KILUANJI KIA HENDA born 1979, Luanda, Angola. Currently lives and works in Luanda, Angola. His connection with music and avant-garde theatre is an integral part of his education as do his collaborations with various collectives and artists in Luanda.
He has participated in several artist-in-residency programs in the cities of Venice, Cape Town, Paris, Amman and Sharjah amongst others.
Kia Henda has participated in the following selection of exhibitions: 1st Luanda Triennial (2007); Check List Luanda Pop, African Pavillion, Venice Biennial, 2007; Farewell to Post-Colonialism, Guangzhou Triennial, 2008; There is always a cup of sea to sail in, 29ª Bienal de São Paulo, 2010; Tomorrow Was Already Here, Museo Tamayo, México City, 2012; Les Prairies – Les Ateliers de Rennes, 2012; Mondays Begins On Saturday, 1ª Bergen Triennial, 2013; The Shadows Took Form, The Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, 2013; Producing the Common, Dakar Biennial, Dakar, 2014; The Divine Comedy, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt and The Smithsonian Institute, Washington, 2014; Surround the Audience, New Museum Triennial, New York, 2015; Museum (Science) Fictions - MUSEUM ON/OFF, Centre George Pompidou, Paris, 2016; Constellations, Tate Gallery, 2017.
In 2012, Kia Henda won the National Culture and Art Prize of the Ministery of Culture in Angola, and in 2014 he was selected as one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers by the Foreign Politics magazine. In 2017 he won the Frieze Artist Award and was selected to for the Unlimited Basel 2019 edition.
His work is present in public and private collections of wich we highlight: Museum of Modern Art, Warwaw, Poland; Tate Modern, Collection of Contemporary Art, London, UK; Fondazione di Venezia, Public Collection, Venice, Italy; Sindika Dokolo, African Collection of Contemporary Art, Luanda, Angola; Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia; Collezione Sciarretta (Nomas Foundation), Private Collection, Rome, Italy; Rui Costa Reis, Private Collection of Contemporary Art, Luanda, Angola; Metropolitana di Napoli, Public collection, Napoli, Italy; Fundação PLMJ, Public Collection, Lisbon, Portugal; Emile Stipp, Video Art Collection, Johannesburg, South Africa
GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES
2013
Artist-in-residence, Darat Al Funun - Kalid Shoman Foundation, Amman, Jordan
Artist-in-residence, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
2011
Artist-in-residence, Institut Français e BétonSalon-Centre d´Art de Recherche, Paris, France
2010
Artist-in-residence, Fondazione di Venezia e Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice, Italy
2008
Artist-in-residence, Blank Projects, Swiss Arts Council ProHelvetia, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Cape Town, South Africa
Artist-in-residence, 3.ª Trienal de Guangzhou, Sindika Dokolo Foundation and Guandong Museum, Guangzhou, China
2007
Artist-in-residence, Espaço ZDB - Associação Zé dos Bois, Lisboa, Portugal
2006
Artist-in-residence programme, 1ª Trienal de Luanda, Luanda, Angola
PRIZES
2017
Frieze Artist Award
2014
Nominated as one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers by Foreign Politics
2012
Winner of the National Prize of Culture and Arts, Ministry of Culture, Luanda, Angola
2011
Nominated for BES Photo prize, Lisbon
Nominated for Paul Huff Award, FOAM, Amsterdam, Netherlands
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017
A City Called Mirage, International Studio and Curatorial Practice (ISCP), New York, USA
In the Days of a Dark Safari, Galeria Filomena Soares, Lisbon, Portugal
2016
This Is My Blood, public installation for the Steiricher Herbst Festival, Graz, Austria
Concrete Affection, Galleria Fonti, Naples, Italy
A City Called Mirage, Galleria Fonti, Naples, Italy
2014
A City Called Mirage, Galeria Filomena Soares, Lisbon, Portugal
2013
New Man – Homem Novo, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Austria
2012
Homem Novo, Art|43|Basel, Art|Statements, Galleria Fonti, Basel, Switzerland
2010
Trans It, SOSO Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
self-portrait as a white man, Galleria Fonti, Naples, Italy
2008
Estórias e Diligências, SOSO Gallery, Luanda, Angola
Portraits from a Slippery Look, Goethe Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
Expired Trading Products, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2007
Between the two red telephones, Galleria Fonti, Naples, Italy
Ngola Bar, Centro de Arte de Sines, Sines, Portugal
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019
Imperfect Societies, Burlington City Arts, Vermont, USA
Artfact 2019: Parallel Crossings, Stuk Art Center, Leuven, Belgium
Affective Utopia, Kadist Fondation, Paris
2017
The Images of War, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; The Albuquerque Museum, NM; Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX, USA
Afrique Capitales Cape of Good Hope Here We Come, Gare Saint Sauveur, Lille; Parc de La Villette, Paris, France
Future Africa Vision in Time, National Museum of Nairobi, Kenya
Another Day of Life, Tate Gallery, Liverpool, UK
Concrete Futures, Close-Up Cinema, London, UK
South - South: Let me begin again, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Fuckin´Globo III, Hotel Globo, Luanda, Angola
2016
New Revolutions, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Only In The Western World, Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art Salzburg-Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Ulla, Ulla, Ulla, Ulla! Marcianos, Intergalácticos e Humanos, Casa Nova Arte e Cultura Contemporânea, São Paulo, Brazil
Constellations, Tate Gallery, Liverpool, UK
Fuckin´Globo II, Hotel Globo, Luanda, Angola
Built, World, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, USA
The Incantation of the Disquieting Muse, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
New Revolutions, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg / Cape Town, South Africa
Museum (science) fictions – Museum ON/OFF, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Someplace Else Right Now, The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, Frank Zappa Studio, Hollywood, USA
Things Fall Apart – Red Africa, Calvert 22 Foundation, London, UK; Bayreuth, Germany; Lisbon, Portugal
Kabbo Ka Mwuala (The Girls Basket), National Galley of Zimbabwe, Harare
Passages, Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh
2015
Making Africa, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
To Be Young, Black and Gifted, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
This Is Not My History, Rotor – Center For Contemporary Art, Graz, Austria
After Year Zero, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland
Resignifications, Museo Bardini, Florence, Italy
Art and The City, Festival of Public Art, Zurich, Switzerland
Surrounding The Audience, New Museum Triennial, New York, USA
The Divine Comedy, Museum of African Art - Smithsonian Institution, Washington, USA
You Love Me, You Love Me Not, Galeria da Camâra Municipal, Porto, Portugal
Fuckin´ Globo, Hotel Globo, Luanda, Angola
Uma Delicada Zona de Compromisso, Quadrum - Galeria de Arte, Lisbon, Portugal
Future Africa Visions In Time, Iwalewa-Haus, Bayreut, Germany
As margens dos mares, Sesc Pinheiros, São Paulo, Brazil
You love me you love me not, Biblioteca Almeida Garrett, Porto, Portuga
2014
Ilha de São Jorge, Piccolo Teatro – Fondazione Cini, Venice, Italy
Giving Contours to the Shadow, N.B.K and Savvy Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
Producing the Common, 11th Dakar Biennale – Dak´Art, Dakar
New Africa, LaVilla – Kulte Gallery and Editions, Casablanca, Morocco
The Divine Comedy, Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt, Germany
INSERT2014_Mati Ghar - Indira Ghandi National Centre of the Arts, New Delhi, India
A Thousand of Him Scattered: Relative Newcomers in Diaspora, Stills - Scotland’s Centre for Photography, Edinburgh, UK
2013
Giving Form to the Impatience of Liberty, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany
Close, Closer - The Real and Other Fictions, 3ª Trienial de Arquitectura de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Monday Begins on Sunday, Bergen Assembly: An Initiative for Art and Research, Bergen, Norway
The Beautiful Ones, Nolan Judin Gallery, Berlin, Germany
El mañana ya estuvo aquí, MARCO – Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Monterry, Mexico
Present Tense, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal
Private Lives, Centro Cultural de Cascais, Portugal
No Fly Zone. Unlimited Mileage, Museu Colecção Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal
2012
Tomorrow Was Already Here, Tamayo Museum, Mexico City, Mexico
Les Praires, Les Ateliers de Rennes-Biennale of Contemporary Art, Les Praires, Rennes, France
SuperPower: Africa in Science Fiction, Arnolfini Art Center, Bristol, UK
You Are Now Entering, CCA_Derry, London, UK
Double Bounded Economy- Reading the East German Photo Archive, Halle 14, Leipzig, Germany
Experimental Station, Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial Laboral, Gijon, Spain
2011
Spacecraft Icarus 13 and Narratives Progressive from Elsewhere, Basis voor actuele kunst (BAK), Utrecht, Netherlands
Other Possible Worlds – Proposals on This Side of Utopia, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin, Germany
Propaganda by Monuments, Contemporary Image Centre (CIC), Cairo, Egypt
The days of This Society Are Counted, Abrons Art Center, New York, USA
2010
There is always a cup of sea to sail in, 29a Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil
Self-Portrait As White Man, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice, Italy
Wild is the Wind, Savannah College for Art and Design, Atlanta, USA
2009
Black Atlantic, ar/ge kunst Galerie Museum, Bolzano, Italy
Luanda: Smooth and Rave, Grand Theatre, Evento Bienal, Bordeux, France; Museu Solar do Ferrão, Bahia, Brazil Museu Nacional de História Natural, Luanda, Angola
Luanda: Anatomia da Velocidade, Experimenta Design Bienal, Lisbon, Portugal
4 angolan contemporary artists, SOSO Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
Things and Stuff, Johannesburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa
2008
Farewell to post-colonialism, 3rd Guangzhou Triennal, Guandong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Print ´08, Bell-Robert Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
As you like it, Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa
2007
Luanda Triennial, Luanda, Angola
Luanda Pop_Check List, 52ª Bienalle of Venice, African pavilion, Venice, Italy
Je ne va travailler, Rosa Lux Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2006
Arte InVisible, Angola, ARCO, Madrid, Spain
Sindika Dokolo Collection, SOSO arte Contemporânea, Luanda, Angola
SD OBSERVATORIO, IVAM, Valencia, Spain
2005
AC _ Angola Combatente, SOSO arte Contemporânea, Luanda, Angola
MOVIMENTO, SOSO I LAX, Luanda, Angola
BAI ARTE 2005, Banco Africano de Investimentos, Luanda, Angola
Dipanda Forever, SOSO arte Contemporânea, Luanda, Angola
COLLECTIONS
Tate Modern, London, UK
Fondazione di Venezia, Venice, Italy
Sindika Dokolo, African Collection of Contemporary Art, Luanda, Angola
Colecção BESA _ Banco Espírito Santo, Angola
Ellipse Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal
Emile Stipp Video Collection, Johannesburg, South Africa
Miquel Barceló, Paris, France
Colecção Sciarretta (Nomas Foundation), Rome, Italy
Rui Costa Reis, Luanda, Angola
Metropolitana di Napoli, Naples, Italy
Fundação PLMJ, Lisbon, Portugal
Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland