Paula Garcia, RAW, Performance, 2020
The performance that is the center of RAW consisted of the construction of a frontal crash of two cars driven by the artist Paula Garcia and a professional stunt man and was held on March 17, 2020 at ARCA, a closed building of 9,000 square meters located in Vila Leopoldina in São Paulo. The public could not watch the live performance because we are in a global emergency due to the Covid-19 virus. The performance was broadcast live through different online platforms.
Paula Garcia, Crumbling Body, Performance, 2015
The long durational performance held the 03/09/2015 to 05/10/2015 – Terra Comunal / Marina Abramovic + MAI – Curator: Marina Abramovic and Paula Garcia – SESC Pompeia in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The action confronts the sensations of heaviness and lightness to gather scrap metal with magnets. Walls and ceiling are impregnated with magnetic force; as the parts and debris spreading, a kind of inverted happens burial space. For two months, six days a week, eight hours a day, the artist works in this room throwing iron waste, up to 30 kilograms, at the walls and ceiling magnetized. After filling the walls and ceiling, the pieces are removed and placed in the center of the room and thrown on the walls and ceiling again, the action is repeated for two months.
Paula Garcia, #8 (Noise Body Series), Performance, 2014
Performance Held on 20/09/2014 – The artist is an explorer – Curator: Marina Abramovic, Beyeler Foundation – Basel, Switzerland.
For “#8 (Noise Body Series)”, artist Paula Garcia sat motionless on a chair in a white gallery space in a meditative state for over five hours. In front of the artist lay carefully placed iron scrap metal, as well as a pile of long metal nails. At the beginning of the sixth hour of the performance, four male performers dressed in black entered the gallery space and helped Garcia get into armor made entirely of magnets. When the armor was locked onto her body, the four men proceeded to take some of the bigger pieces of metal off the floor and attach them to Garcia’s armored body. They then took positions by the pile of nails and proceeded to throw nails violently at the artist until she was completely covered and unrecognizable. The impact of the metal hitting the armor vibrated through Garcia’s entire body. After they had covered the surface of the armor with as much metal as possible, the performers walked over to Garcia and began pulling the metal pieces off one by one until the armor and the artist were uncovered and identifiable again. The armor was removed and the artist sat again in the chair, motionless, scraps of metal now scattered around her on the white gallery floors. (Karina Vahitova)
Photo Marco Anelli
Paula Garcia
Artist / Curator
São Paulo, 1975. Lives and works in São Paulo.
Artist, curator and PHD researcher at PUC in São Paulo. Holds a master’s degree in Visual Arts from FASM-SP and a Bachelor of Arts from FAAP. Her research and artistic experiences focus on live art practice. She has worked as an artist, independent curator and artistic collaborator for MAI – Marina Abramovic Institute since 2012.
One of the conceptual objectives of the artistic actions was to put the notion of a stable body in crisis by submitting it to conflict, destabilizing it, and, in this way, promoting a “noisy body”, unstable, in process, in transformation . This practice operated with the capacity of those devices of the senses that could generate a destabilization of the idea of a body based on the aesthetic experience. In my practice I created a series of performances in which I cover my whole body with very strong magnets, while collaborators cover these magnets with industrial pieces of iron until my body disappears under this rubbish and entire magnetized spaces where I perform inside. The concept of “Body Noise” represents a body that is defined by the sum of three factors: precariousness, uncertainty and risk.
Magnets are elements of my work that serve to discuss the concept of forces. Not just the invisible subjective type, but also the more evident type of social forces that work to consolidate a system of power that ends up shaping things like bodies, feelings, subjectivities and truths. In these performances I try to show bodies disassembled, falling apart. Ultimately, what I propose in my actions is a performative use of my body as a “material support on which forms of conflict are inscribed.”
In 2010 I also focused also into the curatorial studies and practices, combining my artistic research, developing projects and research together with performance curators, such as Marina Abramovic, Robert Wilson, Christine Mello, Chuz Martinez and others. Those projects were held in Pinacoteca of São Paulo State, Beyeler Foundation, Watermill Center, SESC Pompeia, São Paulo Art Fair / SP-arte, Sakip Sabanci Museum, Bangkok Art Bienalle and other locations in Brasil, Europe and Asia.
The curatorial research and practice became an important area of interest, as I saw a path to make it feasible and viable to present projects of artists that work with live action that I had been accompanying through the last years. In 2013 I became an associate curator for Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI), in which I had the opportunity to curate important projects next to international artists, experimenting exhibition formats, which I believe, are more aligned to enhance the value of the artistic experiences, as we did during projects such as No Intermission held in Theater Royal Carré in Amsterdam (Holland / 2022); Terra Comunal | Marina Abramovic + MAI held in São Paulo (Brazil/2015), As One held in Athens (Greece/2016), A Possible Island? held in Bangkok (Thailand/2018) and Akış / Flux – held in Sakip Sabanci Museum in Istanbul (Turkey/2020).
Selected works: RAW – Arca Spaces, São Paulo (2020); Terra Comunal – Marina Abramovic + MAI – Curator: Marina Abramovic and Paula Garcia – SESC Pompéia, São Paulo (2015); The artist is an explorer – Curator: Marina Abramovic – Beyeler Foundation, Basel (2014); 7 Biennial El Museo del Barrio – Curators: Chus Martinez / Rocío Aranda-Alvarado / Raúl Zamudio – El Barrio Museum, New York (2013/2014); The Big Bang : The 19th Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit – Curator: Robert Wilson – Walter Mill, New York (2012); 17º International Festival of Contemporary Art Videobrasil SESC – SESC Belenzinho – SP; Performa Paço in Paço das Artes – SP – (2011); 6th edition of the Exhibition Annual Performance Vermelho Gallery – SP (2010), Expanded Gallery at Luciana Brito Gallery – SP (2010). Selected curatorial projects: No Intermission – Carré Royal Theater, Amsterdam (2020); Curação – Centro Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo (2020); Akış / Flux – Sakip Sabanci Museum + MAI – Curators: Paula Garcia and Serge Le Borgne – SSM, Istanbul – Turkey; A Possible Island? – Bangkok Art Biennale + MAI – Curators: Paula Garcia and Serge Le Borgne – BACC, Bangkok – Thailand (2018); SP-Arte – Curator of performance program – São Paulo – Brazil (2018); As One – NEON + MAI – Curators: Serge Le Borgne and Paula Garcia – Benaki Museum, Athens – Greece (2016).
Paula Garcia
Artist / Curator
São Paulo, 1975. Lives and works in São Paulo.
Artist, curator and PHD researcher at PUC in São Paulo. Holds a master’s degree in Visual Arts from FASM-SP and a Bachelor of Arts from FAAP. Her research and artistic experiences focus on live art practice. She has worked as an artist, independent curator and artistic collaborator for MAI – Marina Abramovic Institute since 2012.
One of the conceptual objectives of the artistic actions was to put the notion of a stable body in crisis by submitting it to conflict, destabilizing it, and, in this way, promoting a “noisy body”, unstable, in process, in transformation . This practice operated with the capacity of those devices of the senses that could generate a destabilization of the idea of a body based on the aesthetic experience. In my practice I created a series of performances in which I cover my whole body with very strong magnets, while collaborators cover these magnets with industrial pieces of iron until my body disappears under this rubbish and entire magnetized spaces where I perform inside. The concept of “Body Noise” represents a body that is defined by the sum of three factors: precariousness, uncertainty and risk.
Magnets are elements of my work that serve to discuss the concept of forces. Not just the invisible subjective type, but also the more evident type of social forces that work to consolidate a system of power that ends up shaping things like bodies, feelings, subjectivities and truths. In these performances I try to show bodies disassembled, falling apart. Ultimately, what I propose in my actions is a performative use of my body as a “material support on which forms of conflict are inscribed.”
In 2010 I also focused also into the curatorial studies and practices, combining my artistic research, developing projects and research together with performance curators, such as Marina Abramovic, Robert Wilson, Christine Mello, Chuz Martinez and others. Those projects were held in Pinacoteca of São Paulo State, Beyeler Foundation, Watermill Center, SESC Pompeia, São Paulo Art Fair / SP-arte, Sakip Sabanci Museum, Bangkok Art Bienalle and other locations in Brasil, Europe and Asia.
The curatorial research and practice became an important area of interest, as I saw a path to make it feasible and viable to present projects of artists that work with live action that I had been accompanying through the last years. In 2013 I became an associate curator for Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI), in which I had the opportunity to curate important projects next to international artists, experimenting exhibition formats, which I believe, are more aligned to enhance the value of the artistic experiences, as we did during projects such as No Intermission held in Theater Royal Carré in Amsterdam (Holland / 2022); Terra Comunal | Marina Abramovic + MAI held in São Paulo (Brazil/2015), As One held in Athens (Greece/2016), A Possible Island? held in Bangkok (Thailand/2018) and Akış / Flux – held in Sakip Sabanci Museum in Istanbul (Turkey/2020).
Selected works: RAW – Arca Spaces, São Paulo (2020); Terra Comunal – Marina Abramovic + MAI – Curator: Marina Abramovic and Paula Garcia – SESC Pompéia, São Paulo (2015); The artist is an explorer – Curator: Marina Abramovic – Beyeler Foundation, Basel (2014); 7 Biennial El Museo del Barrio – Curators: Chus Martinez / Rocío Aranda-Alvarado / Raúl Zamudio – El Barrio Museum, New York (2013/2014); The Big Bang : The 19th Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit – Curator: Robert Wilson – Walter Mill, New York (2012); 17º International Festival of Contemporary Art Videobrasil SESC – SESC Belenzinho – SP; Performa Paço in Paço das Artes – SP – (2011); 6th edition of the Exhibition Annual Performance Vermelho Gallery – SP (2010), Expanded Gallery at Luciana Brito Gallery – SP (2010). Selected curatorial projects: No Intermission – Carré Royal Theater, Amsterdam (2020); Curação – Centro Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo (2020); Akış / Flux – Sakip Sabanci Museum + MAI – Curators: Paula Garcia and Serge Le Borgne – SSM, Istanbul – Turkey; A Possible Island? – Bangkok Art Biennale + MAI – Curators: Paula Garcia and Serge Le Borgne – BACC, Bangkok – Thailand (2018); SP-Arte – Curator of performance program – São Paulo – Brazil (2018); As One – NEON + MAI – Curators: Serge Le Borgne and Paula Garcia – Benaki Museum, Athens – Greece (2016).
•
Paula Garcia, RAW, Performance, 2020
The performance that is the center of RAW consisted of the construction of a frontal crash of two cars driven by the artist Paula Garcia and a professional stunt man and was held on March 17, 2020 at ARCA, a closed building of 9,000 square meters located in Vila Leopoldina in São Paulo. The public could not watch the live performance because we are in a global emergency due to the Covid-19 virus. The performance was broadcast live through different online platforms.
Paula Garcia, Crumbling Body, Performance, 2015
The long durational performance held the 03/09/2015 to 05/10/2015 – Terra Comunal / Marina Abramovic + MAI – Curator: Marina Abramovic and Paula Garcia – SESC Pompeia in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The action confronts the sensations of heaviness and lightness to gather scrap metal with magnets. Walls and ceiling are impregnated with magnetic force; as the parts and debris spreading, a kind of inverted happens burial space. For two months, six days a week, eight hours a day, the artist works in this room throwing iron waste, up to 30 kilograms, at the walls and ceiling magnetized. After filling the walls and ceiling, the pieces are removed and placed in the center of the room and thrown on the walls and ceiling again, the action is repeated for two months.
Paula Garcia, #8 (Noise Body Series), Performance, 2014
Performance Held on 20/09/2014 – The artist is an explorer – Curator: Marina Abramovic, Beyeler Foundation – Basel, Switzerland.
For “#8 (Noise Body Series)”, artist Paula Garcia sat motionless on a chair in a white gallery space in a meditative state for over five hours. In front of the artist lay carefully placed iron scrap metal, as well as a pile of long metal nails. At the beginning of the sixth hour of the performance, four male performers dressed in black entered the gallery space and helped Garcia get into armor made entirely of magnets. When the armor was locked onto her body, the four men proceeded to take some of the bigger pieces of metal off the floor and attach them to Garcia’s armored body. They then took positions by the pile of nails and proceeded to throw nails violently at the artist until she was completely covered and unrecognizable. The impact of the metal hitting the armor vibrated through Garcia’s entire body. After they had covered the surface of the armor with as much metal as possible, the performers walked over to Garcia and began pulling the metal pieces off one by one until the armor and the artist were uncovered and identifiable again. The armor was removed and the artist sat again in the chair, motionless, scraps of metal now scattered around her on the white gallery floors. (Karina Vahitova)
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