The MAAT hosts the installation Coral of Bodies without North by artist Kiluanji Kia Henda as part of BoCA – Biennial of Contemporary Arts. At MAAT's Coal Square, outside MAAT Central.

This installation by Kia Henda, an enormous metallic fence, is a penetrable stage made up of paths formed by grilles with different geometric patterns, commonly used in front of windows to prevent break-ins. This cage, with its entrances, exits, and dead ends, is simultaneously an ode to segregation and a call for its demise. Twelve heads are scattered across the floor of this labyrinth — heads that lie far from their bodies at the bottom of a sea. Conceived as a large-scale inhabitable maze, the installation is made up of railings with distinct patterns, a direct allusion to urban architecture and the so-called "geometry of fear." By creating a labyrinth that invites the public to move through and inhabit it, Kiluanji Kia Henda’s installation proposes a poetic game: visitors become strangers as they navigate an unknown territory, embarking on a wandering journey where the chosen path does not always lead the body to its desired destination — to the liberation represented by the far side of the crossing.

The biggest project realised in Portugal by the Angolan artist Kiluanji Kia Henda, the installation will be home to three performance ‘activations’.

Kiluanji took part in the exhibition Black Ancient Futures, which brought together works by artists from the African diaspora, proposing alternative narratives to those of dominant contemporary art.

MAAT has maintained a continuous partnership with BoCA since its creation in 2017, which has resulted in the co-production and hosting of artistic projects both within the scope of the BoCA Biennial and as part of BoCA's educational programmes (Summer School, Academia Nómada). 

PERFORMANCES PROGRAMME:

05/10/2025, 17.00
12/10/2025, 16.00
19/10/2025, 16.00

The performances last approximately 45 minutes and are free to attend.

Technical/Artistic Sheet:

Concept and staging: Kiluanji Kia Henda

Text: Kiluanji Kia Henda and Lucas Parente

Choreography: Vânia Doutel Vaz and Natacha Campos
Performers: Lua Aurora and Natacha Campos

Dramaturgy support: Zia Soares
Music: Michel Figueiredo (aka Zumbi Albino)

Sound technician: Bernardo Barata
Costumes: Neusa Trovoada
Plaster modelling and Molding: Eva Lopes

Technical design: Lilianne Kiame
Construction and Assembly: Forsemat Lda
Commission and Production: BoCA - Biennial of Contemporary Arts (Lisbon)
Co-production: MAAT-Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, D. Maria II National Theatre