Because we be them

Blau Projects presents, from November 19, the exhibition Because we be them, curated by Josué Mattos. Political questions regarding the notion of friendship and its tensions permeate Mattos' curatorship, that invited 27 artists to work on the theme. They are: Ana Teixeira, Ayrson Heráclito, Bárbara Wagner, Bruno Kurru, Caetano Dias, Clara Ianni, Cyntia Werner, Dalton Paula, Daniel Lannes, Diego de los Campos, Fernando Velázquez, Jonathas de Andrade, Jorge Menna Barreto, José Rufino, Julia Kater, Karina Zen, Lourival Cuquinha, Matheus Rocha Pitta, Nazareno, Nino Cais, Piti Tomé, Regina Parra, Renata Cruz e Laura Gorski, Ricardo Basbaum, Roberto Freitas, Thiago Honório and Yiftah Peled.

"Because we be them derives from the idea of friendship as amor mundi. It is configured as a program divided in various actions, as discursively inarticulate as pulsating. It stores implicit whys in the wording that titles it, making the resulting installation work as a debate forum and an exhibition-community, a place where grammatical rules and good manners are unnecessary where the fraternal is pierced, disarrayed, producing acts of resistance to the archetype of the friend", states the curator Josué Mattos in his text.

For him, the idea of friendship permeates the political question that the dialog between the artworks can - and should - also be truncated, interrupted, creating tension, conflict. "I want everything to be questioned, even the role of the curator itself", he claims. For him, the notion of breathing space is given in this fertile encounter between many people - and many of the artists in the exhibition don't even know each other -, that are thinking a common world where political, social, everyday questions are treated in full range.

Many of the works are original. It is the case of Yiftah Peled's Racionalidade tóxica, made in 2016 after the tragedy of Mariana. The artist gathered the mud intoxicated by the residues of the tragedy that occurred in the city of Minas Gerais in 2015 and presents it inside 17 acrylic cubes, that represents the 17 deaths in the accident. Under the cubes with the clay, there are numbers representing the ages of the deceased.

José Rufino, presents Opera Hominum, that he has been producing since 2015 with workers from the Santa Terezinha Plant, in Pernambuco, on collected wage slips. The artist from Paraíba, that has already participated in various Art Biennials and shown his work in Europe and in the United States, is creating a Cultural Plant in an extinct alcohol and sugar factory in Pernambuco, with residency programs, art festivals, workshop, courses and internships, aimed mostly at employees and local residents that suffered from the deactivation of the facility and from the loss of their work position. At Blau Projects, Rufino presents around 20 pieces from the series that he has been developing with the hands of the plant workers. They imprint their hands on one of their wage slips. "Besides, their receipts were collective, they had no right to take home the signed paper", explains the artist. The functions of the workers present in the artworks are diverse, sugarcane cutters, truckers, smelters, woodworkers, welders, alcohol dispensers, chemists. For Rufino, it is about rescuing of his own history, "a desire to cure the past", since his family has a slavery past, and he himself was a slave master in his boyhood.

From São Paulo, Clara Ianni, also questions the power relations between employer and employee in Desenho de classe. She presents drawings that shows the commute of the employer versus the one of the employee to get from home to work, relative to their earnings. Issues like mobility, class struggle, domination and power are drawn and highlighted in this piece.

About the curator
Josué Mattos is an art historian and curator. He graduated in Art History and Archaeology from Université Paris X Nanterre, where he obtained the title of Master 1 and 2 in Contemporary Art History. In 2009, he concluded his masters, in Curatorial Practices, at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Invited by Sesc-SP, he conceived and took on the general curatorship of the first edition of Frestas - Arts Triennial / O que seria do mundo sem as coisas que não existem? and Nossa proposição é o diálogo, in Sorocaba (2014-2015). Among his projects, the program of performances É crédito ou débito? (Sesc SP, 2010-2013), presented in over 90 cities of the state of São Paulo, stands out. Among his curated exhibitions are: Albano Afonso: Amor Fati (Museu de Arte de Ribeirão Preto, 2014), XII and XIII Itajaí National Arts Salon (Fundação Cultural de Itajaí, 2010-2013), Eu fui o que tu és e tu serás o que eu sou (Paço das Artes, 2012), Tânia Mouraud: La Fabrique (Sesc Bom Retiro, 2012), Como o tempo passa quando a gente se diverte (Casa Triângulo, 2011), Boîte Invaliden (Invaliden Gallery/Fidalga, 2012), Por aqui, formas tornaram-se atitudes (Polo Bienal São Paulo / Sesc Vila Mariana, 2010), À la limite (Galerie Michel Journiac / Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 2009), Brígida Baltar e Sandra Cinto - Terres et Cieux (Mairie VIIIéme, 2009) and Inter-cambio Festival (Espace Beaujon and Station Europe/3, RATP Paris, 2007-2009-2010).

Blau Projects
Focusing in various languages, such as painting, photography, video, drawing, performance and tridimensional, the gallery is on a space opened to the public since August of 2013, developed to strengthen the dialog with the public and artists. "Our mission is to support and stimulate young artists, while encouraging the discussion about contemporary art", says Juliana Blau. The artists represented by the gallery are Andrey Zignnatto, Ayrson Heráclito, Bruno Drolshagen, Éder Oliveira, Laerte Ramos, Maria Lynch, Pedro David, Renata Cruz, Renata Cruz and Laura Gorski and Vítor Mizael.

Service
Opening of the exhibition Porque somos elas e eles
Curated by Josué Mattos
November 19, Saturday, from 12pm to 7pm
Exhibition opened through December 17
Parking close to the space
Working hours: Tuesday to Saturday, from 11am to 7pm

Free entrance
Disabled access

Blau Projects
Rua Fradique Coutinho, 1464 – Fundos
Vila Madalena | CEP 05416-001
www.blauprojects.com
Phone +55 (11) 3467-8819 | 3467-8801

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