Carla Zaccagnini
By Fernanda Albuquerque
Carla Zaccagnini is a versatile artist who uses a multiplicity of materials, techniques and ideas, and the most diverse resources. As the artist exercises an interrogative approach, her work incites a similar attentiveness in the observer. Percurso ótico [optical journey] (2005), an intervention developed at the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, involved a group of mirrors that allowed the public to observe one of the paintings from the institution’s collection on another floor. Considerable motivation was required to discover what this work was about, since the painting in the mirrors – much like the questions arising from the work itself – was not immediately obvious to the observer. Experience and contemplation where not an easy task, nor were they ment to be.
Jogo de memória [memory game] (2004) is comprised of a set of 36 similar pictures, among which the player must find 18 matching pairs – a difficult task. “The work proposes an exercise which we are not used to nowadays. Most often, we just train ourselves not to see”, explains Zaccagnini. She usually describes her work as enticements, or stimuli for the viewer to question what is seen and to reflect on issues such as cultural public policies. “Especially in Brazil, where the art institutions are extremely fragile, it is very easy to point out imperfections”, says the young artist, who has been living in São Paulo for the last 24 years. “What I try to do is to transform these limits and imperfections into material for my work.” This is what she did, for example, when she developed a project on Brazilian contemporary art at the Centro de Arte Wilfredo Lam in Cuba. Her proposal was to donate a selection of books on Brazilian art to the institution’s library.
Zaccagnini’s multiplicity can be observed not only in her production; she is also a member of the editorial board of Brazilian magazine Número and writes for other publications, such as Art Nexus and Arte y Parte. In addition, she was assistant curator of the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art and was recently one of a group of curators of “Farsites”, an exhibition in the inSite-05 programme. These activities don’t seem to play a secondary role in Zaccagnini’s performance; rather, they are in dialogue with her own production of artworks.
Published in Contemporary Magazine Annual, London, January 2006
Zaccagnini in Frieze-magazine: http://frieze.com/issue/review/carla_zaccagnini
By Fernanda Albuquerque
Carla Zaccagnini is a versatile artist who uses a multiplicity of materials, techniques and ideas, and the most diverse resources. As the artist exercises an interrogative approach, her work incites a similar attentiveness in the observer. Percurso ótico [optical journey] (2005), an intervention developed at the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, involved a group of mirrors that allowed the public to observe one of the paintings from the institution’s collection on another floor. Considerable motivation was required to discover what this work was about, since the painting in the mirrors – much like the questions arising from the work itself – was not immediately obvious to the observer. Experience and contemplation where not an easy task, nor were they ment to be.
Jogo de memória [memory game] (2004) is comprised of a set of 36 similar pictures, among which the player must find 18 matching pairs – a difficult task. “The work proposes an exercise which we are not used to nowadays. Most often, we just train ourselves not to see”, explains Zaccagnini. She usually describes her work as enticements, or stimuli for the viewer to question what is seen and to reflect on issues such as cultural public policies. “Especially in Brazil, where the art institutions are extremely fragile, it is very easy to point out imperfections”, says the young artist, who has been living in São Paulo for the last 24 years. “What I try to do is to transform these limits and imperfections into material for my work.” This is what she did, for example, when she developed a project on Brazilian contemporary art at the Centro de Arte Wilfredo Lam in Cuba. Her proposal was to donate a selection of books on Brazilian art to the institution’s library.
Zaccagnini’s multiplicity can be observed not only in her production; she is also a member of the editorial board of Brazilian magazine Número and writes for other publications, such as Art Nexus and Arte y Parte. In addition, she was assistant curator of the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art and was recently one of a group of curators of “Farsites”, an exhibition in the inSite-05 programme. These activities don’t seem to play a secondary role in Zaccagnini’s performance; rather, they are in dialogue with her own production of artworks.
Published in Contemporary Magazine Annual, London, January 2006
Zaccagnini in Frieze-magazine: http://frieze.com/issue/review/carla_zaccagnini
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