"Colonial statues and monuments were not primarily aesthetic artefacts intended to embellish towns or living environments. From start to finish, they were manifestations of the absolute arbitrariness of colonial power, the foundations of which were visible in the wars of conquest and 'pacification' and in how armed uprisings were quelled. They were expressions of power disguised as art, a form of racial terror in sculptural form. At the same time, they were a spectacular expression of the destructive and exploitative nature of the colonial project. Above all, however, domination requires a cult of spirits — in this case, the dog spirit, the pig spirit, and the spirit of the riffraff, which is so characteristic of all imperialism, past and present. A cult of spirits always requires a means of conjuring up the dead — a necromancy and a geomancy.' 

(Critique of Black Reason, Achille Mbembe)

'The principle that organic containers, such as human bodies or other mobile structures within Luba culture, are seen as lieu de mémoire (sites of memory) completely clashes with the Western construction of history and memory. In the West, the past, as well as anti-democratic ideologies and authoritarian leaders, are glorified through monuments in a non-critical and static way. However, fluid forms hold the potential to break open static, oppressive architectures. Trauma can be healed by monuments in motion, which allow identities to be constantly (re)positioned.

Kwanga, a fluid material, can replace static concrete and stone. Kwanga, meaning 'life' in Kikongo, a Congolese language, is the name I have given to the Afro-European rubber that I use in my work to materialise this vision of fluidity." (John K Cobra in REKTO VERSO magazine)

(John K Cobra in REKTO VERSO magazine).

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Kwanga operates on the molecular level of spatial reality. It reprograms spatial architecture to produce trans/fluid social architectures. 

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