From February 26 to March 23, 2013, Galeria Vermelho is presenting the solo show Pelas Bordas [From the
Edges] by Carla Zaccagnini, and the projects Escala de Cinzas [Shade of Grays] by João Loureiro, and La Felicidad
[Happiness] by Kevin Simón Mancera.
Carla Zaccagnini is known for an artistic production that transits in a unique way between installation, video,
text, drawing and performance. In this solo show, the artist works “from the edges,” – that is, with a perception
couched in the periphery – to reinterpret the systems and rules that govern our observation, comprehension
and representation of the terrestrial globe.
To this end, Zaccagnini, who was born in Buenos Aires, in 1973, has brought together recent works and others
produced from 2003 onward, documents of her displacements to different regions of the world in various
artist’s residencies, and projects she has carried out in the last decade.
In Alfabeto Fonético Aplicado II: pavimentaram a Panamericana e tudo o que vejo é a falha de Darien [Applied
Phonetic Alphabet II: They paved a Panamericana and all I can see is the Darien Gap] (2010), Zaccagnini
appropriates the International Radiophony Spelling Alphabet, known as the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, currently
used by aviation companies and ham radio operators around the planet. The work proposes a new alphabet for
spelling based on words whose meaning and spelling is international, but whose pronunciation is adapted to
various languages and to the sounds of each country. In the first edition of the work, presented at ARCO 2010,
Zaccagnini appropriated the Panama Canal’s motto, “Dividing the land to unite the World.” The current version,
which occupies the gallery’s façade, perverts the previous one, pointing to a world that is not so unified, since
the Pan-American Highway, which should link Patagonia to Alaska, still has an 87-km gap between Colombia
and Panama (the Darien Gap), which belies the concept of unification that nourished the creation of the
Panama Canal.
The video Walking Distance (2003) emerges, according to the artist, “as a preface to all the works that will
come after it in this solo show”. Installed in Vermelho’s entry hall, it reveals images of a walk the artist took on
a beach on North Uist Island [Scotland], in 2003.
The installation Bravo-Radio-Atlas-Virus-Opera (2009–2010), presents the videographic record of a crossing
through the Panama Canal by boat, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, between 5 p.m. June 27, 2009, and 1 p.m.
the following day.
In The North-West Passage (2012), Zaccagnini appropriates the image of the work by painter John Everett
Millais and superimposes on to it a text of her authorship, commissioned by Tate, the museum to which the
work belongs. The text provides a poetic description of man’s first attempts to find a passage through the
Arctic Ocean that would link the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.
The third passage by water between these two oceans appears in Sem Título [Untitled] (2007), which features
photographs taken during a roundtrip journey between Argentina and Chile, along the Beagle Channel.
Created between the years 2003 and 2012, Duas Margens [Two Shores], is a project carried out in collaboration
with six artists. In the first version, Wagner Morales [Brazil] and Sofia Ponte [Portugal] simultaneously recorded
the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, each at a beach of his/her own choice, according to Zacagnini’s instructions:
Morales on the Brazilian coast and Ponte on the Portuguese coast. The recordings, both of one-hour duration,
were made at the same moment, but at different local times. In 2005, the same procedure was repeated. This
time, Helmut Batista, on a beach in Chile, and Eric Holowacs, in New Zealand, simultaneously recorded the
waters of the Pacific on opposite shores. The third and last part of the project, the Indian Ocean, was filmed in
2012 by Runo Lagomarsino, from the Mauritius Islands, in Africa, and by David Wells in Perth, Australia.
Installed in the same room, the three diptychs – Atlantic, Pacific and Indian – of the project Duas Margens [Two
Shores] suggest a fictional space of encounter between the three oceans.
The solo show is capped off by a set of drawings, collages and prints entitled Como darlo vuelta [How to turn it
around](2013). In this series, the artist questions the conventional manners of representing the terrestrial
globe, in a way that subverts them based on an imaginary universe. North and South switch position. Each
artwork shows a different way of inverting the cardinal points and suggests a global reorganization that
criticizes the cultural and economic conventions.
Through appropriations, citations, partnerships and collaborations, in Pelas Bordas Carla Zaccagnini constructs
a set of possibilities and challenges that suggests a new – even if fantastic – cartography for the globe, based
on its borders.
Escala de Cinzas [Shade of Grays]
João Loureiro
[Room 4]
The work Escala de Cinzas (2012–2013), by João Loureiro, consists of the production and sale of ice cream in six
shades of gray, served in black cones during the period of the show at Galeria Vermelho.
The six variations of gray ice cream are displayed in a showcase similar to that of an ice cream shop, and can be
purchased for R$ 10.00 each. There are various flavors: chocolate, vanilla, lime, soursop, ginger and cachaça.
For Loureiro, there are two key factors that give the work its form: “the subtraction of a piece of information
pertaining to all ice cream – its color – and the addition of gray, in a way similar to the recurrent use of this
color in the production of current art, as a sign of an intended neutrality.”
The project Escala de Cinzas was originally created for the project In Situ: Obras Públicas en la Ciudad de San
Carlos de Bariloche, Bariloche (Argentina), in 2012.
La Felicidad [Happiness]
Kevin Simón Mancera
[Room 3]
In 2008, Colombian artist Kevin Simón Mancera began a project of pilgrimage through countries of Latin
America. His aim: to find happiness. To this end, he chose to approach the problem from a formal standpoint,
as a question of territory, using digital maps to locate 13 places whose names refer to this term.
In his pilgrimage, Mancera passed through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Cuba.
Instead of the notes or digital photos commonly taken by tourists, the artist created, for each country, an
artist’s book with drawings of his experience of displacement.
During the exhibition, the compilation of these books will be released in a single publication entitled La
Felicidad, by Edições Tijuana. The show also features original artist’s books, drawings, and photographs.
Carla Zaccagnini – selected solo shows: Reação em cadeia com efeito variável (permanent installation) at
Museo de Arte Contemporâneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC), Castilla y León, Spain (2010); No, It Is Opposition at
Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Canada (2008); Museu das Vistas at Ersta Konsthall, Nationalmuseum,
Stockholm, Sweden (2007). Selected group shows: 9th Shangai Biennale – City Pavillions, Shanghai, China; 3a
Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan: América Latina y el Caribe, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, Puerto Rico
(2012); Panoramas do Sul – 17° Festival Internacional de Arte Contemporânea Videobrasil, São Paulo – Brazil
(2011); The Traveling Show – Fundación/Colección JUMEX, Mexico City, Mexico; Para ser Construídos, Museo
de Arte Contemporâneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC), Castilla y Léon, Spain (2010); 28ª Bienal de São Paulo,
Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo, São Paulo, Brazil (2008).
João Loureiro - selected solo shows: Fim da Primeira Parte – Galeria Vermelho- São Paulo- Brasil, 2011;
Máquinas Pesadas –Ybakatu Espaço de Arte – Curitiba – Brasil, Festival Cultura Inglesa - Centro Britânico
Brasileiro - São Paulo –Brasil, 2010; Blue Jeans – Projeto Octógono– Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo – São
Paulo – Brasil, 2009. Selected group shows: - In Situ: Arte en el espacio público – Bariloche – Argentina, 2012;
Caos e Efeito – Itaú Cultural – São Paulo – SP – Brasil, 2011; 20 anos do programa de exposições- Centro
Cultural São Paulo- Brasil, 2010; Gabinete de Desenhos do MAM - Galeria Mirante - Centro Cultural da Caixa Salvador – Brasil, 2009.
Kevin Simón Mancera - selected solo shows: La Felicidad – Galeria nueveochenta – Bogotá – Colômbia, 2012;
Sobre el fracaso - Galería nueveochenta – Bogotá – Colômbia, 100 cosas que odio - Fundación Gilberto Alzate
Avendaño, Bogotá – Colômbia, 2007. Selected group shows: Caja de texto un proyecto de Diego García - Lugar
a Dudas, Cali – Colômbia, 2012; Nuevos Nombres - Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango, Bogotá – Colômbia, Catalejo -
Museo de Artes Visuales, Bogotá, 2011; Asimetrías y Convergencias - Galería Vermelho, São Paulo – Brasil,
2009.
EXHIBITIONS: Pelas Bordas solo show by Carla Zaccagnini; Escala de Cinzas Project by João Loureiro, and La
Felicidad Project by Kevin Simón Mancera.
OPENING: February 26, at 8 p.m.
PERIOD: from February 27 to March 23, 2013.
HOURS: Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. / Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
PLACE: Galeria Vermelho / Rua Minas Gerais, 350 / 01244-010 – São Paulo – SP – tel.: (+55 11) 3138 1520 WEB:
www.galeriavermelho.com.br / [email protected]