TAGS

artist, rivane-neuenschwander, plan-of-readings.

BIOGRAPHY

Rivane Neuenschwander was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 1967. Lives in Belo Horizonte 2008 South London Gallery, London; 55th Carnegie International 2007 6ª Bienal do Mercosul 2005 51. Biennale di Venezia 2003 Superficial Resemblance, Palais de Tokyo, Paris 2002 To: From: Rivane Neuenschwander, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA Selected Bibliography MARCOCI, Roxana, Comic Abstraction, Image-Breaking, Image-Making, New York, Museum of Modern Art, 2007; NEUENSCHWANDER, Rivane, Ici lá-bas aqui acolá, São Paulo/Belo Horizonte, 2005; NEUENSCHWANDER, Rivane, Spell, Portikus Frankfurt Am Main, 2002.

INTERVIEW

Cauê Alves: What are you planning to show at the 28th Bienal de São Paulo? How do you think visitors will relate to the work?

Rivane Neuenschwander: Ivo Mesquita asked me to restage [...], which consists of a series of modified typewriters where the letter keys have been replaced with keys with dots. The keyboard and the punctuation and number keys are unchanged. We therefore know what we are writing, but unless messages are “constructed” out of numbers, commas, etc., we are unable to read the words, because they become just a sequence of dots. We have several levels of communication here, which may be interesting for the proposal of the 28th Bienal. First, typewriters and paper are offered to the public to be used as a means of expression. Deprived of letters, visitors can choose to write messages that are indecipherable (for the collective), but still messages (to the individual) or use the subterfuge of design to create words or even drawings, thus restoring the power of a direct, recognizable communication. The pieces of paper are then tacked onto a green felt panel, allowing a collective reading and establishing random narratives through the proximity of the messages left by visitors. For “in living contact,” the typewriters will be placed in individual booths / modules, planned and scattered around an exhibition structure, both designed by Gabriel Sierra. Another work I will be presenting is flip clocks, which have also been modified but differently to the typewriters. Here it is the number that becomes a dot, or circle, or even a zero if you like. The letters indicating the day of the week and month remain unchanged in some models. Here it is time that doesn’t count. One minute is the same as the next, which is the same as the one next to it, but always different and distinct to one another. The flipping mechanism indicates the marking of an abstract time. The clocks will be scattered throughout the Bienal pavilion, as well as in places connected to the exhibition, such as restaurants or the hotels chosen to receive artists, curators, etc., thus extending space beyond time.

Cauê Alves: The work […], which has already been shown at the Biennale di Venezia (2005) and the Panorama da Arte Brasileira [Panorama of Brazilian Art] of the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo – MAM (2007), demands the audience’s participation. Does the Bienal format and the general distance of the audience from contemporary art allow the artist to develop a project that involves visitors’ participation and that won’t be consumed and discarded like any other product?

Rivane Neuenschwander: First, they are works that suggest time, concentration, and a certain dedication, which in my mind brings more density than frivolity. I don’t think it is very important to some works if there are many or few visitors, because it will be an eminently individual experience anyway. This, in my opinion, happens above all because of the time spent experiencing the work. What makes a difference in the end is the volume of material resulting from the participation of visitors and its consequent implication for collective reading. In what concerns [...], drawings collected from typewriters that come back from an exhibition reflect the collective present in a specific time, place or context. Thus, those drawings made on typewriters in Venice speak of a diverse audience from many different places, but nevertheless nauseated by the water around them… Another fundamental aspect of large exhibitions is the absolute need for maintenance on a work with which the audience has direct contact. Without an appropriate commitment on the part of the institution, the work can completely miss its target and lose its meaning.


Cauê Alves is an Esthetics and Art History Professor of the Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP), and the Escola da Cidade, curator of the Engraving Club of the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM - SP), and lives in São Paulo.

PROJECTS - 28TH SAO PAULO BIENAL

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