Luísa Nóbrega – the Museum’s first artist-in-residence
The Museum will host Luísa Nóbrega from Brazil from 29 April to 18 May 2014. The artist’s project has been selected in the Open Museum - Education in Action project, under which we will host 13 Polish and foreign artists through April 2016. In their creations, resident artists will focus on the Jewish heritage and multiculturalism, inviting Warsaw inhabitants to join the activities.
In her project, Nóbrega will create an installation comprising traces of more than ten artistic performances conducted by the artist in the public space. Through her activities, the performance artist will refer to the limitations of historical studies and the language of contemporary poetry, among others. On the one hand, she will find inspiration in the poetry of Paul Celan and Anna Kamieńska, and on the other hand - in Warsaw’s memorial places, including the Jewish cemetery and the former footbridge over Chłodna Street.
Luísa Nóbrega deals with performance art, video and text. She is interested in playing with control and risk. She has implemented a range of activities which are based around subjects that are significant for communities in specific regions, such as the trauma of isolation in post-Soviet reality.
Researching the meaning of durational performance and video, Nóbrega and her audience face the question: How long can one bear looking at and listening to something? How long can you stand being watched and how long can you go on sustaining the same action? How long can the picture resist disappearing?
The latter leads to the artist’s understanding of history as fragmentary collective imagination, filled with gaps and contradictions, while at the same time a vast source of inspiration.
Ambiguous Traces, Invisible Gestures - workshops with Luísa Nóbrega
Luísa Nóbrega will conduct a series of workshops titled Ambiguous Traces, Invisible Gestures on 7, 10 and 11 May. The starting point of the workshops will be the visual artists’ shift towards non-material activities that was first seen in the 1970s. Instead of creating objects, they document traces of their activities. This will create a basis for three meetings, at the end of which the participants will conduct ephemeral performance activities.
In collective reflection on the problems of the interface between art and life, the works of such artists as Franz Kafka, Robert Bresson, Bas Jan Ader, Anna Kamieńska, Paul Celan, Jerzy Grotowski, Tehching Hsieh, Jiri Kovanda, Lygia Clark and Rafael França will be recalled.
Dates:
- 7 May, 18.00-20.00,
- 10 May, 11.00-16.00,
- 11 May, 13.00-16.00.
Admission to the workshops is free of charge, but the number of places is limited. You can register at [email protected] until 5 May.
Final presentation
Luísa Nóbrega’s residence will culminate in an installation comprising the documentation of the artist’s Warsaw activities. The presentation will be held in the Museum of the History of Polish Jews building as part of this year’s Long Night of Museums on May 17. It will be accompanied by a meeting with the artist led by philosopher, essayist and translator Adam Lipszyc.
More about the artist
A philosophy graduate from the University of São Paulo, Luísa Nóbrega is a Brazilian performance artist. She participated in such events as the Periferias multidisciplinary festival in Huesca, Spain, Arte Ocupa Live Art Festival in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and many more, including those held in Uruguay and Colombia. She was an artist-in-residence under such programmes as the SIM Residency in Reykjavik or the Nida Art Colony in Neringa, Lithuania. She has also been granted scholarship under the Fundação Joaquim Nabuco programme. For more information go to www.luisanobrega.com.
Organised with the support of the Norway and EEA Grants from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
