EXHIBITIONS RENATA LUCAS - FALHA (FAILURE)
Some art works never lose their value and current interest, and their repetitions different places at different times will lead to an accumulation of stories and associations. Falha (Failure) by Renata Lucas is such a work. Different from all her other works, which are place- and time specific, this one can be moved. Throughout the summer the flexible floor installation will visit Hordaland Art Centre.
Falha (Failure) is a mobile floor that theoretically can be packed and shipped in order to create a familiar environment in a foreign place. However, it needs constant re-creation, as it must be fitted precisely to each location, thus exposed to subtleties relating to available materials and local building traditions. Every module of the floor is like letters in a language that can easily be translated to create new meanings.
Lucas’ works are often negotiating architecture and the surrounding society. The first time Falha (Failure) was constructed was in Paço das Artes, São Paulo, Brazil in 2003. It was re-constructed in Rio de Janeiro later that same year. It was a time of upheaval and optimism in Brazil. Promises of improvement were fresh, and the ground to walk on was perhaps not as unsteady as before. Yet, the artists still had to create their own contexts for production and display, something this work poetically pointed out. In 2007 the work was installed in the gallery of the interdisciplinary contemporary arts centre REDCAT in Los Angeles – a city of constant possibility of earthquakes and close to artificial surroundings created by a constant supply of water. As a nomadic structure the work was given an additional meaning, again created by the artist herself. This was her first solo-exhibition in the US, and since it turned out not to be possible to go through with the original plans for the exhibition due to strict American regulations for how public spaces can be used she brought her own foundation. Last year, the work was once again installed in an earthquake-ridden region, as contribution to the Istanbul biennial titled Untitled.
Throughout the summer the audience can manipulate the work as it is installed in Bergen. The city is not geologically prone to earthquakes, but our ground might not be so steady as we might think. During the time this work has existed our foundations have become unstable, as a result of political and financial changes. However, it is important to remember that this not only creates basis for disasters, but also undreamt-of possibilities. Just like this floor we can recreate the ground we every day walk on. The installation of this work at Hordaland Art Centre can also be inscribed in a micro-local context, as there is a proposition that the surrounding parking lot in the neighbourhood of Klosteret should be recreated as a versatile park.
For this exhibition Hordaland Art Centre has commissioned a new text on Lucas’ works by writer and curator Daniela Castro, titled ”Failure, in particular”, available to read on our web pages www.kunstsenter.no.
The exhibition is curated by Anne Szefer Karlsen, in dialogue with Daniela Castro.
---------
Renata Lucas (1971, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil) lives in Rio de Janeiro. Her solo exhibitions include kunst-werke, 2010 (cabeça e cauda de cavalo), KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2010; The Resident, Gasworks, London, 2007 and Mau Gênio, the Museu de Arte de Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, 2002. She has participated in dOCUMENAT (13), Kassel, 2012; the Biennale di Venezia in 2009 titled Making Worlds and Como Viver Junto, 27th Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil in 2006. In 2008 she received her PhD from the Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA-USP), São Paulo, Brazil and in 2009 she received the Ernst Schering Foundation Art Award.
---------
The exhibition is supported by the City of Bergen.
Photos
