Page 102 - ARTE!Brasileiros #43

WHAT UNITES US? ENGLISH VERSION
erasure. When I saw her work in a documentary for an art channel, I could better present shapes and surfaces that resemble something between the astrological
understand the effect of time she brings about. Now I ask her how she reconciles and the geological.
that silence, almost deep, contained in everything she does and in herself, with the In her exhibition at the Camden Arts Center, Let it Down, a title taken from a
chaos of the city or with the surroundings of the people who inhabit their daily life: Shakespearean book, she created a performance with contemporary dancers who
“I spend a lot of time alone. And even when I am not, there is an intimate silence, a would perform upon the crystal sculptures placed on the floor. “I used pieces on
state of solitude that lingers.” Unlike some assert, I do not see accident or fortuity the floor as platforms to explore the soul in limbo and to have choreographies, and
in her drawings: everything seems like rivers that slip quiet, reinforcing furrows. then objects in space, become activated,” explains Jennifer Tee. The artist uses
The present in her work is composed of the overlapping of timeless realities, yet crystal because it is a surface able to multiply.
everything seems harmonious around a time of ephemeral or temporary conditions.
What would then be the key to the concept? “I am interested in elements - structures BIENNIALS SUR | PAGES 20 TO 25
that are not shut to others -, that allow themselves to be marked, transformed and BIENALSUR ADVANCES TOWARDS
permeate, speaking simultaneously of limit and continuity”.
optic. But would there be a phenomenological quest for continuous presence? “My THE NEXT EDITION, IN 2019
In a flight over her work, one can perceive the analogy between image, subject and
language is visual and my process is driven by perception, intuition and feeling. I AT THE BEGINNING OF APRIL, THE 13TH BIENALSUR MEETING
have no philosophical questions as my starting point, as something to guide me.
However, of course, the work can be interpreted from a philosophical point of view, TOOK PLACE, AN INTERNATIONAL PLATFORM FOR DEBATES AND
and that is welcome.” In video or installation, Mary thematizes time and seems to EXHIBITIONS ORGANIZED BY UNTREF, UNIVERSIDAD TRES DE FEBRERO
capture fragments of our contemporary cranky world that, for the average hurried IN BUENOS AIRES, AND THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, LED
citizen, may seem unproductive, wasted, used up: a suspended temporality. But in
her universe, all is the opposite, for it is precisely the slow cadence that provides BY SOCIOLOGIST, EDUCATOR AND COLLECTOR ANÍBAL HOZAMI, AND
rhythm to the continuous and restless pulsation of her art. THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR DIANA WECHSLER, BOTH ARGENTINES
BIENNIALS SÃO PAULO | PAGES 18 AND 19 BY PATRICIA ROUSSEAUX
JENNIFER TEE’S IMAGINARY This project aims to look at the world map of the 21st Century from a different

angle, other than that traditionally dictated by the supremacy of Eurocentric
A DUTCH WOMAN EXHIBITS AT SÃO PAULO’S 33RD BIENAL NEXT SEPTEMBER or Americanist culture, traditional holders of global economic power. BienalSur
WITHOUT REVEALING THE WORK, WHICH KNOWINGLY INVOLVES SCULPTURES, intends to create a meeting of voices that contain a history of decolonization for
PERFORMANCES AND OBJECTS SPREADED IN GROUND AND AIR others who want to listen, fundamentally bringing contemporary art as a pivot,
with proposals for projects that reflect on our culture and a new geopolitics.
BY THE EDITOR At the time, the importance of the process in the work today, made possible by
NADJA IS ONE OF ANDRÉ BRETON’S ICONIC NOVELS, dating back to the new technologies on the work and the function of contemporary art, was
1962. The protagonist is his supposed lover and prostitute, the woman the book is debated in Buenos Aires. The Brazilian artist Waltércio Caldas, the Brazilian curator
named after. According to Jennifer Tee, the motto of her art is “soul in limbo”. The Marcelo Dantas, the Japanese artist Makoto Azuma and the German artist Mariele
protagonist of the novel also stated: “I am the soul in limbo”. Who knows what a soul Neudecker, who works with chemistry, environment and sculpture participated in the
is? This issue ties up one of the last exhibitions of Jennifer Tee, a Dutch who will be talks. Also participating were collectors who are opening their collections in Africa.
at São Paulo’s 33rd Bienal next September and whose exhibition is not yet defined. The meetings are held over two years in several cities and are sequential. On each
The artist works with sculptures, tapestries, performances, objects scattered on the occasion, BienalSur presents one or two central exhibitions in parallel. On the date of
floor and suspended in the air, readings or performances, always keeping space for this meeting, a retrospective was chosen in homage to Argentine artist Graciela Sacco,
the public to circulate and “live” their limbo state. who died suddenly, and a retrospective of the trajectory of Brazilian Anna Bella Geiger.
By appropriating Western literature, Jennifer once again reinforces her creative Next, we published excerpts from the text Anna Bella Geiger in dialogue with Diana
process by highlighting a hybrid, multi-cultural territory built from needs, a recurring Wechsler, July 2017. Originally published in the book-catalog of the exhibition Anna
theme in The Soul in Limbo. The concept of limbo is not interpreted only by a spatial Bella Geiger, Physical and Human Geography, curated by Estrella de Diego. The
portion, but by a complex relation which might give rise to diverse interpretations. exhibition took place on the occasion of the partnership between the Center for
Jennifer Tee also uses such concept in her collages of dried tulip petals, which Contemporary Art in Seville, La Casa Encendida in Madrid and the MUNTREF Centro
are symbols of her own diaspora origin. Born in 1973, in Arnhem, Holland, with de Arte Contemporaneo in Buenos Aires, an institution that forms an essential part
a mother of English and Dutch ancestry, her grandfather and great-grandfather of the BienalSur Platform.
were tulip planters. Her father, Indonesian, went to Holland by ship. Her family Next, we publish excerpts from the text Anna Bella Geiger in dialogue with Diana
story reflects strongly on her imaginary. Jennifer Tee may be seemingly fragile, Wechsler, July 2017. Published in Chapter 1 - Catalog of the exhibition Anna Bella
but her work transcends her personality with great force and energy, especially in Geiger, physical and human geography, curated by Estrella de Diego. The exhibition
the choreographed readings and performances that often attract artists of all ages. was held in partnership with the Center for Contemporary Art in Seville, Casa
On stage, she demonstrates and explores resistance both culturally and spiritually. Encenada in Madrid and the MUNTREF Contemporary Art Center in Buenos Aires,
Jennifer continuously negotiates between esoteric ideas and the materiality of an institution that forms an essential part of the BienalSur Platform.
objects, often working with artifacts and cultural symbols. “I like to work with In first-person…
materials that always show a presence and that also have a cultural meaning.” Her Drawing has a quality of permanent
thoughts travel between Eastern philosophies and Western culture, and as they openness, renewal, and revelation.
move from one margin to another, in a continuous sailing it often plunges into It is a “via directa” to my thoughts,
literary texts influenced by theosophist such as Helena Blavatsky and artists such an X-ray of my work
as Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint.
Jennifer Tee is not only an interpreter: she searches for crafts, sculpture, performance Anna Bella Geiger, 1997
and collage, to come up with concepts of cultural heritage. Her universe splits into a
more personal part of the petal of tulips and stage installations that examine a fusion The ways of life are narrated several times. Artists of various and extensive roads, like
of Eastern and Western supernatural concepts, including Occultism and Taoism. “I Anna Bella Geiger, have been forging at the same time their career and the narrative
found that if I did collages with these petals, they would look like weaving. I have that organizes it in the time. Each story incorporates different shades. Nonetheless,
reached a standard that can be recognized in other cultures; there are similarities.” what unites them is the voice of those who reveal them, in this case, Anna Bella, who
By bringing together disparate narratives, she proposes a union of artists and opposes emphasizes the fundamental facts, moments of rupture, obsessions and continuities.
the notions of individualism and separation defended by Western modernity, which These identities that make her up and where she operates.
emphasizes the autonomy of the artist and the supposed lack of purpose of works Diana Wechsler: Anna Bella, you started your career very young. What led you to
of art. On the contrary, she prioritizes, especially, the collective experience and the choose the path of the visual arts? What was relevant to your training? To say,
overcoming or destruction of borders. you remember some message such as grafication, any choice that can handle as
Her facilities are steeped in esoteric spirituality, celebrating all the connotations that a display of your development. For example, let’s say that drawing is a leitmotiv
come from the craft, creating talismanic objects that suggest the human presence of your work. What does it have to do with your training or as an interface that
around them. The artist’s ceramic wall tiles, some with names like Tao Magic, can be created between drawing and thinking? Or maybe both terms...