Editor:
Juliana Caffé
Design and production:
francis burger
Translation:
Gabriel Blum
Partner:
Centre for Curating the Archive (UCT)
"Art and politics are profoundly entwined practices; they meet and intermingle constantly in the arena of social life. Part of the power of artistic creation resides in its ability to suggest new ways of experiencing the world, of creating new spaces and temporalities and of summoning the senses into asking questions, formulating problems and offering solutions that might change or chip away at personal habits and social conventions. This political side of art, which can broaden the way the world is comprehended as well as change it, makes its importance felt at times of crisis. This is also why art from a given period in history can account for that period itself.
How to remain silent? is the rhetorical question that remains whenever one considers discussing Brazil today. How can one ignore the successive political, ethical, economic and cultural scandals on the news each day? How can one not be bothered by the fact that chaos has become the new normal? Comprising videos and one publication, the exhibition features work by contemporary Brazilian artists who have somehow engaged this question and used their art to protest, question or encourage new ways of existing and living in society. Whereas the publication addresses the political, social and artistic events of the last five years and works its way up from the June 2013 demonstrations, the curated videos cover a longer time frame; but they address questions that are still pressing in Brazilian society."
- Juliana Caffé
How to Remain Silent includes contributions from Ailton Krenak, Berna Reale, Clara Ianni, Daniel Lima, Frente 3 de Fevereiro, Gian Spina, Graziela Kunsch, Jaime Lauriano, Jonathas de Andrade, Lia Chaia, Luiz de Abreu, Raphael Escobar, Renata de Bonis, Roberto Winter, Rodrigo Braga, Sato do Brasil, Traplev, Virginia de Medeiros, Julián Fuks, Paulo Fehlauer, Peter Pál Pelbart, and #artepelademocracia.
The screening of Zumbi Somos Nós by Frente 3 de Fevereiro accompanies a conversation with Daniel Lima & Amílcar Patel on October 31, 2017.