PORTFÓLIO CARLA CABANAS
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CARLA CABANAS
Carla Cabanas’ artistic work is permeated by her
wonderings about how we come to build our own
identity; how experiences, even the more prosaic ones,
are inscribed in the fabric of our existence, how
memory consolidates our personal narratives.
Rather than a linear succession of discrete events, she
likes to look at our lives as a fluid mosaic of
interconnected experiences and events, withdrawn
from the constant flow of our existence and constantly
re-organizing themselves in order for us to constitute
our defining personal narrative.
Historically viewed as central to how we constitute
both our individual and collective memory, photography
plays an important role on her artistic
practice. Taking a photograph constitutes an illusory
attempt of fixating a fleeting moment of a past event,
removing it from the uninterrupted flow
of life; crystallizing it in a supposedly fixed, true and
immortalized memory. That is to say that photography
is a reminder of the transitoriness of things, of the
fallibility of memory. As a gesture, to take a photograph
emphasizes that something or someone disappeared,
seized to exist. Rather than achieving immortality, to
take a photograph implies being always aware of the
finitude of time. Photography speaks to us about
mortality.
When, today, we are confronted by a photograph, we
are not only launched to a past event. Photography
projects in us other images, thoughts and emotions.
Photography as an indexical document is “betrayed”
by its own fictional
capabilities. The explicit content of the image opens
itself up to potential implicit narratives.
Some key concepts that she likes to explore relate
to issues of remembrance, personal stories, heritage
(personal and collective). To convey her explorations
around these issues, she often borrows images,
documents and stories from archives, relatives, friends,
acquaintances and other unaware contributors.
Combining devices of appropriation, found materials,
interviews and other collaborative techniques, she tries
to build a body of work that acknowledges the
possibilities of the photographic image in terms of
multi-layered narratives and meanings. I also try to
somehow react to the overwhelming amount of
images in the world.
Either using found images or her own, despite their
indexical and historical value, she always tries to bring
to the work their potential fictional power.
She has a particular fondness for family albums of
anonymous individuals, often discarded in flea markets,
which seldom reach the archive and are
kept apart from an institutionalized view of history.
Other key concern in her work is to explore the limits
of the visible, the instability of perception and the
imprecision of memory. By juxtaposing
images of different sources and times, thus
camouflaging the image or creating a new one, by
altering or erasing the content using techniques
of scratching, cutting or carving, she tries to convey the
idea that, not only the instability of perception and
memory are not a problem, they are quintessential to
the creation of new images and new ways to occupy
the world.
She also develops site-specific projects, trying to access
the memories of a place, a building, a street, by
researching in archives or interviewing the
inhabitants. Together with the family albums and the
memories of friends and acquaintances that she
borrows for her works, she seeks to explore the ideas
of patrimony and heritage, not so much as tangible
objects but more as the intangible relationships,
experiences and existences that they encapsulate.
I Don't Trust
Myself When
I'm Sleeping II
2018-2020.
Intervenção e folha de ouro 22K sobre c-print
Intervention and 22K gold leaf on c-print
43,5x48,5 cm
Edição única Unique edition
“I don’t trust myself when I’m sleeping” é um
projecto que começou durante uma residência
que Carla Cabanas fez em Berlim em 2018.
Durante os três meses de residência, estava com
grave problema de insónias, o que desencadeou
um grande cansaço, falta de concentração e uma
ansiedade que ia aumentando com o tempo pois
tinha de apresentar um projecto final que não
conseguia sequer iniciar. Enquanto isto, ia
comprando nos mercados em segunda mão,
álbuns de família e outro material fotográfico
para o seu arquivo. Um dia decidiu usar o que
lhe ocupava a mente e não deixava dormir, para
desenvolver um novo trabalho, acreditando que
talvez isso a ajudasse a dormir melhor. Então
escolheu vários álbuns de família e começou a
desenhar em cima das fotografias com um
bisturi, riscando, raspando e obliterando partes
da imagem por forma a criar uma nova imagem.
Usou as pessoas como personagens da sua
própria história introduziu com ironia, sátira e
carinho outras personagens e elementos para
criar novos sentidos.
A segunda parte deste projecto, chamada “I
don’t trust myself when I’m sleeping II”, foi
realizada em 2020 e continua o mesmo
processo. Contudo nesta série, Cabanas para
além da rasura, coloca folha de ouro nas
imagens, inspirada na técnica de restauro
japonesa Kintsugi, que aprendeu uns anos antes.
Kintsugi é um método centenário de reparação
de cerâmica onde as fissuras da peça partida
depois de coladas com uma laca natural
chamada Urushi, são cobertas com ouro,
tornando-as evidentes, dando valor às falhas e às
mudanças físicas nos objectos causadas pelo
tempo ou por acidentes.
"I don't trust myself when I'm sleeping" is a project
that started during a residence that Carla Cabanas
did in Berlin in 2018. During her three months
residence, she had a serious problem of
sleeplessness, which triggered great tiredness, lack
of concentration and anxiety that grew with time as
she had to present a final project that she could
not even begin. Meanwhile, she was buying secondhand
albums and other photographic material for
her archive.
One day she decided to use what occupied her
mind and not let her sleep, to develop a new work
believing that maybe it would help her sleep better.
She then chose several family albums and began
drawing on the photographs with a scalpel,
scratching, scraping and obliterating parts of the
image in order to create a new image. She used
people as characters from her own story and
introduced with irony, satire and affection other
characters and elements to create new senses.
The second part of this project, called "I don't trust
myself when I'm sleeping II", was carried out in
2020 and continues with the same process.
However, in this series, Cabanas beyond erasure
puts gold leaf in the images, inspired by the
Japanese restoration technique Kintsugi that she
learned a few years before. Kintsugi is a century-old
method of ceramic repair where the cracks in the
broken pieces are covered with gold after being
glued with a natural lacquer called Urushi,, making
them evident, giving value to faults and physical
changes in objects caused by time or accidents.
I Don't Trust Myself When I'm Sleeping II
2018-2020.
Intervenção e folha de ouro 22K sobre c-print
Intervention and 22K gold leaf on c-print
43,5x48,5 cm
I Don't Trust Myself When I'm Sleeping II
2018-2020.
Intervenção e folha de ouro 22K sobre c-print
Intervention and 22K gold leaf on c-print
43,5x48,5 cm
I Don't Trust Myself When I'm Sleeping II
2018-2020.
Intervenção e folha de ouro 22K sobre c-print
Intervention and 22K gold leaf on c-print
43,5x48,5 cm
I Don't Trust Myself When I'm Sleeping II 2018-2020.
Intervenção e folha de ouro 22K sobre c-print
Intervention and 22K gold leaf on c-print, 43,5x48,5 cm
I Don't Trust Myself When I'm Sleeping II 2018-2020.
Intervenção e folha de ouro 22K sobre c-print
Intervention and 22K gold leaf on c-print, 43,5x48,5 cm
Série I Don't Trust Myself When I'm Sleeping II
Imagens Paris Photo 2021 Exhibition views at Paris Photo 2021
I Don't Trust Myself When I'm Sleeping II
2018-2020.
Intervenção e folha de ouro 22K sobre c-print
Intervention and 22K gold leaf on c-print
43,5x48,5 cm
I Don't Trust Myself When I'm Sleeping II
2018-2020.
Intervenção e folha de ouro 22K sobre c-print
Intervention and 22K gold leaf on c-print
43,5x48,5 cm
I Don't Trust Myself When I'm Sleeping II
2018-2020.
Intervenção e folha de ouro 22K sobre c-print
Intervention and 22K gold leaf on c-print
43,5x48,5 cm
Série I Don't Trust Myself When I'm Sleeping II
Imagens Drawing Room 2020 Exhibition views at Drawing Room 2020
Série I Don't Trust Myself When I'm Sleeping II
Imagens Drawing Room 2020 Exhibition views at Drawing Room 2020
I Don't Trust
Myself When
I'm Sleeping
A experiência contemporânea do tempo tem
um impacto no modo como vemos os tempos
dedicados ao trabalho, ao lazer ou ao sono. Os
dispositivos tecnológicos com os quais
interagimos são os mesmos, seja para trabalho
ou lazer. Essas atividades são misturadas ao longo
do dia; o trabalho mistura-se com as tarefas
domésticas e, ainda assim, espreitamos as redes
sociais de tempos em tempos. A parte dos
nossos dias que foi bastante afetada pelo fluxo
constante de informações e pelas interações
omnipresentes com a tecnologia foi sem dúvida
o sono.
O ensaísta Jonathan Crary, argumenta que um
dos legados do capitalismo é a erosão entre o
dia e a noite, e agora estamos disponíveis 24
horas por dia como consumidores ou como
força de trabalho.
Durante a residência artística da GlogauAir, em
Berlim, Carla Cabanas teve sérios problemas
para dormir tendo a sua insónia sido o ponto de
partida para este projeto. A instalação começa
com um espelho preto, onde podemos ler: “I do
not trust myself when I'm sleeping”. Depois, no
seu estúdio, a artista criou uma instalação de luz
onde podemos ver imagens na parede pelo
tempo determinado pelo artista. O álbum de
fotos está pousado numa cama, onde as imagens
são raspadas criando outro significado.
The contemporary experience of time has an
impact on how we view periods of work, leisure, or
sleep. The technological devices with which we
interact are the same whether the purpose is work
or leisure. These activities are intermingled
throughout the day; work mingles with household
chores and yet we lurk in social networks from time
to time. A part of our day that has been greatly
affected by the constant flow of information and
the ubiquitous interactions with technology is
undoubtedly sleeping.
The Essayist, Jonathan Crary, argues that one of the
legacies of Capitalism is the erosion between day
and night, and we are now giving up our sleep to be
available 24 hours a day as consumers or as a
workforce.
During the GlogauAir artistic residency, in Berlin,
Carla Cabanas had severe problems sleeping, so
her insomnia was the starting point for this project.
It starts with a black mirror where you can read: I
do not trust myself when I'm sleeping. Then in her
studio, she creates a light installation where you can
only see the images on the wall for the time
determined by the artist. And a photo album is on a
bed, where the images are scraped in order to
create another meaning..
http://www.carlacabanas.com/index.php?/i-donttrust/i-dont-trust-myself-when-im-sleeping/
I Don’t Trust Myself When I’m Sleeping 2019
Intervenção sobre fotografias a cor Intervention on color photographs, Medidas variáveis Variable sizes, Impressão única Unique print
I Don’t Trust Myself When I’m Sleeping 2019
Intervenção sobre fotografias a cor Intervention on color photographs, Medidas variáveis Variable sizes, Impressão única Unique print
I Don’t Trust Myself When I’m Sleeping 2019
Intervenção sobre fotografias a cor Intervention on color photographs, Medidas variáveis Variable sizes, Impressão única Unique print
I Don’t Trust Myself When I’m Sleeping 2019
Intervenção sobre fotografias a cor Intervention on color photographs, Medidas variáveis Variable sizes, Impressão única Unique print
Imagens Paris Photo 2019 Exhibition views at Paris Photo 2019
Imagens Paris Photo 2019 Exhibition views at Paris Photo 2019
A MECÂNICA
DA AUSÊNCIA
O trabalho de Carla Cabanas foca-se em
reinterpretar o tempo e a memória, por via de
uma ideia de perda e saturação.
Alterando um conjunto de diapositivos, a artista
modifica a história que cada imagem retém,
transformando, com essa acção, aquilo que era o
registo de instante suspenso, ou o deter de um
momento especial, num tempo vivo, indefinido e
efabulado.
Cortando o suporte e marcando uma ausência,
ou acrescendo-lhe outros recortes para
densificar a imagem, Carla Cabanas compõe um
palimpsesto de referências que abre espaço a
um outro olhar. Um olhar feito de camadas, onde
algo se esvazia e se preenche, ou algo se
esquece e se recorda, com a imprecisão do que
a memória apaga e mantém.
Trata-se assim de construir uma visão que traduz
um tempo complexo, estratificado e não linear.
Uma visão que responde mais à emoção do que
à racionalidade da sucessão cronológica, e que
varia entre aquilo que cada imagem fixa e aquilo
que a artista manipula. (...)
Sérgio Fazenda Rodrigues
Carla Cabanas’ work focuses on reinterpreting time
and memory, through an idea of loss and
saturation.
Changing a set of slides, the artist modifies the
story that each image retains, transforming, with
that action, what was the registration of the
suspended instant, or the crystallization of a special
moment, in a living, undefined and fabled time.
Cutting the support and marking an absence, or
adding to it other cuts in order to densify the image,
Carla Cabanas composes a palimpsest of
references that makes room for another look. A look
made of layers, where something empties and fills
itself, or something forgets and remembers, with the
imprecision of what memory erases and keeps.
This is thus about the construction of a vision that
translates a complex, stratified and non-linear time.
A vision that responds more to emotion than to the
rationality of chronological succession, and varies
between what each image fixes and what the artist
manipulates. (...)
Sérgio Fazenda Rodrigues
Cooperativa de Comunicação
e Cultura, Lisboa
2016
The Mechanics of Absence | 2016
Installation with synchronised 35mm slide projection, 5 projections, dimensions variable
The Mechanics of Absence | 2016
Installation with synchronised 35mm slide projection, 5 projections, dimensions variable
The Mechanics of Absence | 2016
Installation with synchronised 35mm slide projection, 5 projections, dimensions variable
A MECÂNICA DA
AUSÊNCIA II
Com um olhar que escrutina e uma memória que é
difusa, Carla Cabanas opera sobre a imagem, atenta
ao que lhe pertence e ao que em torno dela se
fantasia. E investigando as noções de efabulação e
reminiscência, a artista cria um dispositivo que exibe
e convoca situações vagamente reconhecíveis.
Situações documentadas por diapositivos de uma
família, em que as imagens do seu quotidiano tendem
a ecoar as do nosso, mas também, situações
inusitadas que a artista concebe, cruzando
personagens, momentos e locais distintos.
O seu campo de acção está, simultaneamente, nas
imagens que escolhe, na forma como as manipula, no
mecanismo que constrói para as dar a ver, e no
espaço que assim se delineia. Deste modo, a galeria
transforma-se em mais do que um sítio de
acolhimento e assume-se como um lugar de
participação, e num delicado equilíbrio entre o que
se ausenta e o que permanece, o espectador cruzase,
de forma imersiva, com as lembranças, os sentidos
e as personagens que aí habitam.
Entre o que se esbate e o que se fixa, entre o que se
projecta e o que se retém, há a hipótese de um
enredo que se tenta desenlaçar. Se num primeiro
instante isso acontece quando deambulamos pelo
labirinto da sala maior, num segundo momento isso
acontece quando os objectos de parede, na sala mais
pequena, nos chamam à sua proximidade.
A imagem ora é inteira, mas diversa, divagando como
um eco pelos recantos de uma sala, ora é parcelar,
mas una, sussurrada como um murmúrio pela
extensão da outra. E contrariando o pragmatismo do
registo fotográfico que lhes está na raiz, quer por
excesso, quer por retenção, as figuras são quase
sempre vagas e efémeras, e a sua percepção pede
uma cumplicidade que assenta na curiosidade e na
sedução.
Sérgio Fazenda Rodrigues
No envolvimento que nos é requerido, Carla
Cabanas expande a história que cada imagem
detém, transformando um tempo suspenso, em
algo vivo, indefinido e fantasiado. Algo que constrói
um palimpsesto de referências, abrindo espaço a
uma leitura complexa, estratificada e não linear.
Marcando uma teia de sugestões e
acontecimentos, que privilegia a emoção à
racionalidade de uma qualquer ordem cronológica.
Following another exhibition, held between October
and November 2016, Carla Cabanas will present a
selection of works that addresses the idea of
presence and absence through a scrutinizing look and
a memory that becomes diffused.
By constructing an experience that operates on the
image and on the time that belongs to it, the artist
investigates the notion of reminiscence and how it is
perceived. Through loss and saturation, working with
light, shadow and projection, Carla Cabanas creates a
device that calls up familiar figurations, where our
shadow crosses the image, in a delicate balance
between what is absent and what remains or
between that which fades, fixes and reflects.
By exposing the story behind the image, Carla
Cabanas transforms a suspended time into something
alive, indefinite and unfocused. Something that draws
a palimpsest of references and make its way to a
complex, stratified and non-linear reading. Something
that marks a web of suggestions and events, where
emotion is privileged rather than the rationality of any
chronological order.
Sérgio Fazenda Rodrigues
Carlos Carvalho Arte Contemporânea
Lisboa Lisbon, Portugal, 2017
Eclipse
Carlos Carvalho Arte Contemporânea
Lisboa Lisbon, Portugal, 2017
In the Eclipse series, initiated in 2017, I again use a set
of slides rescued from the Flea Market and that,
apparently, portrait one
specific family’s leisure and celebration moments. The
images are presented in light boxes facing the wall, so
that the viewer does not have a direct line of sight. I
added to each light box a reflective surface, parallel to
the image and mounted at a very short distance from
it; this surface also fixates the box to the wall. This
short distance between the lightbox and the wall
enables the light from the box to escape from it and
to create a luminous and colourful halo around it; also,
it allows the viewer to peek and see the image. Thus,
the viewer does not see the printed image but rather
its reflection on this black, smooth and shiny surface
that works as a mirror. The distance between the box
and the reflective surface also creates a sense of
depth, the image does not appear in the “surface” but
it is like it enters the wall. The reflection of the slide, in
the reflective surface, seems to move away from its
origin, penetrating the wall. Both image and the act of
gazing gain a new depth. They gain a tridimensional
feel, like in other series the act of gouging or cutting
the image turned it into a tridimensional object. The
reflexion of the image appears like in a tunnel. In this
first photographs of the series, where I continue to
explore the multiple relations that the subject builds
with photography and
the act of photographing, the act of hiding and of
peeking are evoked.
In the picnic scene, one of the women holds a
photographic camera towards the photographer. In
the gazebo scene, one of the women steers the
telescope towards the photographer, turning her back
to the landscape. In the couple scene, it seems the
photographer surreptitiously caught them. The series
evokes the subject photographer that peeks at reality
through the mediating device that is the photographic
camera. The subject spectator also peeks, positioning
their body in order to go around the obstacle and see
the image’s reflection. Like memories that burst from
the obscurity to which they are sent by the passing of
time, the light of the image in Eclipse gushes through
the walls, emerging from behind the black box that
hides the image. This light that bursts from the
obstacle gives the series its name. Eclipse, from the
Greek ‘to abandon’, ‘to darken’, ‘to cease to exist’.
Figuratively, to eclipse is the act of making something
disappear. But we know that, at least in the case of the
astronomical phenomena, it is a temporary
disappearance. The astronomical objects in transit
obscure the other, from the point of view of the
observer, but just temporarily.
In Eclipse, I hide the image and make its trace appear.
Carla Cabanas
Eclipse | 2017
Inkjet print, light box, metal. ,26x38 cm
Eclipse | 2017
Inkjet print, light box, metal. ,26x38 cm
Eclipse | 2017
Inkjet print, light box, metal. ,26x38 cm
Boom Secret
Boom - Secret | 2017
Intervention on inkjet print on steel plate, 40 x 40 cm (each)
Boom - Secret | 2017
Intervention on inkjet print on steel plate, 40 x 40 cm (each)
A Matriz e o
Intervalo
Durante a residência artística do Festival Walk &
Talk, em 2016, Carla Cabanas ficou a conhecer
parte do arquivo de fotografias do Instituto Cultural
de Ponta Delgada. Deste arquivo faz parte um
curioso conjunto de fotografias em chapa de vidro
da primeira metade do séc.XX, fotografias essas que
nos dão a ver outras fotografias, retratos e
paisagens, cenas da vida quotidiana, interiores
domésticos e aspectos do trabalho. São imagens
que resultam do acto de fotografar a fotografia, uma
prática comum à época e com múltiplas finalidades,
de entre as quais fazer montagens, reproduções e
ampliações, ou simplesmente preservar a matriz.
Deste ímpeto de preservação da imagem surge o
projecto A Matriz e o Intervalo, um olhar dirigido à
história da prática fotográfica e à especificidade do
medium.
Vemos nas imagens aquilo que suspeitamos serem
fotografias e cartas-postal, montadas com pioneses
e pregos sobre estruturas improvisadas, preparadas
para serem de novo fotografadas.
Vemos nas imagens o acto de fotografar, aqui liberto
dos constrangimentos do referente mas obcecado
por si próprio e pela possibilidade da sua repetição.
Cabanas recupera e dá continuidade ao acto de
reproduzir a fotografia, partindo das digitalizações
das chapas de vidro do arquivo. Ficam nas novas
imagens os fundos improvisados, em tamanho real -
pedaços de madeira, peças de mobiliário, recortes
de jornal ou tecido - cujo fotógrafo original iria,
talvez, eliminar dos seus enquadramentos.
During the Walk & Talk Festival artistic residency, in
2016, Carla Cabanas had the opportunity to access
part of the photography archive from the Instituto
Cultural de Ponta Delgada. This archive contains a
peculiar collection from the first half of the 20th
century, consisting of photographs of photographs,
depicting portraits and landscapes, scenes from the
daily life, domestic interiors and aspects of labour. These
images result from the act of photographing a
photography, a common practice in those days that
served several purposes, namely to do photo montages,
duplications and enlargements, or simply to preserve
the matrix.
This urge to preserve the image prompted the project
The Matrix and the Interval, a look towards the history
of the photographic practice and the medium
specificities.
We see in these images what we suspect to be
photographs and postcards, mounted with pushpins
and nails on improvised structures, all set to be
photographed again.
We see in these images the act of taking a picture,
freed from the constraints of the referent but obsessed
with itself and with the possibility of its repetition.
Cabanas reclaims and continues the act of reproducing
the photography, using as a starting point the digitized
glass plates from the archive. Remaining in the new
images, the improvised backgrounds in real size - pieces
of wood, furniture, newspaper sheets or cloth - that the
original photographer would, perhaps, discard from his
compositions.
Centro Cultural de Ponta
Delgada, Festival Walk &
Talk, Azores, Portugal,2016
The Matrix and the Interval | 2017
Inkjet print on cotton paper, variable dimensions.
The Matrix and the Interval | 2017
Inkjet print on cotton paper, variable dimensions.
Celtis Australis
O projecto da artista Carla Cabanas para o Palácio
Pombal tem dois momentos. Um exterior e outro
interior. Ambos nascem da ideia desenvolvida em
residência no qual a artista tomou como ponto de
pesquisa a forma das folhas do Lodão Bastardo (Celtis
Australis) que se encontra no jardim. Durante o
processo a artista adquiriu fotografias de retratos de
famílias que não conhece, escolhidos meticulosamente
na Feira da Ladra de Lisboa. Estas imagens recolhidas
na feira foram depois digitalizadas e impressas a jato de
tinta nas folhas de papel e depois cortadas a laser em
formato folha. Todo este processo gerou uma obra
metafórica de carácter instalativo que ocupa a sala da
lareira do palácio e a fonte do jardim. Para a artista o
foco e a preocupação principal deste trabalho seria o
processo de degradação, gerado pela intempéries do
clima, das folhas que foi observando ao longo da sua
residência neste inverno. As 13.200 folhas impressas
são uma metáfora do processo da vida e da sua
evolução ao longo do tempo. O observador será
confrontado e de acordo com as palavras da artista
com a poética do tempo.
Lourenço Egreja
This project was developed during a residency at Carpe
Diem Art and Reseach. In the garden of this 17th
century palace, exists two Celtis Australis L., commonly
known as European nettle tree, believed to be of the
same age as the building. The seasonal falling of the
leaves of these trees, that have witnessed through the
years the arrival and departure of many families from
the palace, was the starting point of the project.
At that time, I acquired in the flea market a random set
of family photos, that I later digitized and re-printed by
ink jet. These prints where cut with the shape of the
Celtis Australis L leaves, in a total of 13 200
photographic leaves. As the leaves accompany the
passing of the seasons, changing colour and eventually
falling in the ground, where they stay for a while until
the wind (or the gardener) weeps them away, so the
individuals, the families, keep moving to different places,
where they stay for shorter or longer periods of time. I’ve
decided to incorporate in the project the image of the
falling leaves because it speaks of cyclical rhythms but
also because it speaks of instability and impermanence.
The 13 200 photographic leaves where scattered in
one of the rooms of the palace, next to a window facing
the garden, and in the exterior, where they were
exposed to the elements.
Although visitors could not walk in the room, they could
touch the leaves and take one each.
Lourenço Egreja
Carpe Diem Arte e
Pesquisa (Palácio Pombal),
Lisbon Portugal, 2015
Celtis Australis L. 2015
Intervention on inkjet print / variable measures..
Celtis Australis L. 2015
Intervention on inkjet print / variable measures..
Celtis Australis L. 2015
Intervention on inkjet print / variable measures..
Celtis Australis L. 2015
Intervention on inkjet print / variable measures..
Palavra Arquivada
PALAVRA ARQUIVADA é um projeto desenvolvido
a partir de um conjunto de postais do inicio do
século XX, provenientes da coleção particular de
Carla Cabanas e da coleção de Eduardo Portugal -
acervo do Arquivo Municipal de Lisboa- Fotográfico.
Na continuação da reflexão que tem vindo a
nortear o seu percurso artístico, particularmente no
que diz respeito às questões que se prendem com a
perda de memória (s) e a passagem do tempo pelos
documentos e imagens, emerge nesta exposição
uma nova configuração no trabalho da artista.
Os postais acumulam memórias de um tipo de
comunicação que se vai perdendo, no entanto estes
são testemunhos de um passado em que era prática
comum a troca de mensagens e imagens.
Este vínculo de aproximação entre familiares e
amigos revela uma forma de pensar a distância, de
partilhar a saudade e de viver a ausência.
Fazendo uso da precisão do recorte a laser, a ação
sobre o documento é agora executada de forma
automática, esta intervenção através do corte/
atravessamento, vem explorar a tridimensionalidade
do objeto, uma vez que este processo produz uma
serie de interferências em ambas as faces do postal.
PALAVRA ARQUIVADA trilha novos caminhos para
a problemática do legível, criando um espaço de
observação entre o reconhecível, o identificável, a
abstração, a fragilidade e a beleza destes objetos.
Sofia Castro
PALAVRA ARQUIVADA /archived word developed from
a set of early 20th century postcards belonging to
Carla Cabanas' own private collection, and some others
belonging to Eduardo Portugal's - collection of Lisbon
City Archive - Photography.
Following on the reflection which has been directing her
artistic career so far, particularly matters and questions
dealing with loss of memory(ies) and the passage of
time in documents and images, this exhibition brings to
light yet a new configuration in the artist's work.
Postcards overlap memories of a kind of
communication that is quickly disappearing;
nevertheless, they are also tokens of a past where this
exchange of words and images was quite a common
practice.
This bond of proximity between relatives and friends
can still show us a different way of thinking about
distance, about sharing a sense of longing, and the
experience of absence.
By using the precision of laser cutting, the intervention
made on the document is now automatic, and cutting
around/across it becomes a way to explore the threedimensional
object, since this process conducts a series
of interferences on both sides of the postcard.
PALAVRA ARQUIVADA/archived word is taking on new
routes in questioning legibility itself, creating a vantage
point between the recognizable, the identifiable,
abstraction, and the frailty of these objects
Sofia Castro
Arquivo Municipal de
Lisboa - Fotográfico Lisbon
Portugal, 2015
What remains of what it was – Archived Word 2014
Intervention on inkjet print, acrylic and wood. , Variable measures.
What remains of what it was – Archived Word 2014
Intervention on inkjet print, acrylic and wood. , Variable measures.
What remains of what it was – Archived Word 2014
Intervention on inkjet print, acrylic and wood. , Variable measures.
What remains of what it was – Archived Word 2014
Intervention on inkjet print, acrylic and wood. , Variable measures.
O que ficou do que foi
O que Ficou do que Foi é o nome de um corpo de
trabalho que tem início com O Álbum Cabanas,
projecto onde a artista inicia as sua explorações sobre a
falibilidade da memória e a inexorabilidade da
passagem do tempo. Carla Cabanas parte de um
conjunto de negativos que avó lhe deu, típicas
fotografias de família, nas quais as pessoas, posando para
serem retratadas, enfrentam a câmara com o olhar,
quase como se tentassem perscrutar aqueles que no
futuro os irão lembrar. Os negativos são da década de
1970, e a maioria dos retratados embora sendo
familiares da artista são-lhe estranhos. Os
álbuns de fotografias devem ser vistos na companhia de
alguém que, como um contador de histórias, vai
recordando os rostos, desfiando a trama da memória e
transmitindo esse conhecimento. Mas o que fazer
quando esse alguém já não existe? O que acontece às
fotografias? As fotografias, os álbuns de família, são
pequenos monumentos portáteis. Encerram em si os
afectos e as memórias, mas também a inevitabilidade do
esquecimento. Assim surge a relação da artista com a
fotografia, pontuada pela intervenção na imagem, na
qual a artista provoca rasuras e cisões, invocando as
operações de apagamento da memória. Mas as sua
rasuras são potenciadoras de desenhos que, crescendo
a partir dos fundos, invadem a pele, os rostos, os
corpos, dessas tais pessoas que a artista não conheceu
mas à qual está ligada. As rasuras dão a ver então,
também, a trama de ligações e nós que unem, na
posteridade, retratados e seus descendentes. Trama essa
que se vai tornando rarefeita, com pontas soltas,
frustrando o desejo do retratado de se dar a conhecer
ao seu longínquo descendente. Mas o apagamento da
imagem, da memória, permite o aparecimento de novas
imagens (memórias) e a possibilidade de nos
relacionarmos e posicionarmos no mundo. Permite-nos
até imaginar que esse tal parente distante, ao ser
fotografado, estava a pensar em nós, que nunca o
conhecemos. O material usado n’O Álbum
Desconhecido provém de aquisições na Feira da Ladra.
A artista procurou fotografias soltas de família que
mostrassem, mais uma vez, uma certa solenidade no
acto de fazer um retrato. Em ambas as séries, os
resíduos resultantes dos cortes e incisões nas
fotografias são acumulados na respectiva moldura.
What Remains of What It Was is the name of a body of
work that begins with Cabanas Album, a project where
the artist begins her explorations about the fallibility of
memory and the inexorability of the passage of time.
Carla Cabanas is part of a set of negatives that
grandmother gave her, typical family photographs, in
which people are posing for
the camera, almost as if they are trying to peer who will
remember them in the future. The negatives are from the
1970s, and most of the portrayed, though being artist
relatives, are unfamiliar to her. The photo albums are to
be seen in the company of someone who, like a
storyteller, remembers the faces, unraveling the memory
plot, and passing on that knowledge. But what to do
when someone no longer exists? What happens to the
photos? The photographs, the family albums, are small
portable monuments. They close in themselves the
affections and memories, but also the inevitability of
forgetfulness. Thus arises the relation of the artist to the
photograph, punctuated by the intervention in the image,
in which the artist causes cuts and divisions, invoking the
operations of memory erasure. But their erasures are the
drawings that, growing from the back, invade the skin, the
faces, the bodies, of such people that the artist did not
know but to whom she is attached. The erasure then
shows, also, the network of connections and knots that
unite, in posterity, portrayed and their descendants. A plot
that becomes thin, with loose ends, frustrating the desire
of the portrayed person to make himself known to his
distant descendant. But the erasure of the image, of
memory, allows the appearance of new images
(memories) and the possibility of relating and positioning
ourselves in the world. It even allows us to imagine that
this distant relative, when being photographed, was
thinking of us, who never knew him. The material used in
the Unknown Album comes from acquisitions at the flee
market in Lisbon. The artist looked for loose family
photographs that showed, once again, a certain solemnity
in the act of making a portrait. In both series, the
residuals resulting from cuts and incisions in the
photographs are accumulated in the frame.
What remains of what it was – Album Francisco Manuel Fialho 2016
Intervention on inkjet print, acrylic and wood / 40x72 cm.
What remains of what it was – Album Francisco Manuel Fialho 2016
Intervention on inkjet print, acrylic and wood / 40x72 cm.
What remains of what it was – Album Francisco Manuel Fialho 2016
Intervention on inkjet print, acrylic and wood / 40x72 cm.
What remains of what it was - Album Martim Moniz 2012 - 2014
Intervention on inkjet print/ 40x40 cm
What remains of what it was - Album Martim Moniz 2012 - 2014 ( Views from the solo exhibition at Museu da cidade, Lisboa., Lisboa), Intervention on inkjet print/ 40x40 cm
What remains of what it was - Album Martim Moniz 2012 - 2014
Intervention on inkjet print/ 40x40 cm
What remains of what it was - Album Martim Moniz 2012 - 2014
Intervention on inkjet print/ 40x40 cm
What remains of what it was - Album São Tomé e Príncipe 2013 ( Views from the solo exhibition Saudades e lagrimas são o unico lenitivo para a grande auzencia” at Galeria Carlos Carvalho - Arte
Contemporânea, Lisboa), Intervention on inkjet print / 40x60 cm and 60x40 cm
What remains of what it was - Album São Tomé e Príncipe 2013
Intervention on inkjet print / 40x60 cm and 60x40 cm
What remains of what it was - Album São Tomé e Príncipe 2013
Intervention on inkjet print / 40x60 cm and 60x40 cm
What remains of what it was - Album São Tomé e Príncipe 2013
Intervention on inkjet print / 40x60 cm and 60x40 cm
What remains of what it was - Album Unknown 2012 ( Views from the solo exhibition at Sala do Veado, Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência, Lisboa)
Intervention on inkjet print, 110x90cm, 110x110cm.
What remains of what it was - Album Unknown 2012
Intervention on inkjet print, 110x90cm, 110x110cm.
What remains of what it was - Album Unknown 2012
Intervention on inkjet print, 110x90cm, 110x110cm.
What remains of what it was - Album Cabanas 2010/2011
Intervention on silver print gelatin proof / paper: 30,5x40,6 cm image:20x20cm.
-
What remains of what it was - Album Cabanas 2010/2011
Intervention on silver print gelatin proof / paper: 30,5x40,6 cm image:20x20cm.
-
What remains of what it was - Album Cabanas 2010/2011
Intervention on silver print gelatin proof / paper: 30,5x40,6 cm image:20x20cm.
-
What remains of what it was - Album Cabanas 2010/2011
Intervention on silver print gelatin proof / paper: 30,5x40,6 cm image:20x20cm.
-
Paris Photo 2015 | exhibition views
Paris Photo 2014 | exhibition views
Paris Photo 2017 | exhibition views
VOLTA show 2017 | exhibition views
Movimentos e jogos de luz - PÚBLICO
https://www.publico.pt/2017/07/07/culturaipsilon/noticia/animada...
CRÍTICA ARTES
Movimentos e jogos de luz
Uma exposição notável de Carla Cabanas que prende a atenção e comove. E
que não deve desaparecer sem ser vista.
A Mecânica da Ausência II
⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆
JOSÉ MARMELEIRA
7 de Julho de 2017, 14:56
Com uma tenacidade discreta, Carla Cabanas (Lisboa, 1979) tem vindo a
construir uma obra coerente e consistente. Desde 2005 que expõe de forma
regular, trabalhando com a Galeria Carlos Carvalho e participando em
projectos colectivos e institucionais em Portugal e no estrangeiro. Do seu
percurso destacam-se momentos como O que ficou do que foi – O Álbum
desconhecido, na Sala do Veado do Museu de História Natural e da Ciência,
em 2012, ou Palavra Arquivada, no Arquivo Municipal de Lisboa-Núcleo
Fotográfico, em 2014. E refira-se que, no próximo dia 15 de Julho,
inaugurará a exposição individual A Matriz e o Intervalo no Instituto
Cultural de Ponte Delgada, no âmbito do projecto Walk & Talk. A esta
1 de 3 29/07/17, 21:08
Kratzendes Erinnern
Mit ihrem Spachtel kratzt Carla Cabanas alten Fotografien poetische Kunstwerke auf, die Fragen über
Vergangenheit, Vergänglichkeit und über unser Erinnern aufwerfen
H
90
äuser, ganze Straßenzüge, die sich
vor knapp 100 Jahren an der Lissabonner
Praça Martim Moniz befanden,
sind einfach aus den alten Fotografien
herausgekratzt. Die Reste des Fotopapiers liegen
unten in den Bilderrahmen, als seien
sie erst gerade herabgefallen. Die Besucher
im Lissabonner Stadtmuseum MUSEU DA
CIDADE überlegen laut, was sich dort befunden
haben könnte, um welche Straße es sich
handelt, was dort heute steht? Genau das
wollte Carla Cabanas mit ihrer Ausstellung
»O que ficou do que foi« (»Was übrig blieb,
von dem, was war«) erreichen: »Ich wollte die
Menschen anregen, über uns, unsere Vergangenheit,
unser Umfeld, über Veränderungen
nachzudenken.« Erinnern, Vergessen, die
Vergänglichkeit. Das sind wichtige Themen
für Carla Cabanas. Obwohl sie kein Mensch
sei, der unbedingt in der Vergangenheit lebe,
findet man diese Motive immer wieder
in ihren Werken. »Die Vergangenheit ist ein
wichtiger Teil unseres Lebens«, meint die
portugiesische Malerin und Fotokünstlerin,
während sie in ihrem Lissabonner Atelier
weiße Handschuhe überstreift, um mit einem
feinen Spachtel ein Gebäude aus einem
Foto zu entfernen. Ihr Atelier befindet sich
im Kultur- und Künstlerzentrum CARPE
DIEM, einem alten, halb verfallenem Stadtpalast
in der Rua de O Século, in dem es nur so
nach Vergangenheit riecht. An den Mauern
ihres dunklen Studios hängen alte Familienfotos,
aber auch Aufnahmen von unbekannten
Menschen, die sie derart mit ihrem Spachtel
manipuliert hat, dass die bereits gestorbenen
Personen auf den Fotos wie Geister erscheinen.
»Jeder von uns wird irgendwann
einmal verschwinden. Erst aus dem Leben,
dann aus der Erinnerung.« Doch bewahrt Cabanas
die herausgekratzten Fototeile auf,
lässt sie im geschlossenen Rahmen liegen,
damit auf diese Weise wieder etwas Neues
entsteht. Das Ergebnis ihrer Kunst ist aufreibend,
macht neugierig, zeigt den epheme-
CARLA CABANAS
Born 1979 in Lisbon, Portugal.
The artist has exhibited widely in solo exhibitions
such as “Quercus faginea Lam.”, curadoria de Carlos
Veríssimo, Palácio Landal, Santarém, 2019. "A
mecânica da ausência II” (curated by Sérgio
Fazenda Rodrigues, Carlos Carvalho - Arte
Contemporânea, Lisbon. 2017), “A mecânica da
ausência” (curated by Sérgio Fazenda Rodrigues,
Cooperativa de comunicação e Cultura, Torres
Vedras. 2016), "Celtis Australis L.” (curated by
Lourenço Egreja, Carpe Diem Arte e Pesquisa,
Lisbon. 2015), ”Palavra Arquivada" (curated by Sofia
Castro, Arquivo Municipal de Lisboa - Núcleo
Fotográfico, Lisbon. 2014), “O que ficou do que foi –
O álbum Martim Moniz” (Museu da Cidade, Lisbon.
2014), “Saudades e lagrimas são o unico lenitivo
para a grande auzencia” (Carlos Carvalho - Arte
Contemporânea, Lisbon. 2013), and in group
exhibitions such as "Residentes em
Trânsito” (curated by Mariana Gaspar and Filipa
Oliveira, Fundação Eugénio de Almeida, Évora.
2017), ”Quid Pro Quo” (curated by Martim Días,
Panal 361, Buenos Aires, Argentina. 2017), ”EXiM
2016, Portugal and Macao Experimental Video
Festival", (curated by José Drummond and Bianca
Lei, Ox Warehouse, Macau, China, 2016), ”Território
Expandido” (curated by Ângela Ferreira, Festival
galego Outono Fotografico + Festival ENCONTROS
DA IMAGEM + Festival brasileiro Encontros de
Agosto, Encontros da Imagem, Braga, 2016), "Past
Continuous” (curated by Mariana Gaspar,
Inter.meada - Residências Artísticas, Espaço Adães
Bermudes, Alvito, 2016), "Walking on the
Clouds” (curated by Margarida Medeiros, Casa-
Museu Medeiros e Almeida, Lisbon, 2016),“El
paisaje revisitado”, (curated by Martim Días and
Rosina Gómez-Baeza, a3bandas, Blanca Berlín
Gallery, Madrid, Spain, 2015), ”Exposição
Sociedade, um Cadáver Esquisito para o Século
XXI", curated by Nuno Faria, Sociedade Nacional de
Belas Artes, Lisbon, 2014, “Habitar a
Colecção” (curated by Colectivo de Curadores, Casa
Museu Medeiros e Almeida, Lisbon, 2013), ”Contra
o Esquecimento", (Coletiva de Fotografia
Portuguesa, comissariada por Ângela Ferreira,
Museu da Cultura Cearense do Centro Dragão do
Mar de Arte e Cultura (CDMAC), Brasil 2013),”7ª
BIENAL INTERNACIONAL DE SÃO TOMÉ E
PRÍNCIPE | 2013", no Espaço CACAU, São Tomé e
Príncipe 2013),- FUSO - Anual de Video Arte
Internacional de Lisboa, Fundação EDP, Lisboa
2013), “Arquivos secretos”, (Arquivo municipal de
Lisboa – fotográfico, Lisbon 2013),"Premio de
Fotografía Purificación García", Círculo de Belas
Artes, Madrid, Spain 2013),“Mostra de Fotografia
do Programa Gulbenkian Criatividade e Criação
Artística”, Galeria de Exposições Temporárias da
Sede da Fundação Gulbenkian, Lisbon.
Carla Cabanas’ works are held in many public
collections, including those of the LPS Collection
(Stanislas y Leticia Poniatowski), BES - Art_Colecção
Banco Espírito Santo", Lisbon., P.L.M.J. Collection,
Lisbon., Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild
Europe Collection, Lisbon and Marín Gaspar
CollectionNational Gallery of Art, Washington, EUA,
Coleção José Carlos Santana Pinto, Lisboa,
Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento,
Lisboa, Coleção KELLS, Santander.
www.carlacabanas.com
Carlos Carvalho Arte Contemporânea
Rua Joly Braga Santos, lote f r/c
1600-123 Lisboa | Portugal
carloscarvalho-ac@carloscarvalho-ac.com
www.carloscarvalho-ac.com
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