Associação Cultural Videobrasil

The exhibit Videobrasil Collection in Context #1 kicks off this year’s exhibitions program and states the purpose of Galpão VB. This facility, which houses the Videobrasil Collection’s near-10,000 items – 4,500 of which are catalogued and available for public consultation – cements the association’s policy of staying in touch with the public at all times and conversing with current art productions in a dynamic way. This show celebrates the results of the first edition of Videobrasil in Context, a project that enables the activation of Associação’s collection through the critical views of two up-and-coming artists working with its artworks as their primary source of research.

One of the lines of work of our Residency Program, Videobrasil in Context emerged by drawing on the Videobrasil Collection as live matter for inquiries, in an artist-exchange experiment carried out in connection with Associação’s fostering policy. The project offers international residencies to artists, in collaboration with partner organizations, so that they can immerse themselves in the Collection and create artworks that are incorporated into the collection in their own right.

Here, Brazil’s Cláudio Bueno and Egypt’s Mahmoud Khaled, selected via a call for entries, present pieces they created during residencies spent at London’s Delfina Foundation and at São Paulo’s Casa Tomada.

In partnership with Paula Garcia, from São Paulo, Cláudio Bueno created the installation Estudo para duelo (A study for a duel). Deeply influenced by artworks featured in the 15^th Festival (2005) – which was entirely devoted to performance –, the piece suggests parallels with the force fields that exist in everyday relationships. For his part, Mahmoud Khaled conceived the video installation Proposal for a porn company, which deconstructs the canonical narrative structure of pornographic productions.

In a bid to bring up conceptual and formal questions that drove the authors’ processes, the pieces by Bueno and Khaled will be shown alongside those they used as references, shedding light on the developments and connections made by the two artists within the collection. Thus, the exhibition will also feature footage of performances including Bare Life Study #1 (2005), by Coco Fusco, #4 (from the series Corpo ruído – Estudo para um soterramento, 2011), by Paula Garcia, Chelpa Ferro (2005), by Chelpa Ferro, and Engrenagem (2005), by Eder Santos; and the pieces Video in 5 Movements (2006) and Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright (2010), by Akram Zaatari; Várzea (2006), by Estúdio Bijari; Desvios, Derivas, Contornos (2007), by Lucas Bambozzi; Oracle (2009), by Sebastian Diaz Morales; and Não há ninguém aqui #1 (2000), by Wagner Morales.

Additionally, in the Reading Room, visitors will be able to explore the Collection in depth, via the Video Library and PLATFORM:VB, or peruse the productions on Channel VB, which provide fresh takes on the collection, and expand upon its contents. Thus, the exhibit Videobrasil Collection in Context #1 conflates with other strategies and devices to keep the Videobrasil Collection alive, at once affirming its historical relevance and its currency.

Solange Farkas | Curator

Thereza Farkas | Project Coordinator - Videobrasil in Context

Click here to learn more about the Residency Programs

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VIDEOBRASIL COLLECTION IN CONTEXT #1
CLÁUDIO BUENO AND MAHMOUD KHALED

Curating, Coordination and production
Associação Cultural Videobrasil

ART DIRECTION
Lila Botter
Translation
Gabriel Pomerancblum
COPY PROOFREADING
Márcia Macêdo

Platform:VB
Diego Matos, Régis Alves, Ruy Luduvice

Exhibition design and set-up
architect Ricardo Amado
technical consulting Paulo Régis
light design Pedro Vargas
scenography Metro Cenografia
projection Máxi Audio Luz e Imagem
sound Fusion Audio
light Electrica Cinema e Vídeo
signaling Water Vision
transportation AL Consultancy
monitor Luca Kaufmann