Eccoci!

The screenings will take place in two different periods: during the opening week of the Venice Biennial, in May, and when the exhibition ends, in November.

The first show, from 7 to 9 May, will happen in the Cannaregio district, with screen projections on the façade of a workers’ housing complex, built in 1922 and still mainly occupied by the descendants of the original residents. The second show will take place on the 19, 20 and 22 November on the façade of Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista in the San Polo District. Founded in 1261, it is the oldest of six “scuolas” – lay confraternities dedicated to charity. Today, this institution stages events and is still a meeting place for the city’s residents.

The works shown in Eccoci! are recorded performances by the artist carried out in her city of birth, Belém, in the state of Pará, Brazil. They have strong political content and aspire, in a poetic way, to confront situations of abuse of power brought about by the diverse facets of social inequality in Brazil. By crossing the Atlantic and taking the streets of Venice – one of the artist’s greatest aspirations is to be able to democratize the access to her work – Berna Reale instigates a debate on the links between the local and the universal and the commonalities present in the search for a dignified life. After all, the verb ‘to instigate’ is undeniably part of Reale’s work.

The project will also comprise a catalogue containing critical texts by curators and reproductions of Reale’s exhibited work, as well as two other performances (only captured in photographs).