Lucas Bambozzi Nicole Franchy Leandro Lima & Gisela Motta José Carlos Martinat Rodrigo Matheus Amilcar Packer Rolando Sanchez Gabriel Acevedo Velarde Julie Bélisle Kiki Mazzucchelli Miguel Zegarra Contrainte/Restraint
L. Bambozzi, 2007
Opening
Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 5 pm
Following the success of its exhibitions Inside (Paço das Artes, Brazil, 2008) and Transitions/Transiciones (Centro Cultural de Lima, Peru, 2008) as well as several collaborations with these two countries in previous years, Le Groupe Molior is now showing an exhibition of works by Peruvian and Brazilian artists in two locations in Montreal: OBORO and the Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay.
Three young curators – Miguel Zegarra (Lima), Kiki Mazzucchelli (São Paulo) and Julie Bélisle (Montreal) – have selected eight artworks by new media artists from Peru and Brazil around the theme of restraint and its controlling effects on everyday life in these two South American countries.
The focus of this exhibition is to show what the Brazilian and Peruvian contexts, in their cultural, social, and political aspects, have in common regarding the use of media technologies. Lima, the capital of Peru, represents a new paradigm of modernity marked by paradox: chaos, poverty, mass access to technology, pirated technological products, historical buildings recycled into modern ones. All the signs of Peru’s socio-economic complexity are concentrated here. São Paulo is Brazil’s financial and business centre, a place where extremes of poverty and wealth co-exist. What these two cities have in common, and what is reflected in this exhibition, is the co-existence of paradoxical situations where the forces of modernity and precariousness are constantly at play.
L. Bambozzi, 2007
Lucas Bambozzi is a multimedia artist based in São Paulo, Brazil. His works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions in more than 40 countries. He was a visiting artist at the CAiiA-STAR Centre, where he developed an extensive research about online privacy and pervasive systems as part of his M.Phil. studies, concluded in 2006 at the University of Plymouth, UK. His research on media and art has led to a series of curatorial projects such as: Life Goes Mobile (2005) and arte.mov, International Mobile Media Art Festival (2006-2009).
Nicole Franchy was born in Lima in 1977. She graduated from Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes Corriente Alterna (Silver Medal, Honours). She studied interactive software at Centro Fundación Telefónica in Lima and she is starting a Master Degree in Fine Arts at HISK Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium. Her recent solo exhibitions include Patron 3.15 H9 at Galería Vértice, Lima (2008), Espacios Compartidos at Centro Cultural Ricardo Palma, Lima (2006) and Urbania at Galería 5006, Buenos Aires (2007).
Leandro Lima and Gisela Motta were both born in São Paulo in 1976. Between 1996 and 1999, they studied Visual Arts at FAAP in São Paulo, and have been working in partnership since that time. Their solo exhibitions include Sob Controle (2009), Vivendo at Galeria Vermelho in São Paulo (2006), and Foreign Element at HIAP, Helsinki (2007).
José Carlos Martinat was born in Lima in 1974. He graduated from the Instituto Antonio Gaudí – Centro de la Fotografía. He studied sound design and interactive software and art.
Rodrigo Matheus was born in 1974 in São Paulo. He completed a B.A. in multimedia in the Faculty of Arts and Communication at the University of São Paulo. He has exhibited extensively in Brazil and abroad. In 2008, he had a solo exhibition at Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo and took part in several group shows, including Looks Conceptual or How I Mistook a Carl Andre for a Pile of Bricks at Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, and Images Festival at Art Gallery of York University, Toronto.
Amilcar Packer was born in Santiago de Chile in 1974 and lives and works in São Paulo. In 1999, he graduated in Philosophy from the Universidade de São Paulo. He studied with Eduardo Brandão from 1988 to 2001 at the independent art school Terceiro Andar. His recent solo exhibitions include Entre, Usina do Gasômetro, Porto Alegre, Brazil (2009), Polisemiose at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo (2006) and Grave at Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo (2005).
Rolando Sánchez was born in Lima in 1974. He graduated from Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes de Lima and from the Electronic Engineering Faculty of Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, where he is a regular teacher.
Gabriel Acevedo Velarde was born in Lima in 1976. He graduated in Fine Arts from Universidad de las Américas, Puebla, México. The artist studied film production and photography.
Julie Bélisle holds an MA in museology and has worked at the Galerie de l’UQAM since 2004. For her current doctoral studies in art history at UQAM she is focusing on accumulation processes in contemporary art, a specialization which has led her to participate in several anthropology research projects. She has published texts in various journals and exhibition catalogues and in 2007-2008 she took part in a writing residency at the 3e impérial (Granby, Québec).
Kiki Mazzucchelli is an independent curator and writer working between London and São Paulo. In 2009, she curated Jonathas de Andrade’s solo exhibition Tropical Hangover (Galeria Marcantonio Vilaça, Recife) and an exhibition-in-print project for the magazine Carnation (São Paulo). In the same year she was awarded a two-month International Curator residency from the Fundación Gilberto Alzate Avendaño (Bogotá, Colombia).
Miguel Zegarra was born in Lima, 1979. He graduated in History from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Since 2007, he has been the curator of Galería Vértice in Lima. From 2004 to 2006, he was co-curator of the traveling international exhibition, Vía Satélite. Panorama of photography and video in contemporary Peru presented in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Montevideo, Santiago, San José and Lima.
