Between 1974 and 1977, the artist’s body thus becomes a symbolic battlefield, compressed into fixed planes that fragment a restricted anatomy. In Untitled (Wire) <\/em>(1977) Andrade’s disfigured face becomes a sign, a semi-abstract graphic construction, bordering on grotesque. The figure is shredded to become something else, something undefined. This gesture is very different from those developed shortly before by artists such as Fran\u00e7oise Janicot in France (her photographic series Encoconnages<\/strong> started in 1972) or Annegret Soltau in Germany (her etchings and photographs with canvas and thread developed from 1972, until Thread Performance<\/em> in 1975), who borrow from the animal world the images of a female condition threatened with asphyxiation. Although Andrade was unaware of the feminist art produced in Europe and the United States at the time, her first series of videos unequivocally denounces the taking of hostages, the moral and physical attack on each individual of an entire population.[3]<\/a> As Marisa Fl\u00f3rido Cesar well observes, this is not a matter of body art, but of a symbolic representation: \u201cIt is the body as image, molded and controlled by religions and sciences, violated by various powers, submitted to spectacle and commercialization.\u201d [4]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Andrade likes to remind us that every work is composed of an intention, an object (its physical component), and its destination.[5]<\/a> The ambitious piece she was developing at the same time for the 24th Bienal de S\u00e3o Paulo, A Obra \/ O Espet\u00e1culo \/ O Caminho \/ Os Habitantes<\/em> (1975-1977), produces in its inclusive realization a critique of the ideological and sociological limits of the contemporary art system. It introduces an anonymous visual culture \u2013 old postcards \u2013 into an exchange protocol that requests the participation of inhabitants of villages distant from urban cosmopolitanism, and forces the Biennale’s administration to become its public receptacle. This complex piece of postal art, which the artist had also proposed in vain to other international institutions such as Documenta<\/strong> and the Venice Biennale<\/strong>, sheds essential light on her video production of the 1970s. It wraps up a conception of images as networks of open signs that always point to viewers in the sense of co-constructing meaning, that is, inviting engagement without conveying a message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For her retrospective exhibition of videos at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil<\/strong> in Rio de Janeiro in 2005, Andrade borrowed the stanzas of a poem, The Undertaking<\/em>, by John Donne: “It were but madness now to impart \/ The skill of specular stone”[6]<\/a>. Something of a pending enigma is summed up in these lines, which address the very capacity of image to capture a reality, to restore a truth, to speak a language understood by all. This question, an expression of poetic and methodological doubt, runs through all of Andrade’s work. It invites us to see her videos as fragments of humanistic thought in a moment when we are confronted with the multiple forms of violence that images allow, and their reach is multiplied tenfold through technology. From the 20th century to the present day, Sonia Andrade’s videos continue to challenge us beyond their historical context and their no less present dimension of document and testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Marcella Lista<\/p>\n\n\n\n [1]<\/a> Interview conducted by Marisa Fl\u00f3rido Cesar, Vivian Ostrovsky, Clarisse Rivera and Fernando Cocchiarale with Sonia Andrade, October 15, 2018.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n [2]<\/a> Conversations between the author and the artist, Rio de Janeiro, 2005.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n [3]<\/a> During the public presentation of her work at the Pompidou Center in 2012, Andrade gave a viewer an answer about the metaphorical representation of political torture in Brazil in his 1977 videos: “For these videos, I was not thinking about the torture that was practiced in prisons in Brazil during the dictatorship – a torture that is still practiced in prisons and police stations, as we know. I was thinking about the numerous tortures, of different origins, that human beings suffer in their daily lives. They are very different types of torture, it doesn’t boil down to only one.” Interview with Marcella Lista, Vid\u00e9o et Apr\u00e8s, Centre Pompidou, April 2, 2012.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n [4]<\/a> Marisa Fl\u00f3rido Cesar, “On Servitudes and Freedoms”, Sonia Andrade: Retrospectiva \/ 1974-1993,Centro Municipal de Arte H\u00e9lio Oiticica, September 21 to November 27, 2011, Andr\u00e9 Lenz Editorial Organization, Rio de Janeiro, 2011, p. 28.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n [5]<\/a> Interview conducted by Marisa Fl\u00f3rido Cesar, Vivian Ostrovsky, Clarisse Rivera and Fernando Cocchiarale with Sonia Andrade on October 15, 2018.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n [6]<\/a> Several quotations from John Donne’s poems are used in the titles of Andrade’s 1999 exhibition (Goe and catche a falling starre, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, 1999), from an English-French bilingual collection of his poems that Andrade found at a fair in Rio de Janeiro. They are reproduced in the catalog Sonia Andrade. Videos, 2005-1974, curated by Luciano Figueiredo, Centro Cultural Banco de Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, July 18 to September 18, 2005.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n (French original version)<\/p>\n\n\n\n L\u2019\u0153uvre de Sonia Andrade reste, aujourd\u2019hui encore, largement m\u00e9connue. Les limites des infrastructures institutionnelles au Br\u00e9sil et l\u2019exigence corollaire que l\u2019artiste a plac\u00e9e dans la formulation et l\u2019adresse de son travail hors du march\u00e9 de l\u2019art, jouent un r\u00f4le r\u00e9v\u00e9lateur dans cet \u00e9tat des choses. Commenc\u00e9e sous la dictature, la pratique artistique d\u2019Andrade s\u2019empare au milieu des ann\u00e9es 1970 d\u2019un m\u00e9dium sans histoire, propre \u00e0 fixer des actions corporelles simples et directes mises en sc\u00e8ne pour la cam\u00e9ra. La vid\u00e9o est ce m\u00e9dium discret qui, comme le souligne Fernando Cocchiarale, ouvre alors \u00e0 deux groupes d\u2019artistes, bas\u00e9s \u00e0 Rio de Janeiro et \u00e0 S\u00e3o Paolo, une \u00ab troisi\u00e8me voie \u00bb qui ne soit \u00ab ni native, ni internationale \u00bb[1]<\/a>. Chez Andrade, elle participe d\u2019une pratique conceptuelle, nourrie par la po\u00e9sie et le cin\u00e9ma de fiction, et situ\u00e9e de mani\u00e8re rigoureuse dans le contexte sociologique et politique o\u00f9 elle op\u00e8re. Chaque \u00ab travail \u00bb, dit-elle, \u00ab pr\u00e9sente une id\u00e9e \u00bb, capt\u00e9e en une seule prise sans r\u00e9p\u00e9tition[2]<\/a>. Face \u00e0 la propagande conservatrice et colonialiste que livrent les m\u00e9dias d\u2019information, l\u2019artiste \u00e9labore des sayn\u00e8tes grin\u00e7antes, o\u00f9 l\u2019image sert par m\u00e9taphore un propos \u00e0 la fois r\u00e9f\u00e9renc\u00e9 et universel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Entre 1974 et 1977, le corps de l\u2019artiste devient ainsi un champ de bataille symbolique, serr\u00e9 dans des plans fixes qui fragmentent une anatomie sous contrainte. Dans Sem t<\/em>\u00edtulo (Fio)<\/em> (1977) le visage d\u00e9figur\u00e9 d\u2019Andrade devient un signe, une construction graphique semi-abstraite, aux limites du grotesque. La figure est entaill\u00e9e pour devenir autre chose, un ind\u00e9fini. Le geste est tr\u00e8s diff\u00e9rent de ceux d\u00e9velopp\u00e9s peu de temps auparavant par des artistes telles que Fran\u00e7oise Janicot en France (sa s\u00e9rie photographique des Encoconnages<\/em> commenc\u00e9e en 1972) ou Annegret Soltau en Allemagne (ses gravures et photographies avec toiles et fils d\u00e9velopp\u00e9es \u00e0 partir de 1972, jusqu\u2019\u00e0 Thread Performance<\/em> en 1975), qui empruntent au monde animal les images d\u2019une condition f\u00e9minine menac\u00e9e d\u2019\u00e9touffement. Si Andrade ignore tout, alors, de l\u2019art f\u00e9ministe r\u00e9alis\u00e9 en Europe et aux \u00c9tats-Unis, sa premi\u00e8re s\u00e9rie de vid\u00e9os d\u00e9nonce sans \u00e9quivoque la prise en otage, l\u2019atteinte morale et physique de chaque individu d\u2019une population enti\u00e8re[3]<\/a>. Comme l\u2019observe justement Marisa Fl\u00f3rido Cesar, il n\u2019est pas davantage question ici de Body Art mais bien d\u2019une repr\u00e9sentation symbolique : \u00ab It is the body as image, shaped and controlled by religions and sciences, violated by several powers, submitted to spectacle and commercialization. \u00bb[4]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Andrade rappelle volontiers que toute \u0153uvre est constitu\u00e9e d\u2019une intention, d\u2019un objet (son constituant physique) et de sa destination[5]<\/a>. L\u2019ambitieuse pi\u00e8ce qu\u2019elle \u00e9labore au m\u00eame moment pour la 24e<\/sup> Biennale de S\u00e3o Paolo, A Obra \/ O Espet<\/em>\u00e1culo \/ O Caminho \/ Os Habitantes<\/em> (1975-1977), met en acte, dans sa r\u00e9alisation inclusive, une critique effective des limites id\u00e9ologiques et sociologiques du syst\u00e8me de l\u2019art contemporain. Elle introduit une culture visuelle anonyme \u2013 des cartes postales anciennes \u2013 dans un protocole d\u2019\u00e9changes sollicitant la participation d\u2019habitant.e.s de villages distants du cosmopolitisme urbain et obligeant l\u2019administration de la Biennale \u00e0 s\u2019en faire le r\u00e9ceptacle public. Cette pi\u00e8ce complexe de Mail Art, que l\u2019artiste avait aussi propos\u00e9e en vain \u00e0 d\u2019autres institutions internationales telle que la Documenta et la Biennale de Venise, \u00e9claire de mani\u00e8re essentielle sa production vid\u00e9o des ann\u00e9es 1970. Elle m\u00e8ne \u00e0 son aboutissement une conception de l\u2019image comme un r\u00e9seau de signes ouverts qui toujours pointe vers les regardeurs pour co-construire un sens, autrement dit inviter \u00e0 l\u2019engagement sans adresser un message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pour son exposition r\u00e9trospective de vid\u00e9os au Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil de Rio de Janeiro, en 2005, Andrade empruntait \u00e0 John Donne les strophes d\u2019un po\u00e8me, The Undertaking<\/em> : \u00ab It were but madness now to impart \/ The skill of specular stone \u00bb[6]<\/a>. Quelque chose d\u2019une \u00e9nigme en suspens se r\u00e9sume dans ces lignes, qui touche \u00e0 la capacit\u00e9 m\u00eame de l\u2019image \u00e0 capter un r\u00e9el, \u00e0 restituer une v\u00e9rit\u00e9, \u00e0 parler une langue intelligible \u00e0 toutes et \u00e0 tous. Cette interrogation, expression d\u2019un doute \u00e0 la fois po\u00e9tique et m\u00e9thodologique, traverse l\u2019ensemble de l\u2019\u0153uvre d\u2019Andrade. Elle invite \u00e0 regarder ses vid\u00e9os comme les fragments d\u2019une pens\u00e9e humaniste \u00e0 l\u2019heure d\u2019affronter les violences multiples que permettent les images et leur port\u00e9e d\u00e9cupl\u00e9e par la technologie. Du XXe si\u00e8cle jusqu\u2019\u00e0 nos jours, les vid\u00e9os de Sonia Andrade continuent d\u2019interpeler par-del\u00e0 leur contexte historique et leur dimension, non moins pr\u00e9sente, de document et de t\u00e9moignage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marcella Lista <\/strong> Commissioned by <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n [1]<\/a> Entretien men\u00e9 par Marisa Fl\u00f3rido Cesar, Vivian Ostrovsky, Clarisse Rivera et Fernando Cocchiarale avec Sonia Andrade, le 15 octobre 2018.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n [2]<\/a> Conversations de l\u2019auteure avec l\u2019artiste, Rio de Janeiro, 2005.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n [3]<\/a> Lors de la pr\u00e9sentation publique de son \u0153uvre au Centre Pompidou, en 2012, Andrade r\u00e9pondait de mani\u00e8re nuanc\u00e9e \u00e0 un spectateur quant \u00e0 la repr\u00e9sentation m\u00e9taphorique, dans ses vid\u00e9os de 1977, de la torture politique au Br\u00e9sil : \u00ab Pour ces vid\u00e9os, je n\u2019ai pas pens\u00e9 \u00e0 la torture qui \u00e9tait pratiqu\u00e9e dans les prisons, au Br\u00e9sil, au temps de la dictature \u2013 d\u2019ailleurs torture qui continue d\u2019\u00eatre pratiqu\u00e9e dans les prisons et les postes de police, on le sait. Mais j\u2019avais pens\u00e9 aux diverses tortures, de diff\u00e9rentes origines, dont les \u00eatres humains souffrent dans leur quotidien. Ce sont des sortes tr\u00e8s diff\u00e9rentes de torture, pas seulement celle-l\u00e0. \u00bb Entretien avec Marcella Lista, \u00ab Vid\u00e9o et Apr\u00e8s \u00bb, Centre Pompidou, 2 avril 2012. <\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n [4]<\/a> Marisa Fl\u00f3rido Cesar, \u00ab on Servitudes and Freedoms\u201d, Sonia Andrade:<\/em> Retrospectiva \/ 1974-1993<\/em>,Centro Municipal de Arte H\u00e9lio Oiticica, 21 de setembro a 27 de novembro de 2011, Organiza\u00e7\u00e3o Editorial Andr\u00e9 Lenz, Rio de Janeiro, 2011, p. 28.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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(French\/born Italy, b.1970; Paris-based) <\/strong>serves (since 2016) as\u00a0Chief Curator of New Media\u00a0at the Centre Georges Pompidou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bfvpp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/7-300x300.png\")
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