Rodrigo Braga
01 Oct - 18 Dec 2016
RODRIGO BRAGA
Inland Sea
1 October - 18 December 2016
Curator: Adélaïde Blanc
For his first solo exhibition in France, which opens as part of Nuit Blanche 2016, Rodrigo Braga (born in 1976 in Manaus, Brazil, lives in Rio de Janeiro) is occupying the ornamental pond on the esplanade between Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. His monumental installation reveals tangible traces of the prehistoric sea that covered the French capital some 45 million years ago.
Invited to make use of the mineral landscape of the esplanade of Palais de Tokyo, Rodrigo Braga has created an enclaved sea, from which limestone rocks emerge. These sandy-coloured stones, with their familiar appearance, come from quarries used for the construction of a large number of buildings in Paris. Crisscrossed with concave and convex fossil markings, they bear witness to the teeming aquatic life that thrived in the basin of Paris, several million years ago.
“In often extreme bodily encounters, Rodrigo Braga confronts the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and thus explores the forces that unite or oppose mankind with nature. At Palais de Tokyo, he is staging the capital’s geological history, and reminding us of the prehistoric and zoological origins of the stones that shelter us today. His installation uses the thickness of the stone to evoke the extent of the mineral time in which mankind exists.” Adélaïde Blanc
The relationships of communion and conflict between mankind and untamed nature lie at the heart of Rodrigo Braga’s performances and installations. Since the early 2000s, his films and photographs have borne witness to the actions and interventions he has carried out, generally in the wilds.
Rodrigo Braga’s installation is outside, on the esplanade between Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
“I work on the capacity of human beings to create systems that relate, modify or extract from nature, and thus I realize that, even when in contradiction with it, we are part of its changing cycle.”
Rodrigo Braga
Rodrigo Braga
Rodrigo Braga was born in Manaus (Amazon, Brazil) in 1976, he lives in Rio de Janeiro. Among his recent solo exhibitions are: “Dead Horse Bay”, Residency Unlimited (New York, USA, 2013); “Altered Cycles”, Modern Art Museum Aloisio Magalhães (Recife, Brazil, 2011) and “More Force Than Necessary”, In Flanders Fields Museum (Ypres, Belgium, 2010). He has also taken part in many group exhibitions, such as: “Soft Power. Arte Brasil”, Kunsthal KAdE (Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2016); “Cruzamentos: Contemporary Brazilian Art”, Wexner Center for The Arts (Columbus, USA, 2014); “Expo: New York”, MoMA PS1 Cinema (New York, 2013); 30th São Paulo Bienale, “The Imminence of Poetics” (São Paulo, Brazil, 2012); “From the Margin to the Edge”, Somerset House (London, England, 2012); “Mythologies”, Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris, France, 2011); “Generation 00: The New Brazilian Photography”, Sesc Belenzinho (São Paulo, 2011); “Autour de l’extrême”, Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris, 2010). In 2012, he received the Pipa Prize - Modern Art Museum of Rio de Janeiro and, in 2013, the Emerging Talent Prize of São Paulo Art Museum. Some of his works can be found in private and public collections in Brazil and abroad, such as Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris), and Modern Art Museum of São Paulo. He is represented by Vermelho Gallery (São Paulo) and Amparo 60 Gallery (Recife).
Inland Sea
1 October - 18 December 2016
Curator: Adélaïde Blanc
For his first solo exhibition in France, which opens as part of Nuit Blanche 2016, Rodrigo Braga (born in 1976 in Manaus, Brazil, lives in Rio de Janeiro) is occupying the ornamental pond on the esplanade between Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. His monumental installation reveals tangible traces of the prehistoric sea that covered the French capital some 45 million years ago.
Invited to make use of the mineral landscape of the esplanade of Palais de Tokyo, Rodrigo Braga has created an enclaved sea, from which limestone rocks emerge. These sandy-coloured stones, with their familiar appearance, come from quarries used for the construction of a large number of buildings in Paris. Crisscrossed with concave and convex fossil markings, they bear witness to the teeming aquatic life that thrived in the basin of Paris, several million years ago.
“In often extreme bodily encounters, Rodrigo Braga confronts the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and thus explores the forces that unite or oppose mankind with nature. At Palais de Tokyo, he is staging the capital’s geological history, and reminding us of the prehistoric and zoological origins of the stones that shelter us today. His installation uses the thickness of the stone to evoke the extent of the mineral time in which mankind exists.” Adélaïde Blanc
The relationships of communion and conflict between mankind and untamed nature lie at the heart of Rodrigo Braga’s performances and installations. Since the early 2000s, his films and photographs have borne witness to the actions and interventions he has carried out, generally in the wilds.
Rodrigo Braga’s installation is outside, on the esplanade between Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
“I work on the capacity of human beings to create systems that relate, modify or extract from nature, and thus I realize that, even when in contradiction with it, we are part of its changing cycle.”
Rodrigo Braga
Rodrigo Braga
Rodrigo Braga was born in Manaus (Amazon, Brazil) in 1976, he lives in Rio de Janeiro. Among his recent solo exhibitions are: “Dead Horse Bay”, Residency Unlimited (New York, USA, 2013); “Altered Cycles”, Modern Art Museum Aloisio Magalhães (Recife, Brazil, 2011) and “More Force Than Necessary”, In Flanders Fields Museum (Ypres, Belgium, 2010). He has also taken part in many group exhibitions, such as: “Soft Power. Arte Brasil”, Kunsthal KAdE (Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2016); “Cruzamentos: Contemporary Brazilian Art”, Wexner Center for The Arts (Columbus, USA, 2014); “Expo: New York”, MoMA PS1 Cinema (New York, 2013); 30th São Paulo Bienale, “The Imminence of Poetics” (São Paulo, Brazil, 2012); “From the Margin to the Edge”, Somerset House (London, England, 2012); “Mythologies”, Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris, France, 2011); “Generation 00: The New Brazilian Photography”, Sesc Belenzinho (São Paulo, 2011); “Autour de l’extrême”, Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris, 2010). In 2012, he received the Pipa Prize - Modern Art Museum of Rio de Janeiro and, in 2013, the Emerging Talent Prize of São Paulo Art Museum. Some of his works can be found in private and public collections in Brazil and abroad, such as Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris), and Modern Art Museum of São Paulo. He is represented by Vermelho Gallery (São Paulo) and Amparo 60 Gallery (Recife).