Xavier Franceschi brings to the Parisian Le Plateau a solo show for the first time in France of Portuguese artists João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva…
The Portuguese duo whose works & egg sculptures represented the Iberian country @ 2009 Venice Biennale (with great acclaim everything has to be said) bring their “poetic philosophical fiction” to Paris until the end of November, and we suggest… if you’re a sci-fi and paranormal activities lover then this one is an unmissable autumn exhibition. Forget Munch @ Beaubourg and get down to Le Plateau for some enigmatic paradigms.
Their films & budgets which are very low budget, with low-tech special effects, deliberately reveal to us the mainsprings of their making. In tandem with their visual work, since 2005 they have been publishing the philosophical review Eflúvio Magnético, which covers the vast range of their different research and work. At Le Plateau, the exhibition will plunge visitors into a succession of dark rooms where, like so many apparitions confirming the deeply magical nature of their method, they will discover a series of short films as well as several particularly disquieting camera obscuras. Through these different works—at once pieces produced over the past few years and brand new productions executed in particular during two residencies in Africa last summer—João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva focus especially on presenting the figure of the animal and its relationship to man in a decidedly cosmic environment.
João Maria Gusmão (b. 1979) and Pedro Paiva (b. 1977) represented Portugal at the 2009 Venice Biennale. They have had monographic exhibitions in many museums and contemporary art centres, including the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco, the Kunstverein in Hanover… etc. So no excuse to visit some Alien theories in the beautiful XIX arrondissement, and if it’s still sunny… you can always go for a walk by the Buttes Chaumont park nearby.
