Adriano Costa | all fishermen know about u(s)
Cultural anthropophagy is one of the most interesting and distinctive features of Brazilian modernism and a way of resolving issues opened up by the processes of colonization and decolonization. In the solo exhibition of Adriano Costa (São Paulo, 1975) at the A Sud space, curated by Massimiliano Scuderi, some crucial points of the complex semantic system in which we are immersed today are touched upon. In contemporary art, one increasingly encounters languages that capture in the process of devouring everyday life, in all its phenomenology, the pivotal points of an existential practice shared by many artists.The result is an answer – or a question – that realises the very meaning of contemporary art, as a complex language (cf. Nathalie Heinich) in which painting, sculpture, video, installation and so on merge into a multimorphic landscape. In a statement, the artist defines the contours and meaning of his practice in the Pescara project:
“As in Macunaíma1 , Mario de Andrade’s anti-hero, an iconic pillar of Brazilian modernism, ALL FISHERMAN KNOW ABOUT U( S ) is the exhibition presented at the A Sud space in Pescara, where anything is possible. The random here is a complement .A Citroen campaign (1985) designed by Jean Paul Goude, with the robotic face of a fearless star, Grace Jones, singing in a desert setting, and the Nofretete series (2014) by Isa Genzken can coexist in the exhibition space. The relationship between the two art heroines stems from a paper cut-out of a banal advertisement taken from a nearby supermarket. The work, the city, the planet, the internet, samples and/or copyright issues are together in a blender, endlessly trafficking from sculpture to fashion to music via dance in the video work ‘Works on paper, works on marble, works on plastic’.
I filmed myself sliding across the marble floor of the A Sud space, using pieces of paper and plastic as tools. I seem to skate in the boundless and violent world of communication. Anthropophagic behaviour raised to its highest potential. What interests me here is not the roots of worldly references, but what I express as ‘vomiting at the world’. I put the terms, now so topical, of colonisation and decolonisation in a place where it does not matter at all who did what and what was or was not done. The exhibition speaks and pays homage to the pleasure of existence. A vast myriad of narratives can be activated by the audience or not. It is a clear invitation to a tour de force of electronic music served up on a platter. A rave platter. It is a matter of receiving it or not. The plot here is to explore the meaning of the Greek term ekstasis. Losing control is the plat du jour.
1M. De Andrade, Macunaima, Biblioteca Adelphi, Milano, 1970.
The exhibition will be open until March 25, 2023 by appointment.
Adriano Costa | all fishermen know about u(s)
Cultural anthropophagy is one of the most interesting and distinctive features of Brazilian modernism and a way of resolving issues opened up by the processes of colonization and decolonization. In the solo exhibition of Adriano Costa (São Paulo, 1975) at the A Sud space, curated by Massimiliano Scuderi, some crucial points of the complex semantic system in which we are immersed today are touched upon. In contemporary art, one increasingly encounters languages that capture in the process of devouring everyday life, in all its phenomenology, the pivotal points of an existential practice shared by many artists.The result is an answer – or a question – that realises the very meaning of contemporary art, as a complex language (cf. Nathalie Heinich) in which painting, sculpture, video, installation and so on merge into a multimorphic landscape. In a statement, the artist defines the contours and meaning of his practice in the Pescara project:
“As in Macunaíma1 , Mario de Andrade’s anti-hero, an iconic pillar of Brazilian modernism, ALL FISHERMAN KNOW ABOUT U( S ) is the exhibition presented at the A Sud space in Pescara, where anything is possible. The random here is a complement .A Citroen campaign (1985) designed by Jean Paul Goude, with the robotic face of a fearless star, Grace Jones, singing in a desert setting, and the Nofretete series (2014) by Isa Genzken can coexist in the exhibition space. The relationship between the two art heroines stems from a paper cut-out of a banal advertisement taken from a nearby supermarket. The work, the city, the planet, the internet, samples and/or copyright issues are together in a blender, endlessly trafficking from sculpture to fashion to music via dance in the video work ‘Works on paper, works on marble, works on plastic’.
I filmed myself sliding across the marble floor of the A Sud space, using pieces of paper and plastic as tools. I seem to skate in the boundless and violent world of communication. Anthropophagic behaviour raised to its highest potential. What interests me here is not the roots of worldly references, but what I express as ‘vomiting at the world’. I put the terms, now so topical, of colonisation and decolonisation in a place where it does not matter at all who did what and what was or was not done. The exhibition speaks and pays homage to the pleasure of existence. A vast myriad of narratives can be activated by the audience or not. It is a clear invitation to a tour de force of electronic music served up on a platter. A rave platter. It is a matter of receiving it or not. The plot here is to explore the meaning of the Greek term ekstasis. Losing control is the plat du jour.
1M. De Andrade, Macunaima, Biblioteca Adelphi, Milano, 1970.
The exhibition will be open until March 25, 2023 by appointment.
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