Provisório Permanente: Lux

Galeria Nara Roesler | São Paulo presents Lux, the first individual exhibition of the Argentinian-Brazilian art collective Provisório Permanente in Brazil. The selection includes a survey of major works produced by the group, encompassing interactive installations, documentations of performances, and photographs created with analogical technology.

The works presented actively fixate an image through the engagement of the visitors, spectators of the work. Centered on the theme of the body and the capture of its images, pieces on show act as arenas of potentials, where participants are encouraged to partake in the experience and contribute to its overall meaning.

A focal piece is Hermética (Hermetic, 2010), a participatory installation that takes the visitor through various stages of key production and incorporates them into the final product. The spectators first find themselves in a room with a mirror that reflects their own image. Employing an old board camera, the visitor’s profile is then projected onto a black screen, which is then developed in a dark room, resized, and imprinted on the aforementioned keys. In the final stage, Hermética is used to create a copy of the key to be handed to the visitors who request it.

Another key work is Circular (Circulate, 2016) consists of a refracting telescope that sits on an iron stand and points in a fixed direction at a mirror. On the opposite wall, additional mirrors are set at an angle. Looking through the telescope, viewers see fragmented images of themselves. Los Fuegos (The Fires, 2016), a camera-like apparatus, with an electronic flash and a round-screen cathode tube imprints on phosphor screen, the fading fragment of a woman’s face.

The spectral body of the anonymous visitor is a constant interest in the practice of Provisório Permanente. Rooted in the superstitious belief that a photograph can steal your soul, the visitors unwillingly leave a material trace when participating in the group’s actions. Creating staged scenarios, they seek to unravel the duration of the present moment and concede to the audience a principal role, allowing documentations created from the interaction between public and work to be archived in the latter.

Provisório-Permanente is based in Buenos Aires and São Paulo, and was founded by Victoriano Alonso (b. 1976, Buenos Aires), Eduardo Basualdo (b. 1977, Buenos Aires), Hernán Soriano (b. 1978, Buenos Aires), Pedro Wainer (b. 1975, Mexico City, based in Buenos Aires), and Artur Lescher (b. 1962, São Paulo). Individual exhibitions held last year include Mirar la obscuridad at Galeria de Arte Ruth Benzacar and des-lúcidos at Casa Nacional del Bicentenario, both in Buenos Aires. Noted group exhibitions include 7ª Bienal do Mercosul (Porto Alegre, 2009); Lágrimas de Niña Cocodrilo (Fondo Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires, 2009); Toponave (Centro Cultural de España en Buenos Aires, 2008); Visitas a la Casa del Coleccionista, Buenos Aires (2005- 2007); among others.