O Levante, 2013
Still: Courtesy the artist
Current
Commissions
Collection
Single-channel video installation, color, sound
8 min
Commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary
For O Levante (The Uprising) Brazilian artist Jonathas de Andrade sought to expose the dualities experienced by a population living on the fringes of Recife. While the city is seen as an urban space, elements of a parallel, rural community are close at hand, yet mainly ignored. As he traversed the city, de Andrade realized that although horses are a common sight used in the transport food to and from market places and traded at weekly horse fairs, they are technically illegal in the urban domain a law understood by the artist as a reminder of who owns the land. Seeking to confront this reality, he embarked on the creation of the city's first horse-drawn cart race, presented as a fictionalized film to bureaucratic authorities. For weeks before, pamphlets were handed out, inviting cart drivers and horsemen to participate. On the day of the race, 40 participants overtook the city at a gallop, and the impossible became possible with the artist as an invisible collaborator in the action. The race itself became autonomous, the film merely an excuse to empower a blissful explosion of fleeting anarchy from within. – Alicia Reuter
CURRENT LOANS
Solo exhibition: Jonathas de Andrade
Venue: MAAT Lisbon
January 17, 2023 - April 30, 2023
Curators: João Mourão and Luís Silva
PAST LOANS
Solo exhibition: Jonathas de Andrade
Venue: CRAC Alsace, Centre rhénan d’art contemporain
June 16, 2022 - September 18, 2022
Curators: João Mourão and Luís Silva
8 min
Commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary
For O Levante (The Uprising) Brazilian artist Jonathas de Andrade sought to expose the dualities experienced by a population living on the fringes of Recife. While the city is seen as an urban space, elements of a parallel, rural community are close at hand, yet mainly ignored. As he traversed the city, de Andrade realized that although horses are a common sight used in the transport food to and from market places and traded at weekly horse fairs, they are technically illegal in the urban domain a law understood by the artist as a reminder of who owns the land. Seeking to confront this reality, he embarked on the creation of the city's first horse-drawn cart race, presented as a fictionalized film to bureaucratic authorities. For weeks before, pamphlets were handed out, inviting cart drivers and horsemen to participate. On the day of the race, 40 participants overtook the city at a gallop, and the impossible became possible with the artist as an invisible collaborator in the action. The race itself became autonomous, the film merely an excuse to empower a blissful explosion of fleeting anarchy from within. – Alicia Reuter
CURRENT LOANS
Solo exhibition: Jonathas de Andrade
Venue: MAAT Lisbon
January 17, 2023 - April 30, 2023
Curators: João Mourão and Luís Silva
PAST LOANS
Solo exhibition: Jonathas de Andrade
Venue: CRAC Alsace, Centre rhénan d’art contemporain
June 16, 2022 - September 18, 2022
Curators: João Mourão and Luís Silva
Jonathas de Andrade was born in 1982 in Maceió, Brazil and lives and works in Recife. The artist uses photography, installation and video to traverse collective memory and history, making use of strategies that shuffle fiction and reality. De Andrade collects and catalogues architecture, images, texts, life stories and recomposes a personal narrative of the past.
Past solo museum exhibitions include Instituto Cultural Itaú, São Paulo (2008); Instituto Cultural Banco Real, Recife (2009); Centro Cultural São Paulo (2010); Museu de Arte Contemporânea de São Paulo (2010); Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon (2013); Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal (2013); Museu de Arte do Rio (2014-2015); Museu de Arte de São Paulo (2016-17); The Power Plant, Toronto (2017); New Museum, New York (2017). In 2019, a solo exhibition of Jonathas de Andrade’s work opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.
This biography is from Alexander and Bonin gallery.
Past solo museum exhibitions include Instituto Cultural Itaú, São Paulo (2008); Instituto Cultural Banco Real, Recife (2009); Centro Cultural São Paulo (2010); Museu de Arte Contemporânea de São Paulo (2010); Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon (2013); Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal (2013); Museu de Arte do Rio (2014-2015); Museu de Arte de São Paulo (2016-17); The Power Plant, Toronto (2017); New Museum, New York (2017). In 2019, a solo exhibition of Jonathas de Andrade’s work opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.
This biography is from Alexander and Bonin gallery.
Excerpt of the video O Levante