Body to Body: the dispute of images, from photography to live broadcastt, shows a cut of contemporary Brazilian production in photography, cinema and video through seven works developed by artists and collectives – Bárbara Wagner, Jonathas de Andrade, Mídia Ninja, Sofia Borges, Letícia Ramos and Garapa – in partnership with curators Thyago Nogueira, coordinator of contemporary photography at IMS and editor of ZUM magazine, and Valentina Tong (assistant).
The artists were invited to think about the portrait, individual or collective, and about how the images can help us to see the social conflicts that have emerged in Brazil in recent years. The motto is the use of the body as an element of social representation and political action – either by the physical and symbolic presence in public spaces, or as the vehicle that conducts the camera, or as a place of expression of individuality, which brings individuals together and separates them.
The exhibition Body to Body: the dispute between images, from photography to live broadcast shows a section of contemporary Brazilian production in photography, cinema and video through seven works developed by artists and collectives in partnership with curators Thyago Nogueira, coordinator of contemporary photography from IMS and editor of ZUM magazine, and Valentina Tong (assistant).
The artists were invited to think about the portrait, individual or collective, and about how the images can help us to see the social conflicts that have emerged in Brazil in recent years. The motto of the exhibition is the use of the body as an element of social representation and political action – either by the physical and symbolic presence in public spaces, or as the vehicle that conducts the camera, or as a place of expression of individuality, which brings together and separates people. individuals.
Bárbara Wagner debuts the work Looking for the 5th element, name of the reality show created in 2016 to choose the new MC that would integrate the portfolio of a famous funk producer in São Paulo. The artist, who was part of the contest team, registered more than 300 boys, who released their bodies and voices in front of a jury. The work, consisting of 52 photographs and a video with the presentations, portrays a generation accustomed to selfies and social networks, who know how to use pose and stage performance to address their desires, dispute a place in the sun and rise socially.
Bárbara has been dedicated to studying the relationship between popular artistic manifestations, especially musical ones, and the new forms of production and circulation of images. The subject also appears in the film Terremoto santo, made in collaboration with the artist Benjamin de Burca, and which opens in this exhibition. Terremoto santo is a musical documentary with young people from Pernambuco’s Zona da Mata who dream of recording a gospel video. Musical expression is an important part of the region’s evangelical liturgy, which allows young people to use their image and voice to seek a new way of working. The performance in front of the camera also reveals social, economic and aesthetic aspects of Pentecostal practice.
Me, mestiço is the new work of the artist Jonathas de Andrade, made from a research on race and class in rural Brazil carried out in the 1950s by UNESCO. In the original research, photographs of people with different skin tones were used as the basis for a questionnaire about who looked more beautiful, wealthy or intelligent, among other attributes. In the new work, Jonathas produced a series of portraits of people from various parts of the country, exhibiting varied reactions and poses. Printed on cheap cardboard, the photographs refer to the visual clichés of anthropology and advertising and invert the sense of the survey to make us think about the relationship we establish with photographic images. Me, a mestizo – title that references the masterpiece Eu, a negro, by filmmaker Jean Rouch – discusses the risks of judging others by appearances and exposes the latent racism in our society.
The collective Mídia Ninja presents the work #Ao vivo, with monitors distributed throughout the exhibition space that will show the broadcasts made live by the group between 2013 and 2017, in addition to live broadcasts of what happens in the country during the period when the show is on display. It is the first time that the collective looks at live broadcasts as a specific cut within a production that includes photos, videos and reports. The focus on these broadcasts allows us to see an aesthetic language specific to this type of audiovisual production, which grew with street demonstrations and the use of cheap, low-quality and high-connection equipment. In recent years, these young people have built an image circulation channel that allows thousands of people aligned with the collective to broadcast a live event. The profusion of broadcasts gave rise to a type of collective street cinema, with a vocabulary of pixelated images, improvised phrases and a long duration that begins to be assimilated. It is in the form, not just in the content, that the aesthetic and political contribution of the Ninja Media resides.
The new installation The mask, the gesture, the role, by artist Sofia Borges, is the result of a trip to Brasília in February 2017, at the invitation of the curators, at a time when parliamentary performance was gaining weight in the political dispute. Sofia produced her work on the premises of the National Congress, during the election of the presidency of the Federal Senate. The ten frames of the installation are made up of two faces. On the one hand, they show photographs of mouths reproduced from paintings that honor the former presidents of the house. On the other hand, they exhibit gestures photographed by the artist during legislative sessions. Suspended by a rope in the middle of the exhibition space, the paintings with mouths and gestures show the grammar of political activity and the system of checks and balances that characterizes power games in Brazil and in any other part of the world.
In The Resistance of the Body, Letícia Ramos creates a controlled environment to test a body’s reactions to activities linked to street demonstrations. Photographing with cameras, dolls and models, the artist tests the throwing of objects, the impact of water jets and communication by cell phones, simulating the visual repertoire of scientific studies, such as those made by the American engineer couple Frank and Lilian Gilbreth. By resuming studies of the efficiency of bodies made after the Industrial Revolution to increase the productivity of workers, the work discusses the visual representation of violence and shows how images – some of them almost abstract – can serve as a form of real or symbolic oppression.
The exhibition also displays the book Postcards for Charles Lynch, from the Garapa collective, awarded with the ZUM / IMS Photography Scholarship. Stunned by two notorious lynching cases in 2014, the three members of the collective decided to tackle the problem of violence in images by building a manifesto book. The book brings together manipulated frames, a fictional script – which will gain dramatic readings during the exhibition – and a tape with lynching videos extracted from YouTube, forming a funeral file of raw barbarism.
While Bárbara, Jonathas and Garapa interrogate anthropology and sociology to undo stereotypes and dismantle prejudices, Sofia and Letícia build a photographic vocabulary that helps to see the dilemmas of political representation. To increase the interaction of visitors with the works, the artists were challenged to explore new supports and forms of exhibition installation.
By reflecting on the way we produce and consume images, CORPO A CORPO makes us face the distance between who we are and who we would like to be, and shows how visual clichés can be a violent stamp.
Artists
Bárbara Wagner (Brasília, 1980) – Her Master of Ceremonies project was awarded by the ZUM / IMS Photography Scholarship (2015). Works with the artist Benjamin de Burca (Munich, 1975), with whom he participated in the 33rd Panorama of Brazilian Art, São Paulo (2013) and the 32nd Bienal de São Paulo (2016), among others. Your work Bye Bye Germany! Melody of Life, also in partnership with Benjamin de Burca, was selected for Skulptur Projekte Münster.
Garapa – Collective formed in 2008 by Leo Caobelli (Pelotas / RS, 1980), Paulo Fehlauer (Mal. Cândido Rondon / PR, 1982) and Rodrigo Marcondes (São Paulo, 1979). He was one of the recipients of the Photography Scholarship ZUM / IMS (2014) with the project Postcards for Charles Lynch.
Jonathas de Andrade (Maceió, 1982) – Works with photography, installation and video. Recent exhibitions include those at the New Museum, New York (2017), the São Paulo Museum of Art (2016-2017), MoMA (2017) and the São Paulo Biennial (2016 and 2010).
Letícia Ramos (Santo Antônio da Patrulha / RS, 1976) – Works with film, photography and installation. He participated in exhibitions at Tate Modern, London (2007) and at the Tomie Ohtake Institute, São Paulo (2014). In 2013, his Microfilm project was awarded by the ZUM / IMS Photography Scholarship.
Ninja Media (Independent Narratives, Journalism and Action) – Network of activists founded in 2013, based on the Fora do Eixo network, has thousands of followers and is among the largest independent media initiatives in Latin America and the world.
Sofia Borges (Ribeirão Preto / SP, 1984) – Exhibited her work in exhibitions at the Berardo Museum, in Lisbon (2013), and at Foam, in Amsterdam (2016). Member of the 30th Bienal de São Paulo (2012). In 2016, he launched the book The Swamp by Editora Mack, from the United Kingdom, winner of The First Book Award.
The Instituto Moreira Salles
The Instituto Moreira Salles is a singular institution within the Brazilian cultural scene. It holds important assets in four areas: photography, with the bulk of material, as well as music, literature, and iconography. The Instituto has also gained renown for its exhibitions, highlighting visual arts by artists from Brazil and abroad; and it has a soft spot for cinema.
The Moreira Salles Institute is a nonprofit organization founded by the diplomat and banker Walter Moreira Salles in 1992 with the creation of its first cultural center in Pocos de Caldas (MG). Subsequently, the institute also started to operate in São Paulo (1996), in a mansion located in the Higienópolis neighborhood, and in Rio de Janeiro (1999), in an old residence of the Moreira Salles family, built in 1951 with architectural design by Olavo Redig de Campos and landscape design by Burle Marx.
The IMS’ activities are supported by a donation initially provided by Unibanco and later added to by the Moreira Salles family. With sites in three cities – Poços de Caldas, in the southeast of the state of Minas Gerais, where the Instituto was born 20 years ago; Rio de Janeiro; and São Paulo – the IMS releases exhibition catalogues, books of photography, literature, and music, in addition to ZUM Magazine, dedicated to contemporary photography in Brazil and around the world, and serrote, a quarterly publication of essays and ideas.
In the conservation, organization and dissemination of its collections, IMS has immense tasks. Photography takes care of about 2 million images, from the most important testimonies of the 19th century – and here the splendid images of Marc Ferrez emerge – to relevant collections that cover almost the entire 20th century. In the latter, names like Marcel Gautherot, José Medeiros, Maureen Bisilliat, Thomaz Farkas, Hans Gunter Flieg and Otto Stupakoff, among others, should be registered. In 2016, the collection of newspapers of the group Diários Associados in Rio de Janeiro was acquired, with about 1 million items, and it is a priority of the Institute to incorporate images of the 21st century into its collections. This formidable set of collections and complete works by the artists accredit IMS as the most important photography institution in the country.
IMS Paulista houses in São Paulo
Inaugurated on September 20, 2017, the IMS Paulista houses the entire program organized by the institute in the city. In 2017, the project by the Andrade Morettin Arquitetos office won the award for best architectural work in São Paulo, granted by APCA in the Architecture and Urbanism category.
There are nine floors, all with double height, in a building made from sustainable concepts. For architect Marcelo Henneberg Morettin, one of the biggest challenges was solving a vertical museum. One of the solutions found was to transpose the entrance and social environment, the IMS Square, to the fifth floor, accessible directly from the free space on the ground floor by escalators.
In addition to the exhibition areas, with more than 1200 square meters, the IMS Paulista also has a cinematograph – where film shows, musical events, seminars and debates take place -, a Photography Library, classrooms, the IMS bookshop by Travessa and the cafe-restaurant Balaio.