Press Play: Silvestre Pestana

PRESS PLAY

Exhibition of videos of performances and films by artists who question the relationship between the performing body, architecture and the camera. Artistic projects based on the profound relationship between body-chamber or body-architecture, here focused on closed spaces. The choice will be made directly either from the BoCA archive, or via partnerships with other institutions. We have the partnership BoCA x Tate Modern, in which Catherine Wood (Senior Performance Curator at Tate Modern) selected 3 performances designed exclusively for the “BMW Tate Live: Performance Room” series (2011-2015), series of performances broadcast live and designed exclusively for cyberspace. We also have a partnership with BoCA x Fundação Serralves Collection, which has carte blanche to choose videos from its collection around this theme. Every Thursday until at least 30 June 2020.

Every Monday we launch the week’s schedule on our website and social networks. Subscribe to our newsletter and our Youtube channel to receive news first hand.

WEEK 3

MAY 7: Silvestre Pestana, “UNI VER SÓ” video poem action, 1985 / Fundação Serralves 

Collection Silvestre Pestana (1949, Funchal, Madeira) is one of the most radical and least known figures in contemporary Portuguese art. Poet, artist and performer, Pestana has created, since the late 1960s, a unique work in a variety of disciplines.
In “UNI VER SÓ” (1985), Silvestre Pestana approaches the question of biometrics (system of measuring the body and simultaneously physical and behavioral variables), where we can see the artist in performance and assembling the piece itself. It is a raw, unedited video that simultaneously desecrates the artistic process and refutes the conventions of video art and cinematographic image.