Thoughts from Rodrigo

I remember in the college (Byam Shaw, Central Saint Martins) the discussions about the power of not knowing and I think this is very strong in our practices.

This not knowing is very related to the experimental and the unsconsiouss and very different from conceptual artists who already know and have everything projected on how the work will be. We, on the other hand, allow ourselves the experimentation and process and I think this is very different from the art market ruled world, where artists work like factories, producing pret-a-porter works to feed a hungry desire of wealthy but not-so-interested-in-the-art collectors.

I do think the way we work is political and sao paulo biennial statement confirms this.

For a link to the sao paulo biennial: 29th Sao Paulo Biennial, 2010

I feel my work totally concerned to how we experience art today. Right now in Brazil I'm working in different strategies than in London. Here, in the biennial of são paulo (this year very focused on the audio-visual and also the political implications of the work of art) I'm participating of lectures, workshops and special nights where the discursive aspects of contemporary practices are more appreciated than the aesthetic ones. But it is a matter of time till we see the final exhibition in September. I think they're taking hard on this political, critical and theoretical approach but in the end we'll have all sorts of works of art.

I agree when we try to run from the YBA's attitude, but I also think this is already old. I feel our group more concerned with the focus on the process rather then the final concept or final answers to the public. As this biennial's curators says: "Dos Anjos and Farias look at art as a field of knowledge that can teach us about something in the world that cannot be talked about in any other way, changing the way we see the world. They are aware that the topic Art & Politics is not a novelty, not even in Brazil. But, as they pointed out, they are particularly interested in recovering the aspect of experimentation as a political factor. And beside the activist, conceptual approaches there will be works of manifest tangibility and poetical materiality. The curators confessed that they are always keen on inserting some sort of literary references. The art sector has developed a language of its own that appears very hermetic to people who do not belong to it, and beyond that, the concepts are often applied mechanically. "We therefore believe in the poetical word as an important key for perception." http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/bien/sao_paulo_biennial/2010