Angolan artist Sandra Poulson is presenting her first museum exhibition at MoMA PS1, where she transforms ordinary household furniture into powerful statements about Angola's post-colonial history and global trade networks. The exhibition, titled "Este quarto parece uma República!" (This Bedroom Looks Like a Republic!), features wooden assemblages that incorporate symbols and imagery connected to Angola after its devastating Civil War from 1975 to 2002.
Poulson, who studied fashion in Lisbon and London and currently lives between London, Angola's capital Luanda, and Amsterdam, operates under what could be described as a Surrealist approach to recontextualization. Much like the Surrealists understood that ordinary objects become grotesque when placed in unexpected contexts, Poulson embeds or punctures household furniture with floating signifiers that reference Angola's complex history following independence from Portugal.
The exhibition features furniture pieces that appear almost animate in their positioning. A bed frame lurches toward viewers in a drunken manner, while a mirror sits sullenly in the corner and a headboard bolts upright like a soldier at attention. Through these mostly domestic objects, Poulson emphasizes that history haunts people in their most intimate moments - while sleeping, dressing, or looking at themselves in mirrors.
Poulson's work operates at the intersection of several complex systems: global trade routes that brought specific wood materials into her artistic practice, symbols connected to important events in Angolan history as they relate to world events, and her own distinctive stylistic iconography. The materials themselves carry significant meaning - vintage Dutch objects made from wood possibly sourced from Angola sit alongside chipboard furniture manufactured in China but designed in American styles.
This represents the physical manifestation of global trade networks made local, with items carrying evidence of their circulation through peeling inventory stickers and faded stamps, as well as signs of use like cup ring imprints. Poulson's method involves colliding signifiers rather than simply embedding them - logos, presidential silhouettes, and symbols of local organizations crash into wood rather than being carefully placed.
Several standout pieces demonstrate Poulson's approach effectively. "Cabinda Dreams" (2024) features a found veneered plywood bed frame with chipboard and MDF, where the European Union logo has been punched into a cheap wooden headboard. The piece has been sawed at a clean diagonal on one end, causing it to angle haphazardly as though pleading for help or reaching to grab viewers.
Another compelling work, "Candidato a Presidente da República de Angola" (Candidate for President of the Republic of Angola), presents a wooden headboard sitting upright on a sheet of rusted steel, appearing uncannily unsupported in a way that challenges viewers' understanding of material logic and weight. The piece "Confessionário" (Confessional) features unexpected apertures and glass elements that shouldn't logically exist in such configurations.
Not all pieces achieve the same level of impact, according to critics. The found mirror "Untitled (Mirror)" creates interesting reflections that intensify the exhibition's surreal quality by reflecting and recombining other absurdist objects in jarring ways. However, positioning a found object in the corner with minimal intervention feels somewhat underwhelming compared to other works in the show.
Similarly, "Leitura dos Acordos de Alvor, January 1975" (Reading of the Alvor Accords), a wooden speaker that plays aloud the Angolan independence agreement, emits audio so softly that even Portuguese speakers might miss its significance. While the concept of drawing attention to how history permeates lived experience is sound, other pieces in the exhibition achieve this effect more compellingly.
The most successful objects in the exhibition are simultaneously unfinished and highly finished, which heightens their absurdity. "Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus" (Universal Church of the Kingdom of God) reveals significant damage when viewed from behind - cheap corkboard drawers sag from lack of support, speaking to disasters that hide beneath veneer of stability.
"Propaganda Flush" represents perhaps the most direct statement in the exhibition. This piece features a toilet suspended in air, torn from the sewage pipes that would normally make it functional. The work declares its intended function and then immediately curtails it, creating a powerful metaphor for broken systems and failed promises.
The exhibition's title comes from an Angolan saying that compares the messiness of nation-building to that of an untidy room. Poulson's room, constructed from wood - that humble yet enduring material - makes history palpable rather than abstract. Global trade relationships, colonial legacies, and the various signifiers she presents are not remote or immaterial concepts but rather the actual architecture of daily life.
By setting symbols in wood rather than more ephemeral media like digital imagery or clothing, Poulson draws attention to their significance and lasting impact. These symbols and what they represent don't simply layer over people's lives like clothing on skin - they puncture and fundamentally alter the way people live, creating lasting changes in the architecture of existence.
The exhibition "Sandra Poulson: Este quarto parece uma República!" continues at MoMA PS1, located at 22-25 Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, Queens, through October 6. The exhibition was curated by Elena Ketelsen González and represents a significant milestone as Poulson's first major museum presentation in the United States.
