Situated Research

residency, curatorial research

Hermes Visual
Arts

São Paulo

2023

The view from the notorious Edifício Copan (Copan Building), designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer and completed in 1966 stands as a landmark of downtown São Paulo.

The art institute Pivo is located on the ground floor of the Copan with another site in Bahia, it shows contemporary art and projects.

As a contrast to the almost 60 year old architectural style of the Copan, you find something that looks like a futursitc move prop including a brilliant idea. A domestic resource sharing vending machine.

With the curator Ana Paula at Pinacoteca de São Paulo, a visual arts museum focused on Brazilian art from the 19th century to the present day, in dialogue with various cultures from around the world.

Marta Minujín: Live, an exhibition by one of the most important Latin American artists of her generation articulates more than one hundred works by Marta Minujín, from 1963 until today.

Pilgrimage (2010), by artist Eder Santos. The video addresses the mineral extraction process. This exploratory activity is carried out in different regions of the country, especially in Minas Gerais, the artist's home state. The practice dates back to the colonial period and has marked the country's history until our time of globalization, when ore extraction became responsible for even greater sociopolitical and environmental fractures.

Historic exhibition from the MASP collection, display design by Lina Bo Bardi. First seen at JCAF in Johannesburg in which the institute had used the display in their exhibition.

The view from underneath MASP, designed by Italian-born Brazilian architect, furniture designer, set designer, and journalist Lina Bo Bardi whose work combines a Modernist sensitivity with a profound commitment to the preservation of the vernacular and a design process guided by social responsibility.

Exhibition view inside MASP, presenting different accounts of indigenous histories from South America, North America, Oceania and Scandinavia, through art and visual culture, curated by artists and researchers who are indigenous or have an indigenous descent, bringing together works of multiple media, typologies, origins and periods, from the period before European colonization to the present.

Exhibition view at Brazil’s largest museum devoted to African and Afro-descendant culture, it was started from the private collection of Bahian artist and curator Emanoel Araújo, director and mentor to the space. Housed in a pavilion in Ibirapuera Park, the collection has grown steadily since the museum’s opening in 2004 and today includes more than six thousand items, spanning three centuries of history, including ethnological pieces and documents, as well as paintings, engravings and photographs by both Brazilian and international artists.

Exhibition view of 22nd Biennial Sesc Videobrasil Memory is an Editing Station. With artistic direction by Solange Oliveira Farkas and curated by Raphael Fonseca, from Brazil, and Renée Akitelek Mboya, from Kenya, the 22nd edition is the result of a partnership between Sesc SP and the Associação Cultural Videobrasil. Drawing on a verse by Waly Salomão, the curatorial selection presents different visions and ways of approaching memory — and forgetting — whether individual or collective, linked to varied social, political and cultural contexts.

Rosana Paulino Nascituras (nascencies) at Gallery Medes Wood.

Striking architecture, private space.

Dos Brasis: Arte e Pensamento Negro (Black Art, Black Thinking), Curated by Igor Simões, in partnership with Lorraine Mendes and Marcelo Campos, Dos Brasis—Arte e Pensamento Negro exhibits the works of circa 240 black artists—amongst men and women both cis and transgender, from all Brazilian states—and includes a range of languages such as painting, photography, sculpture, installations and video installations, produced between the end of the 18th century up until recent times.

Exhibition view at Medes Wood Gallery.

The exterior at SESC Pompeia, another space designed by Lina Bo Bardi. Showing a snake plant, also known as Sansevieria trifasciata or mother-in-law's tongue, is often associated with protection, resilience, and positive energy due to its hardy nature and air-purifying abilities.

Casa do Povo “the people’s house” is a cultural center that revisits and reinvents notions of culture, community and memory. Inhabited by a dozen different groups, movements and collectives, some for decades, others arriving more recently, Casa do Povo expands the notion of culture. Its interdisciplinary, process-based programming and socially-engaged activities see art as a critical tool in an ongoing process of social transformation.

Meeting with the artists from Vilanismo is a brotherhood formed by twelve black visual artists who work together to create space for another as well as present other artists in their space. The collective drew inspiration from their maternal influences of nurture and collective building.

In the studio with Carla Chaim. Both in her works on paper as well as in her photographs and actions recorded on video, she seeks to go beyond the bounds of the traditional conception of drawing. More than a support for the development of an idea, or an initial sketch of a work to be created, drawing in her work appears essentially as a vestige of a body’s action on a given support, a trace of its presence, or even the remnant of a gesture.

Meeting with Rita Mourao Barbos of Desapê, a project of an itinerant gallery, artwork and artists' books uncollection, research, art shows and fairs. Created by Rita M M Barbosa, it is currently existing in the Copan Building, a historical landmark in São Paulo, Brazil.

Studio conversations with artist Ana Raylander and curator Andre Pitol about artistic practice and visual story telling.

Urban interverntions and layers of human history.

Meeting with artists Silvia Noronha who I met first in Berlin with artist Lis Haddad and cultural producer Andre Mimiza.

Detail artwork by Lis Haddad.

Hermes Visual Arts is an independent, artist-run space where artistic practice and discussion converge within an environment that fosters the exchange of experiences.

During my time in São Paulo, I encountered an art ecosystem that is generative, self-organized, and expansive. Art, inherently tied to historical, social, and political landscapes, serves as a lens through which I navigate and position myself—especially within a complex urban environment like São Paulo.

Engaging with artists, collectives, and curators across public, private, and communal spaces; walking through streets, parks, and neighborhoods; observing art, architecture, and design—each of these experiences became integral to my research. The city’s soundscape, scents, and flavors further enriched my understanding, making immersion a crucial element of my inquiry.

Situated Research: A Layered Inquiry into Place

Situated Research is an approach that delves into place and the intersections where ideas emerge. It is not just about understanding significance through self-positioning but through direct engagement within a local context. Ideas take shape through subtle conversations, shared interests, and the moments of exchange that unfold organically.