Mais al Azab

How does anyone build a real mirage? In 2013, Angolan artist Kiluanji Kia Henda was searching for an architect to design a Mirage City. He proposed an artwork in the eastern desert of Jordan to be photographed and documented as a critical statement against trending construction acts that bear no connection to their surroundings. A harmonious skyline and an abstract silhouette of a low-rise city was designed and erected out of steel tubes that vary in section as a land-art setup for the artist’s conceptual photographs. Just like a real mirage, the harmonious skyline of the ‘Mirage city’ had a very short life cycle. It was fully installed and completely dismantled on October, 29th, 2013.
The installation was originally executed for Hiwar exhibition, organized by Darat al Funun and curated by Adriano Pedrosa, and was made possible with a grant from Goethe Institute, Luanda. Design model and drawings were later exhibited in Palazzo Michiel in the context of Venice Design, 2018.