carlos bunga fragments for a cartography of return,

Nara Roesler New York is pleased to present Fragments for a Cartography of Return, a solo exhibition by Carlos Bunga (Porto, 1976), curated by Luis Pérez-Oramas. Bunga is known for his poetic and radical exploration of the polymorphic materiality of art. As such, in Bunga’s work, matter can take the form of shelter, model, performative field, support for mapping, prototype, imprint, mark, remnant, ruin, or larvae. His mastery of diverse media underpins a nomadic practice driven by a fascination with potential forms. The ambiguity of his architectural sculptures and his paintings on cardboard and tapestries situates much of his work between what has been and what could be: past and future, ruin and prototype, absence and utopia.

“This poetic uncertainty informs Bunga’s art as a nomadic practice. Contrary to the sedentary, as Deleuze and Guattari noted, the nomad does not move from one point to another–it is the trajectory that matters. In this sense, Bunga continuously maps, marks pathways, and emphasizes the porosity of art. Maps to nowhere, from nowhere–an atopic cartography,” states Pérez-Oramas.

Since the outset of his career, Bunga has engaged with architecture, as well as the notions of home and domesticity. For him, architecture is more than a formalist exercise where form follows function; it is a framework for relationships–between individuals, their subjectivities, memories, emotions, and time. His interest in notions such as self-construction and prefabricated building, as well as his quest on the polar opposition between nomadism and colonialism, have resulted in landmark installations, such as his project for Palacio de Cristal-Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in 2021, a superbe example of both institutional critique and a reflection on the very place of exhibition. For Bunga, building becomes a privileged instance for understanding life in general as well as the temporal dimension of architecture. Equally central to his practice is the use of transient, ephemeral materials such as cardboard and adhesive tape, which he frequently employs in installations that create hybrid, mutable spaces, open to transformation.

Even in participatory and performative works, the pictorial element is almost always present in Bunga’s production. The artist himself notes: “Painting is directly or indirectly present in all my work. It is the basis of my thinking–a multifaceted place full of layers, perspectives, and smells.”

Fragments for a Cartography of Return unfolds in three “stations.” The first, visible from the street, transforms the gallery’s large window into a mural of traces, combining sculptural models, found objects, and video, open to the exterior. Inside, visitors encounter Bunga’s signature “maps,” textured paintings on cardboard and fabric. Their bright, vibrant colors—discontinuous and crackled–evoke a fleeting dimension, deeply connected to nature’s unexpected surging and the human experience of drifting. “As useless cartographies, these works open space to an experience of disorienting passages and expectation. According to Deleuze and Guattari, the nomad knows how to wait; his patience is infinite,” adds the curator.

The final station occupies the gallery’s largest room: a monumental, site-specific floor painting that invites viewers into a sensory experience–walking across a thick layer of crackled paint, feeling the color’s ephemeral nature beneath their feet–surrounded by suspended sculptures Bunga calls Casulos (“Cocoons”), larvae-shaped forms, sculptures in becoming. Together, they suggest a return to potential, to the imminence of forms.