With regard to aesthetics and choreography, the films of João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva combine references to early silent film with the scientific and educational films of the 1960s and 1970s. They visualize mostly short experiments, without producing a unity between the event and its possible meanings. The aesthetics of 16mm give the impression of authenticity undermined by the absence of sound even when the actors seem to explain their actions. The spatial combination and juxtaposition of documentations of simple quasi-scientific experiments, of nature studies, of short miraculous narratives or supernatural phenomena challenge the common perception of the world and move in metaphysical dimensions. With their cinematic allegories, Gusmão and Paiva reintegrate the wonder and the inexplicable in our rational present.
The first 16mm projector in the exhibition shows three films that were shot in Brazil. They show an old drunk topaz miner who performs three different actions. In the first, Tarciso, the bottom of the shoe astronomy, he takes off one of his shoes, looks through its hole as if it was a telescope discovering a topaz inside. In the second film, Tarciso, the demonstration of movement, he spins himself in front of an audience until getting dizzy. When he stops, a brick in front of him starts to move, like if its motion was part of his dizzyness spell. In the third film, Tarciso and the mountain, the man is shouting to the mountain where he used to extract the precious stones. He crosses a bridge, throws a stone at the mountain and runs away. In the second projection, Atom, two coconuts swing like atoms very slowly around two poles reminiscent of a very enigmatic hypnotizing film.
Tarciso, the bottom of the shoe astronomy
Portugal, 2010, 16mm, no sound
Tarciso, the demonstration of movement
Portugal, 2010, 16mm, no sound
Tarciso and the mountain
Portugal, 2010, 16mm, no sound
Atom
Portugal, 2010, 16mm, highspeed, no sound
João Maria Gusmão, born 1979, and Pedro Paiva, born 1977, both live and work in Lisbon, Portugal. In the last decade the duo participated in various international contexts.
Contact: www.fortesvilaca.com.br
