angola II extended questions first explored in Luanda regarding nationhood, representation, labour, and material culture. By reproducing the work seven years later and in a different context, the project also reflects on displacement, and the circulation of ideas, objects, and practices between Angola and Portugal.
The work was exhibited in Poder Arquitetura, Casa da Arquitectura, Matosinhos, from 17 November 2017 to 18 March 2018, in an exhibition curated by architects Jorge Carvalho, Pedro Bandeira, and Ricardo Carvalho