Inaugurating a new Videobrasil publishing project
Literatura expandida – arquivo e citação na obra de Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (Expanded literature – archive and quotation in Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s work) by Ana Pato
The research for new ways of writing in Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s production is the focus of a book by Ana Pato, inaugurating project in association with Edições Sesc. It was launched on March 7th, with a public talk by the artist.
In a passage of Literatura expandida – arquivo e citação na obra de Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (Expanded literature – archive and quotation in Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s work), the artist addresses one of her favorite writers: “The alternance between his own life and the world in his stories is always intermingled with the exploration of the gigantic library the world has turned into.” The description concerns the Spaniard Enrique Vila-Matas, but could just as well apply to the artist herself. Straddling the lines between film, video, and installation, the artist is known by the way through which she composes atmospheres and landscapes evocative of the meaning of dystopia, and of our relationship with space. This book takes an in-depth look into her theoretical prerrogatives.
To the author, the artist’s uniqueness is revealed in the way she articulates experimentation with literary text by transposing it into the visual arts field. It is in the exhibition venue that this “method” gives rise to a new form of literature—no longer circumscribed to the word or linguistic communication, but multidimensional. An expanded understanding of literature that can manifest itself in different ways: in a quasi-literal way, when the artist creates an affective library of sorts in the exhibition venue (as in the installation Tapis de lecture, 2000); or in a subtle way, as in her 2009 pieces, in which she creates environments that materialize images and sensations from literary texts (chronotopes & dioramas); or else in a perhaps more complex manner, as when she appropriated works by other artists in order to create her major intervention, TH.2058 (2008), at the Turbine Hall of London’s Tate Modern.
Physically speaking, the book also sets out to translate issues that Ana Pato’s research investigates: Daniel Trench’s graphic design and Teté Martinho’s editing highlight the constitutive character of the quotation, the archive, and the reference in Gonzalez-Foerster’s oeuvre. Some of the research work by Ana Pato, a lengthy interview with the artist, and reproductions of artwork are included.
The new publishing project
The book inaugurates an initiative of Videobrasil’s in association with Edições Sesc to build a Brazilian contemporary art library, particularly covering previously unpublished academic production. Director and curator Solange Farkas emphasizes how pertinent it is that the project is opening with this title, because it reflects an issue germane to the managing of the Videobrasil Collection: at a time when “the archive becomes a dynamic device, inspiring are the artistic proposals that feed upon the idea of the world as a collection and which exalt it by regrouping and reinterpreting fragments.”
This initiative is a continuation of our publishing policy, based on the fostering of reflection and diffusion of contemporary art and cultural issues surrounding it, whether artistic, social or political. Among our products we have: Caderno Sesc_Videobrasil, a space for expanded curatorial proposals; books dedicated to artists we exhibit—such as Joseph Beuys, Olafur Eliasson and Isaac Julien; and the Festivals catalogue. Literatura expandida inaugurates our new segment dedicated to theoretical works, addressed under a non-academic rapprochement.
About Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster
Born in Strasbourg, France, 1965. One of the leading names in contemporary art, she has held solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Guggenheim Museum (New York), Tate Modern (London), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), among others. Her work features in the collections of the Centre Pompidou, Fonds National d’Art Contemporain (France), Dia Art Foundation (New York), Tate Modern, and Instituto Inhotim (Brazil), among others.
About the author
A doctoral candidate at the University of São Paulo’s School of Architecture and Urbanism and the holder of a master’s degree in the visual arts from Faculdade Santa Marcelina (2011), Ana Pato graduated in social communication from Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (1994) with a specialization in cultural management from Fundação Getúlio Vargas (1996).
Visit our News page to learn more about the public talk by the artist in São Paulo (on March 7, together with Ana Pato and curator Daniela Castro) and subscribe to our newsletter to learn more about this release and other news.
