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ENGLISH VERSION RETROSPECTIVES

Julien Creuzet, originally from Martinique processing of ore marks her history. Her the association between diverse
and who will represent France at the next great-grandfather, Domingos Zacarias, for art practices and accurate research
Venice Biennale, also makes dance a example, died of silicosis, a disease resulting into colonial violence perpetrated against
central element of his work. In partnership from inhaling waste linked to his work in material and spiritual culture of African
with some choreographers, including Ana the mines. In addition to the direct family origin are striking aspects of the production
Pi, he sets traditional African sculptures connections, this web of stories present in of Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, author of one
to dance to the rhythm of contemporary these places where her family lives, she also of the most powerful installations in the
music such as hip hop. He thus opposes recalls the central importance of African current edition of Biennial. Assembling
himself, mixing irony and a sharp look at culture for the development of mining the story of life It is, according to her,
stereotypes, to the argument defended activity in the Brazilian colonial period. Af er about the metamorphosis of the soul,
by filmmakers Alain Resnais, Chris Marker all, the technology necessary to extract the despite starting from a historical fact:
and Ghislain Cloquet in Statues also die metals came from Africa. the persecution of Afro-Brazilian religions
(1953), that idols would be corpses when Oppression and defense strategies in the country. As a unit in which everyday
they leave their environment of worship and were combined in this process, leaving indexes are condensed, the installation
protection and are transferred to museums, fascinating footprints that Luana now takes the form of an inaccessible piece
thus mobilizing a permanently renewable incorporates in her work. One of the of land, in which rest comforting and
power of resistance. forms of protection used by those who highly archetypal elements such as a
Kitlat Tahimik also dialogues with were forced to work in the mines was to house without a roof (which the artist
cinema – without using a camera or film. take canaries into the underground tunnels calls a museum and which houses her
Its temporal narrative is made from objects. to assess the air quality. Sensitive to toxic paintings), eucalyptus trunks, a used
It confronts monsters and myths, modern gases, the bird signaled in advance that the canoe, coming from Pirapora (mg), which
and ancient, with acidity and provocation air was unbreathable, saving several lives. bears the marks of time, a promise of a
by showing Mickey Mouse, with a “I’m interested in thinking about how air farm, alguidares – a container associated
chainsaw in hand, about to castrate an was a vehicle of life and freedom,” he says. with different cultures and very strongly
ancestral mythological figure with a huge In Luana’s work, this power is linked to a with Umbanda entities.
phallus, something like a fertility god, or discourse full of symbolic references and She says she is interested in the
reconstructs the Trojan horse in connection concrete signs. In a large open area of 100 transmutations of life and matter, in their
with state-of-the-art weaponry. Even a meters on the second floor of the pavilion, various dimensions and expressed in
work that would apparently be just a kinetic it combines small and seductive sculptures contradictions such as that of eucalyptus,
exercise, a seductive experimentation with representing birds, a series of metallic which simultaneously generates essential
light and color, touches on deep wounds arrows, in direct reference to Ogum (orixá healing oils and explorations with great
and proposes reviewing perverse logics of associated, among other things, with iron environmental impact. “I look for a spiral
domination. In your installation pink-blue, and technology, protector of artisans and time, between time and construction”,
Kapwani Kiwanga associates fluorescent blacksmiths), to other elements, such as explains Castiel, who also has a master’s
lights used in two of the most terrible herbs, shells and indigo blue – another degree in clinical psychology and African
control environments in contemporary allusion to the African presence –, creating medicine and refuses labels and any attempt
society: psychiatric institutions and a powerful installation that enlivens the at generalization or categorization as a black
prisons. While in the first, white lighting entire space. The artist, who also works or trans artist. “We are not quota holders”,
was supposed to calm aggressive instincts, in the field of dance and performance, she teases.
in the second, the color blue was used to establishes a spatial choreography Unlike his other works, such as Healing
make it difficult to locate veins, thus making and creates harmony with the motto of room (an installation that highlighted it as
injecting drug consumption difficult. “choreographies of the impossible” chosen one of the young promises of Brazilian art in
for this Biennale. Montage, a fundamental recent years), this time Castiel did not allow
35 são paulo biennial highlights [pages 24 and 25] process for the artist, promotes tensions, visitors to enter the installation, wanting to
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balances and repetitions. “That’s where the generate this feeling of prohibition, forcing
LUANA VITRA enchantment of things happens. It’s my people to snoop around, to exercise a
Iron, copper and silver unfold in a myriad of signature, almost like a litany, a miracle,” personal choreography around of the land.
meanings in the Minas Gerais artist’s work, she says. Still worried about the violent environment
with references of a biographical, poetic, Luana, who has just won this year’s Pipa in the country, she chose not to perform
symbolic, historical and even metaphysical award, says she is very happy to participate during the Biennale.
nature.
in this edition. For her, the exhibition breaks The youngest artist at the Biennale,
by maria hirszman a unique logic, deviates from a course, a Castiel is also present in the exhibitions of
ready-made trail and allows for “a path in a the Brazils, on display at Sesc Belenzinho,
iron is the backbone of Luana Vitra’s dense forest”, by bringing black curators for and Test for o Museum of Origins, a joint
research and magnetizes the installation the first time and having 80% of non-white action between Instituto Tomie Ohtake and
she created especially for the 35th São people among the participants. Itaú Cultural, two exhibitions that interact
Paulo Biennial. The element – accompanied intensely with the Biennale’s proposal. The
by other metals, such as copper and silver – 35 são paulo biennial highlights [pages 26 and 27] artist is due to perform later this year at the
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unfolds a myriad of meanings in the Minas Serpentine, in London. Part of this work is
Gerais artist’s work, adding references of a CASTIEL VITORINO part of a long-term project that she has
biographical, poetic, symbolic, historical and BRASILEIRO been developing, entitled Kalunga: the
even metaphysical nature, by embodying the origin of the species, in which he contrasts
idea of transmutation of matter and space, Artist takes part in the persecution of Afro- with phallocentrism, with figures such as
through the transforming action of air and rust. Brazilian religions in the country to discuss Freud and Darwin, and deals poetically and
Luana grew up in the mining city the metamorphosis of the soul plastically with the sea; dislocation and pain;
of Contagem, and the extraction and by maria hirszman death, life and pleasure.
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