Blog do Canal

Laura Lima no ICA Miami, EUA

ICA Miami presents Laura Lima The Inverse, the debut American solo museum exhibition for the renowned Brazilian artist. Working across mediums, the artist frequently subjects the body to surprising juxtapositions with objects and architectures. With each installation, Lima consistently reinvents the viewer’s encounter with her work, skillfully considering the nature of perception, social relationships, and human behavior, while creating profound and startling aesthetic experiences.

For this monumental, site-specific installation, Lima entangles the gridded support beams of the museum’s Atrium Gallery with industrial nylon rope. Enormous at one end, the braided material dwindles in size until it seems to merge with a female body. Set still and partially out of view, the participant’s body achieves uncanny abstraction, presence, and suspense.

ARTIST STATEMENT

“The Inverse,” my exhibition at ICA Miami, is a new work that builds upon a line of inquiry dealing with the human body and existence that I have pursued since the mid-1990s—in a way, I have been developing this work for decades. As such, the piece does not exist in isolation, but rather connects to the context of a practice that involves the participation of people of all ages and genders.

The installation comprises almost a mile of rope that entangles the peculiar architecture of ICA Miami’s atrium. The building’s rigid, orthogonal grid is engulfed by a flexible, capricious fiber. This is the cornerstone of the inversion that takes place as two systems and two architectures embark upon a complex dance. As with any dance, there are roles but not hierarchies—or, necessarily, the hierarchies are continuously shifting. The silent and uncanny presence of a female body unsettles the space. One might even say the body expands into space.

Fundamentally, “The Inverse” poses challenging questions, engaging topics related to identity, representation and agency. The female body, and the many fluid ideas of the feminine, is central to “The Inverse,” and is a concept developed through choices made by the participants.

My works can only result from ongoing and extensive dialogue with the participants. A true and open conversation is crucial in my practice, and a key aspect of this work in particular. The central topic of this conversation is to understand their part and the choices they make in bringing the work to life. Participants are not obligated by a script and are free to inhabit the space as they wish. Another key element to my work is the role of the art institution, which provides the necessary setting to give language, history and meaning to this conversation between artist, participant and viewer.

I deliberately leave interpretation of my work open, avoiding stories and narrative and relying on little more than simple human forms. This simplicity forces the viewer to consider how each person brings their own history to the piece, on account of their gender, race, class and other social determinants. In doing so, my work is an attempt to address the tension of our bare forms and their histories.

Laura Lima (b. 1971) has had solo exhibitions at the Migros Museum, Zurich, Switzerland; Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, The Netherlands; Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden; Performa 15, New York; Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Casa França Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Her work has been included in major group shows at 2011 Lyon Biennale; 14 Rooms, Fondation Beyeler, Basel and the 1998 and 2006 São Paulo Biennale.

Lima is a co-founder and partner of the Galeria de Artes A Gentil Carioca in downtown Rio de Janeiro with Marcio Botner and Ernesto Neto. She graduated with a degree in Philosophy at the State University of Rio de Janeiro and studied at the Visual Arts School of Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro. The artist lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.

Laura Lima “The Inverse” is organized by ICA Miami and curated by Alex Gartenfeld, Deputy Director & Chief Curator.

Major support is provided by the Dr. Kira and Mr. Neil Flanzraich Fund for Curatorial Research at ICA Miami. Additional support is provided by the Consulate General of Brazil in Miami and Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo.