João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva
There's nothing more to tell because this is small, as is every fecundation

Nov 13th, 2011 – Jan 14th, 2012
Museo Marino Marini, Milan

Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf

Press release

Following the motto "things have no meaning: they exist. And their existence is their meaning," of the poet Alberto Caeiro, aka Fernando Pessoa, the short films that form the basis of the work by this pair of artists are defined as events, emergencies, sequences without narrative or metaphysics, structured around the discreet but ineluctable origin of small things.

JMG/PP succeed in creating a significant artistic and intellectual journey achieving, as few others have in contemporary art, high levels of philosophical sophistication and reflection, through their films (in 16 and 35 mm), where their materialistic vision is the result of an intertwining of the codes of pataphysics, science and art. The artists' work invites us to think about the world by looking at the absurd, the burlesque or the magic, and recovering the primitive qualities of film’s earliest years.

As is customary in the modus operandi of JMG/PP, some of the most recent works in this exhibition were made during trips, in this case to Catania, São Tomé and Principe. Therefore, there will also be new works, produced by the Marino Marini Foundation and Ente Cassa di Risparmio Contemporary Arts Observatory, as well as a sculpture, "Spaghetti Tornado", produced with the support of the Brodbeck Foundation of Catania.

On the occasion of the project a book will be produced, published by Mousse Publishing, edited by Nuno Faria and Alberto Salvadori, supported by the Foundations Marino Marini, Florence, Brodbeck Foundation, Catania, and the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze Observatory of Contemporary Arts.

About João Maria Gusmão

João Maria Gusmão (*1979) is known for practices and meta-practices ranging from experimental film to photography, sculpture, drawing, literature and curating.

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