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With: Carla Zaccagnini, Cildo Meireles, Claudia Andujar, Cristiano
Rennó, Gabriel Sierra, Gordon Matta-Clark, Marcius Galan, Mauro
Restiffe, Renata Lucas, Rivane Neuenschwander, Robert Kinmont and Sara
Ramo
Curated by Jochen Volz and Rodrigo Moura
Plans for Escape – An Exhibition under Construction takes
its inspiration from Adolfo Bioy Casares' novel Plan de
evasión, published in 1945. This captivating story revolves
around the figure of Henrique Nevers, a Frenchman sent to a penal colony in
French Guiana. There, on the isolated island of Cayerme, Nevers meets
the prison's governor Castel, who experiments on the minds and perception
of his inmates with sadistic pleasure. His aim is to modify certain
elements of their brains in such a way that the detainees experience
feelings of freedom and happiness despite the fact that they remain locked
in isolation. This great classic of the Twentieth Century is a fabulous
examination of the affects of spatial confinement and the imaginary plans
for escape that these conditions inspire, or in more abstract terms an
allegory about the potency of physical and mental reactions to space.
Plans for Escape – An Exhibition under Construction is
conceived for and in dialogue with the architecture of the emblematic
CCBB-SP building, designed by Hippolyto Gustavo Pujol Junior, constructed
in downtown São Paulo in 1901, renovated by Hippolyto Gustavo Pujol
Junior in 1923 and then acquired by Banco do Brasil. The exhibition
presents five site-specific installations created specially for the
CCBB-SP. Cortina [Curtain] by Cristiano Rennó, will
occupy the building's large central atrium with hundreds of translucent red
and yellow plastic strips which fall from the third floor of the building
almost to the ground floor. Just as responsive to the spaces and histories
of the building is the installation by Sara Ramo, set up in the old
bank vault in the basement. The artist has developed a mental, physical and
emotional labyrinth based on references to the money bin owned by Disney
character Uncle Scrooge, construction sites and the mining of precious
metals.
Also highlighted in the exhibition are works never
before shown in Brazil, such as Ocasião [Occasion], by
Cildo Meireles, conceived in 1974 and first shown in 2004 in
Germany. A large two-way mirror connects two independent rooms. In the
first, mirrored walls surround a tub full of money, forcing the viewer to
confront his/her own image in relation to the accessible pile of money. The
second room is empty and dark, with the two-way mirror functioning as a
window to the first room. A Conversação [The
Conversation], by Rivane Neuenschwander, was shown in
2010 at the New Museum, New York. The installation is inspired by
the eponymous 1974 film by Francis Ford Coppola, in which a specialist in
eavesdropping devices believes that he is being observed, and features
surveillance devices installed at strategic points in a museum.
The historical segment of Plans for Escape – An Exhibition under
Construction focuses on works by artists who helped to create an
awareness of the relationship between art and place. Gordon
Matta-Clark's Coat Closet (1973), which belongs to the
collection of Inhotim, and Claudia Andujar's São Paulo
Através do Carro [São Paulo As Seen by Car] (1975/2012)
will both be shown for the first time in Brazil. A photographic reporter in
the 1960s, Andujar photographed the city from a car while a friend drove.
Experimental artist Robert Kinmont is represented by the series
My Favorite Dirt Roads (1969) and 8 Natural Handstands
(1969/2009), the latter of which combines photography, sculpture and
performance while speaking of the romantic connection of the artist with
the environment and his own presence in the landscape of California, where
he was born, grew up and works today.
Photographer Mauro
Restiffe was invited to document the making of the show, including the
moment prior to its arrival in the space and the environs of the CCBB-SP.
The results of his engagement with the exhibition will be published in a
book completed and released shortly after the opening of the exhibition,
and will function as both an artwork and an exhibition catalogue.
Curators
Jochen Volz is Head of Programmes at the Serpentine
Gallery in London, United Kingdom, and curator at the Instituto Inhotim,
Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Rodrigo Moura is a curator, editor and art
writer. He is a curator and Deputy Director of Artistic and Cultural
Programs at the Instituto Inhotim, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Panel discussion with participating artists
27 October 2012,
at 2pm
Auditorium, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São
Paulo
Admission is free.
For more
information and press inquiries:
Sofia Carvalhosa
T +55 11
3083-5024 / sofiahc@uol.com.br
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