Sob Controle is Leandro Lima & Gisela Motta’s second solo exhibition at Vermelho. It gathers eight new works, all developed in 2008 and 2009. The pieces suggest distinctive possibilities in disposing the body in relation to space and time. They also define new forms of relation, as being near or distant, open or closed to the other. According to sociologist Laymert Garcia dos Santos, in Lima & Motta’s works one finds elements that bring us to the “explosive and violent aspect of the contemporary condition”.
UNDER CONTROL (SOB CONTROLE) doesn’t intend to send a message, rather it suggests possibilities of reflection and of perspective taking upon the contradiction characterizing the current society of control. That’s due to the way Lima & Motta occupy the space with their works, which also reveals a world under total construction, where is up to the artist to edit, analyze and retell.
In Under Control (Sob Controle), video-installation that entitles the exhibition, many uniformed miniature officers look towards the same direction. With a computer and camera system, their bodies move pursuing the spectators’ steps within the exhibition space.
Printed Circuit (Circuito Impresso) is composed by computer printed circuit boards transformed by the duo into aerial maps of eleven major cities of the world. These images were collected from Google, in a hacker-like process using the standard programme available. The eleven cities are: Berlin, Brasilia, Cairo, Havana, Moscow, New York, Paris, Rome, Sao Paulo and Tijuana.
The Do Not installation consists of a backlight set of photographs, also extracted from internet, of anonymous people in actions of denial. They cover their faces and bodies with their hands, avoiding strange elements to approach. The images, all captured in very low definition, appear to the visitor only from a certain distance, which emphasizes that proximity is not always welcome, but is surely confusing and difficult to comprehend.
AMOAHIKI is a video-installation representing the only alternative escape shown at UNDER CONTROL (SOB CONTROLE). The images were captured in 2008 at a Yanomami indigenous village, in Amazon. They reveal an idyllic vanishing point among the “Amoahiki” trees from where the indigenous people listen to the spirit of knowledge – the “Xapiripe”. However, if we consider the eternal battle involving the tracing of the village’s territorial limits in the north of Brazil, we realize that it is actually impossible to escape from the current state of control inhabited by the contemporary man.
There is no escape or action that guarantees evading from the established power. The EXIT installation confirms this fact. A laser module along with frontal reflection mirrors draw upon the wall the word EXIT, as if indicating an escape possibility that actually leads to nowhere. The light generated by the laser, even though in constant move, remains stuck into the word’s shape. Similar idea is found in EJECT, an installation consisting on adhesive reflexive tapes on a wall that creates, from a specific spot in the room, a 3-D illusion in perspective as if the word was written on the space.
The sound installation Cicadas (Cigarras) was developed for the gallery façade. Ten pairs of buzzers (small alarm speakers) were programmed to simulate the sound of many cicadas. Every 30 minutes the buzz evolves until all the buzzers cry out at the same time, as if announcing something that is to come.
A similar sensation is caused by the Stray Bullet (Bala Perdida) installation. Small holes on the walls of the gallery’s entrance hall evoke to gunshots, thus suggesting a past event that is now only visible because of these marks.
UNDER CONTROL (SOB CONTROLE) continues Lima & Motta’s research started in 2007 as part of the creative process to develop the works to the 2008 edition of the CNI SESI Marcantonio Vilaça Award. The installations I.E.D. – Improvised Explosive Device, Alvo e Armas.OBJ were part of this group show, which was exhibited in many Brazilian cities.
Sob Controle is Leandro Lima & Gisela Motta’s second solo exhibition at Vermelho. It gathers eight new works, all developed in 2008 and 2009. The pieces suggest distinctive possibilities in disposing the body in relation to space and time. They also define new forms of relation, as being near or distant, open or closed to the other. According to sociologist Laymert Garcia dos Santos, in Lima & Motta’s works one finds elements that bring us to the “explosive and violent aspect of the contemporary condition”.
UNDER CONTROL (SOB CONTROLE) doesn’t intend to send a message, rather it suggests possibilities of reflection and of perspective taking upon the contradiction characterizing the current society of control. That’s due to the way Lima & Motta occupy the space with their works, which also reveals a world under total construction, where is up to the artist to edit, analyze and retell.
In Under Control (Sob Controle), video-installation that entitles the exhibition, many uniformed miniature officers look towards the same direction. With a computer and camera system, their bodies move pursuing the spectators’ steps within the exhibition space.
Printed Circuit (Circuito Impresso) is composed by computer printed circuit boards transformed by the duo into aerial maps of eleven major cities of the world. These images were collected from Google, in a hacker-like process using the standard programme available. The eleven cities are: Berlin, Brasilia, Cairo, Havana, Moscow, New York, Paris, Rome, Sao Paulo and Tijuana.
The Do Not installation consists of a backlight set of photographs, also extracted from internet, of anonymous people in actions of denial. They cover their faces and bodies with their hands, avoiding strange elements to approach. The images, all captured in very low definition, appear to the visitor only from a certain distance, which emphasizes that proximity is not always welcome, but is surely confusing and difficult to comprehend.
AMOAHIKI is a video-installation representing the only alternative escape shown at UNDER CONTROL (SOB CONTROLE). The images were captured in 2008 at a Yanomami indigenous village, in Amazon. They reveal an idyllic vanishing point among the “Amoahiki” trees from where the indigenous people listen to the spirit of knowledge – the “Xapiripe”. However, if we consider the eternal battle involving the tracing of the village’s territorial limits in the north of Brazil, we realize that it is actually impossible to escape from the current state of control inhabited by the contemporary man.
There is no escape or action that guarantees evading from the established power. The EXIT installation confirms this fact. A laser module along with frontal reflection mirrors draw upon the wall the word EXIT, as if indicating an escape possibility that actually leads to nowhere. The light generated by the laser, even though in constant move, remains stuck into the word’s shape. Similar idea is found in EJECT, an installation consisting on adhesive reflexive tapes on a wall that creates, from a specific spot in the room, a 3-D illusion in perspective as if the word was written on the space.
The sound installation Cicadas (Cigarras) was developed for the gallery façade. Ten pairs of buzzers (small alarm speakers) were programmed to simulate the sound of many cicadas. Every 30 minutes the buzz evolves until all the buzzers cry out at the same time, as if announcing something that is to come.
A similar sensation is caused by the Stray Bullet (Bala Perdida) installation. Small holes on the walls of the gallery’s entrance hall evoke to gunshots, thus suggesting a past event that is now only visible because of these marks.
UNDER CONTROL (SOB CONTROLE) continues Lima & Motta’s research started in 2007 as part of the creative process to develop the works to the 2008 edition of the CNI SESI Marcantonio Vilaça Award. The installations I.E.D. – Improvised Explosive Device, Alvo e Armas.OBJ were part of this group show, which was exhibited in many Brazilian cities.