reflections on space and time

Galeria Nara Roesler | Rio de Janeiro is proud to present Reflexões sobre espaço e tempo (Reflections on space and time), a group show curated by Agnaldo Farias featuring works by Abraham Palatnik, Alicja Kwade, Angelo Venosa, Artur Lescher, Bruno Dunley, Carlito Carvalhosa, Claude Lévêque, Daniel Buren, Eduardo Navarro, Isaac Julien, Hicham Berrada, Laura Vinci, Lucia Koch, and Maggi.

As its title implies, this multi-language exhibition – including sculpture, painting, video, and installation – revolves around different reflections on space and time, such as our perception of fugacity and of our immediate surroundings, and self-reflection on the subject matter. Unsurprisingly, much of the artwork involves mirrors.

One example of that line of thought is the work of Polish artist Alicja Kwade, who focuses on the subjectivity of time and space. Through chemical processes, Kwade manipulates ordinary materials like wood, glass and copper to explore the ephemerality of the physical world. During the recent opening of her ParaPivot sculpture on the rooftop of New York’s MET – Metropolitan Museum of Art, the artist mentioned that her work "is about structures. And time is a structure."

On the orther hand, artists Hicham Berrada and Laura Vinci create self-contained ecosystems in their work that human beings seem absent from. In Berrada’s Celeste (2014) video, Cobalt-blue smoke rises from a tranquil prairie, turning the bucolic scenery into a lively picturesque landscape, and inviting viewers on a contemplative journey. 

Laura Vinci presents a tree branch and a hoist, sparking reflection on the evident contrast between the lifeless branch, which should by principle be light in weight, and the hoist, a tool designed to move extremely heavy objects. The metal-cast branches add new dimension to the artist’s research into elements of nature, which began with small leaves cast and plated in gold. Dubbed by the artist as “relics from a future,” these pieces are reflections on an urgent issue of our time: the fact that we’re more and more removed from nature. 

The relationships of space at the heart of this exhibition are easily found in the work of artists Daniel Buren and Lucia Koch. For the site-specific Photo-souvenir: Prismas e Espelhos, alto-relevo - n°4 2017), Buren explores effects of depth, surface and reflection in the space that surrounds the artwork. Put differently to match Buren’s artistic vocabulary, each creation is completely dependent on the place it’s shown in, and in the visitor’s presence here and now.

Lucia Koch’s art production is closely related to the built-up space of architecture, and to the latter’s relationship with its user. The artist looks into questions of light and spatiality in interventions with filters, screens, videos, and photographs. Koch’s Carta (1996/2019) acts upon the space through small metal sculptures with translucent film which, attached to the wall, filter up light to cast colorful shadows upon it, depending on the light available in the room.

Reflexões sobre tempo e espaço is a development of the eponymous exhibit featured last April in São Paulo in collaboration with French galerie kamel mennour. The upcoming show at Galeria Nara Roesler | Rio de Janeiro features a new selection of artworks that deal with the question of perception of time and space in diverse ways. Galeria Nara Roesler would like to thank galerie kamel mennour for the partnership and the interchange between local and international artists.