Lina Bo Bardi. A Marvellous Entanglement, by Isaac Julien
27/09/2020.
[MAD] Spain 10.09 > 14.11.2020
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
Isaac Julien (London, 1960) presents at the Helga de Alvear Gallery his new video-installation, "Lina Bo Bardi - Un Maravilloso Enredo (2019)". The work traverses a selection of the most emblematic buildings by Lina Bo Bardi (Rome, 1914 - São Paulo, 1992) offering a reflection on the work and legacy of the visionary Italian-Brazilian designer and architect.
The multi-screen installation together with the large-format photographs of Isaac Julien, intertwine different disciplines and ways of artistic representation to create a unique poetic visual language, which emphasizes Bo Bardi's political and cultural vision, focusing on her public projects and not on her private buildings. Furthermore, a central element of the exhibition are the philosophical reflections that the architect formulated in articles and letters, such as the passage above, which is central to the film.
‘Linear time is a western invention; time is not linear, it is a marvellous entanglement where, at any moment, points can be chosen and solutions invented, without beginning or end.’
Lina Bo Bardi
The multi-screen installation together with the large-format photographs of Isaac Julien, intertwine different disciplines and ways of artistic representation to create a unique poetic visual language, which emphasizes Bo Bardi's political and cultural vision, focusing on her public projects and not on her private buildings. Furthermore, a central element of the exhibition are the philosophical reflections that the architect formulated in articles and letters, such as the passage above, which is central to the film.
Tecnologia pré-histórica / Prehistoric Technology, 2019. Endura Ultra photograph facemounted 180 x 240 x 7.5 cm; 70 7/8 x 94 1/2 x 3 in. Photograph, courtesy of Helga de Alvear Gallery © Joaquín Cortés
Um maravihoso emaranhado / A Marvellous Entanglement, 2019. Endura Ultra photograph facemounted 180 x 240 x 7.5 cm; 70 7/8 x 94 1/2 x 3 in. Photograph, courtesy of Helga de Alvear Gallery © Joaquín Cortés
Soluções inventadas / Solutions Invented, 2019. Endura Ultra photograph facemounted 180 x 240 x 7.5 cm; 70 7/8 x 94 1/2 x 3 in. Photograph, courtesy of Helga de Alvear Gallery © Joaquín Cortés
O que é um museu? / What is a Museum? , 2019. Endura Ultra photograph facemounted 180 x 240 x 7.5 cm; 70 7/8 x 94 1/2 x 3 in. Photograph, courtesy of Helga de Alvear Gallery © Joaquín Cortés
Pontos escolhidos / Points Chosen, 2019. Endura Ultra photograph facemounted 180 x 240 x 7.5 cm; 70 7/8 x 94 1/2 x 3 in. Photograph, courtesy of Helga de Alvear Gallery © Joaquín Cortés
Sem começo nem fim / Without Beginning or End, 2019. Endura Ultra photograph facemounted 180 x 240 x 7.5 cm; 70 7/8 x 94 1/2 x 3 in. Photograph, courtesy of Helga de Alvear Gallery © Joaquín Cortés
Duas linhas sobre Pierre Verger / Two Lines on Pierre Verger, 2019. Endura Ultra photograph facemounted 180 x 240 x 7.5 cm; 70 7/8 x 94 1/2 x 3 in. Photograph, courtesy of Helga de Alvear Gallery © Joaquín Cortés
Almas belas, almas menos belas / Beautiful Souls, Less Beautiful Souls, 2019. Endura Ultra photograph facemounted 180 x 240 x 7.5 cm; 70 7/8 x 94 1/2 x 3 in. Photograph, courtesy of Helga de Alvear Gallery © Joaquín Cortés
Exhibition room view. Photograph, courtesy of Helga de Alvear Gallery © Joaquín Cortés
Exhibition room view. Photograph, courtesy of Helga de Alvear Gallery © Joaquín Cortés
Having filmed on location in São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), Sesc Pompeia and in the Teatro Oficina, Julien proposes an open-ended reflection on Bo Bardi’s ideas. These three buildings, widely regarded as landmarks of Brazilian modernism, stand as representative of her groundbreaking vision.
Travelling further north, the work also encounters Bo Bardi’s buildings in Salvador: the Museum of Modern Art; the Coaty Restaurant and the Gregório de Mattos theatre. Starring Academy Award-nominee Fernanda Montenegro and her daughter, Cannes-laureate actor Fernanda Torres, A Marvellous Entanglement portrays Bo Bardi at different stages of her life, as the actresses interpret excerpts from the architect’s writings.
A central figure of Latin American modernist architecture, Bo Bardi devoted her working life to promoting the social and cultural potential of art, architecture and design. Exploring these themes, A Marvellous Entanglement uses the iconic staircase that she designed for the Museum of Modern Art, Bahia, as the stage upon which Julien orchestrates an original work by choreographer Zebrinha, performed by the Balé Folclórico de Bahia.
The Coaty, a modern ruin perched on the Ladeira de Misericórdia in Salvador, accommodates in turn a series of performances by Brazilian art collective Araká. In close collaboration with Julien, the collective performs in situ happenings reflecting upon the significance of Bo Bardi’s seldom-accessed masterpiece for a young contemporary audience. Another leading name of Brazilian arts, the actor, director, playwright and co-founder of São Paulo’s Teatro Oficina, José Celso Martinez Corrêa (AKA Zé Celso) worked in close collaboration with Bo Bardi and is also a key presence in the film, which includes score created by the German-Spanish composer María de Alvear.
Following the conceptual thread which Julien established in his earlier artistic investigations around portrait-making such as Ten Thousand Waves (2010), or the more recent Lessons of the Hour: Frederick Douglass (2019), Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement looks at historical reparation through visual poetry, moved by the breadth and power of Bo Bardi’s work, and a profound belief that her legacy has yet to be fully acknowledged.
Isaac Julien´s multi-screen film installations and photographs incorporate different artistic disciplines to create a poetic and unique visual language. His solo exhibitions and presentations include Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), Cape Town; The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (2017); Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City (2016); Museum of Modern Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago (2013) amongst others.
Travelling further north, the work also encounters Bo Bardi’s buildings in Salvador: the Museum of Modern Art; the Coaty Restaurant and the Gregório de Mattos theatre. Starring Academy Award-nominee Fernanda Montenegro and her daughter, Cannes-laureate actor Fernanda Torres, A Marvellous Entanglement portrays Bo Bardi at different stages of her life, as the actresses interpret excerpts from the architect’s writings.
A central figure of Latin American modernist architecture, Bo Bardi devoted her working life to promoting the social and cultural potential of art, architecture and design. Exploring these themes, A Marvellous Entanglement uses the iconic staircase that she designed for the Museum of Modern Art, Bahia, as the stage upon which Julien orchestrates an original work by choreographer Zebrinha, performed by the Balé Folclórico de Bahia.
The Coaty, a modern ruin perched on the Ladeira de Misericórdia in Salvador, accommodates in turn a series of performances by Brazilian art collective Araká. In close collaboration with Julien, the collective performs in situ happenings reflecting upon the significance of Bo Bardi’s seldom-accessed masterpiece for a young contemporary audience. Another leading name of Brazilian arts, the actor, director, playwright and co-founder of São Paulo’s Teatro Oficina, José Celso Martinez Corrêa (AKA Zé Celso) worked in close collaboration with Bo Bardi and is also a key presence in the film, which includes score created by the German-Spanish composer María de Alvear.
Following the conceptual thread which Julien established in his earlier artistic investigations around portrait-making such as Ten Thousand Waves (2010), or the more recent Lessons of the Hour: Frederick Douglass (2019), Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement looks at historical reparation through visual poetry, moved by the breadth and power of Bo Bardi’s work, and a profound belief that her legacy has yet to be fully acknowledged.
Isaac Julien´s multi-screen film installations and photographs incorporate different artistic disciplines to create a poetic and unique visual language. His solo exhibitions and presentations include Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), Cape Town; The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (2017); Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City (2016); Museum of Modern Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago (2013) amongst others.
More information
Venue / Adress
Galería Helga De Alvear. Calle del Dr. Fourquet, 12. 28012 Madrid. Spain
Dates
10.09 > 14.11.2020
ISAAC JULIEN
Isaac Julien was born in 1960 in London, where he currently lives and works. While studying painting and fine art film at St Martin's School of Art from which he graduated in 1984, Isaac Julien co-founded 'Sankofa Film and Video Collective' in which he was active from 1983–1992. He was also a founding member of Normal Films in 1991.
Julien was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2001 for his films The Long Road to Mazatlán (1999), made in collaboration with Javier de Frutos and Vagabondia (2000), choreographed by Javier de Frutos. Earlier works include Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask (1996), Young Soul Rebels (1991) which was awarded the Semaine de la Critique Prize at the Cannes Film Festival the same year, and the acclaimed poetic documentary Looking for Langston (1989), which also won several international awards.
Isaac Julien was visiting lecturer at Harvard University's Schools of Afro-American and Visual Environmental Studies between 1998 and 2002. He was also a research fellow at Goldsmiths College, University of London (2000-2005), and is currently both faculty member at the Whitney Museum of American Arts and Professor of Media Art at Staatliche Hoscschule fur Gestaltung Karlsruhe, Germany. He was the recipient of the Performa Award (2008), the prestigious MIT Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts (2001) and the Frameline Lifetime Achievement Award (2002). His work Paradise Omeros was presented as part of Documenta XI in Kassel (2002). In 2003 he won the Grand Jury Prize at the Kunstfilm Biennale in Cologne for his single screen version of Baltimore; in 2008, he received a Special Teddy for his film that he collaborated on with Tilda Swinton, on Derek Jarman, called Derek, at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Julien has had solo shows at the Pompidou Centre in Paris (2005), MOCA Miami (2005), Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover (2006), the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea – Museu do Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal (2009), Museum Brandhorst, Munich (2011) and most recently at SESC Pompeia in Brazil (2012). His film Ten Thousand Waves (2010) went on world tour, and has been on display in over 15 countries so far, and which will conclude at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2013/14. Julien is represented in both public and private collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern; Centre Pompidou; Guggenheim Collection; Hirshhorn Collection, Albright-Knox; the Irish Museum of Modern Art; the National Museum of Norway; Brandhorst Collection; Fundación Helga de Alvear, Madrid; Goetz Collection; the Louis Vuitton Art Foundation; LUMA Foundation; and the Zeitz Foundation.
Lina BO BARDI
Achillina Bo was born on December 5, 1914 in Rome, Italy. Lina was the oldest child of Enrico and Giovana Bo, who later had another daughter named Graziella. In 1939, she graduated from the Rome College of Architecture at the age of 25 with her final piece, "The Maternity and Infancy Care Centre". She then moved to Milan to begin working with architect Carlo Pagani in the Studio Bo e Pagani, No 12, Via Gesù. Bo Bardi collaborated (until 1943) with architect and designer Giò Ponti on the magazine Lo Stile – nella casa e nell’arredamento. In 1942, at the age of 28, she opened her own architectural studio on Via Gesù, but the lack of work during wartime soon led Bardi to take up illustration for newspapers and magazines such as Stile, Grazia, Belleza, Tempo, Vetrina and Illustrazione Italiana. Her office was destroyed by an aerial bombing in 1943. From 1944-5 Bardi was the Deputy Director of Domus magazine.
The event prompted her deeper involvement in the Italian Communist Party. In 1945, Domus commissioned Bo Bardi to travel around Italy with Carlo Pagani and photographer Federico Patellani to document and evaluate the situation of the destroyed country. Bo Bardi, Pagani and Bruno Zevi established the weekly magazine A – Attualità, Architettura, Abitazione, Arte in Milan (A Cultura della Vita).[4] She also collaborated on the daily newspaper Milano Sera, directed by Elio Vittorini. Bo Bardi took part in the First National Meeting for Reconstruction in Milan, alerting people to the indifference of public opinion on the subject, which for her covered both the physical and moral reconstruction of the country.
In 1946, Bo Bardi moved to Rome and married the art critic and journalist Pietro Maria Bardi.
In Brazil, Bo Bardi expanded his ideas influenced by a recent and overflowing culture different from the European situation. Along with her husband, they decided to live in Rio de Janeiro, delighted with the nature of the city and its modernist buildings, like the current Gustavo Capanema Palace, known as the Ministry of Education and Culture, designed by Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Lucio Costa, Roberto Burle Marx and a group of young Brazilian architects. Pietro Bardi was commissioned by a museum from Sao Paulo city where they established their permanent residence.
There they began a collection of Brazilian popular art (its main influence) and his work took on the dimension of the dialogue between the modern and the Popular. Bo Bardi spoke of a space to be built by living people, an unfinished space that would be completed by the popular and everyday use.
The event prompted her deeper involvement in the Italian Communist Party. In 1945, Domus commissioned Bo Bardi to travel around Italy with Carlo Pagani and photographer Federico Patellani to document and evaluate the situation of the destroyed country. Bo Bardi, Pagani and Bruno Zevi established the weekly magazine A – Attualità, Architettura, Abitazione, Arte in Milan (A Cultura della Vita).[4] She also collaborated on the daily newspaper Milano Sera, directed by Elio Vittorini. Bo Bardi took part in the First National Meeting for Reconstruction in Milan, alerting people to the indifference of public opinion on the subject, which for her covered both the physical and moral reconstruction of the country.
In 1946, Bo Bardi moved to Rome and married the art critic and journalist Pietro Maria Bardi.
In Brazil, Bo Bardi expanded his ideas influenced by a recent and overflowing culture different from the European situation. Along with her husband, they decided to live in Rio de Janeiro, delighted with the nature of the city and its modernist buildings, like the current Gustavo Capanema Palace, known as the Ministry of Education and Culture, designed by Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Lucio Costa, Roberto Burle Marx and a group of young Brazilian architects. Pietro Bardi was commissioned by a museum from Sao Paulo city where they established their permanent residence.
There they began a collection of Brazilian popular art (its main influence) and his work took on the dimension of the dialogue between the modern and the Popular. Bo Bardi spoke of a space to be built by living people, an unfinished space that would be completed by the popular and everyday use.
