Musa paradisiaca: Machines’ audition

Kunsthalle Lissabon is pleased to present Machines’ audition, a solo exhibition by Musa paradisíaca (Eduardo Guerra e Miguel Ferrão), on view at Kunsthalle Lissabon from May 10 to June 28, 2014. Machines’ audition is presented together with the exhibition Flowers' audition at 3+1 Arte Contemporânea, also in Lisbon, from May 16 to June 28 2014.

In Machines’ audition and Flowers' audition, Musa paradisiaca presents two sets of objects, gathered as cosmologies in two distinct, although related, families. Assembled under the alternating viewpoints of both machines and flowers, the two cosmologies rescue the features of each object, offering them up for discussion. What attributes does each object possess and in what way do these attributes inform the viewpoints presented by the objects? What kind of transformation is enacted by the object in the group it belongs to and in what way is the object changed by belonging to each of the groups? Machines and flowers embody two limits of the same problem: the need for adequacy between forms or the need of adequate forms that sign together as a group. Each group impresses a unique signature and with each signature, reveals its mode of existence.

Molten in painted pitch, the objects presented in both exhibitions are part of the “Augmentarium” series, started by Musa paradisiaca in 2013.

Musa paradisiaca is a dialogue-based project started in 2010 by Eduardo Guerra and Miguel Ferrão. Founded on temporary partnerships with individual and collective entities of varying competence, it assumes different shapes, while always maintaining a discursive reference. Hence, it proposes to gradually construct a thinking family, which is revealed by many voices.

Eduardo Guerra and Miguel Ferrão were born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1986 and they both live and work in Lisbon. Eduardo Guerra graduated with a BA in Fine Art from the Faculdade de Belas Artes de Lisboa in 2009 and completed an MA in Aesthetics at Universidade Nova de Lisboa in 2012. Miguel Ferrão completed his BA in Painting from the Faculdade de Belas Artes de Lisboa in 2008 and finished his MA in Aesthetic Philosophy from the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa in 2011. In 2010 both artists won the BES Revelation Prize and Musa paradisiaca has been nominated for the EDP Prize for New Artists in 2013. Recent group exhibitions include Prémio EDP Novos Artistas 2013, Galeria Fundação EDP, Porto (2013); Novo Novo México, Palha de Abrantes, Abrantes (2013); A Entrevista Perpétua. Ana Jotta: Diálogo com outros artistas na colecção de Serralves, Porto (2013); Apesar de tudo, nunca se sentia só ou triste, o futuro fazia-lhe companhia ou Le petit Lenormand (cartomancia e probabilidade), Galeria Vera Cortês, Lisbon (2013) and Tem calma o teu país está a desaparecer, Galeria Zé dos Bois, Lisbon (2012). Recent individual projects include Comissão de almas, Palácio Foz, Lisbon, (2014); Como se apanha um fugitivo, Performance cycle, CAM, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (2013); Tarefas impossíveis (O Criado do Cenáculo), Chantiers d’Europe, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013); Auto da emulação, Cinemateca Portuguesa, Lisbon and Tiro à gota, Old School, Lisbon (2012).

Eduardo Guerra and Miguel Ferrão would like to thank the Ecomuseu Municipal do Seixal — Fábrica de Pólvora de Vale de Milhaços, with special thanks to Graça Filipe and Francisco Moura. They would also like to thank Galeria 3+1 Arte Contemporânea, whose support was essential to the realization of this project.

Kunsthalle Lissabon is generously supported by Teixeira de Freitas, Rodrigues e Associados.

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