João Maria Gusmão / Pedro Paiva. PAPAGAIO

About

The site-specific film installation brings together over twenty short 16-mm films, taken from three central work series from the past ten years.

Each film, in slow motion, silence, and looped, observes one single motif, sequence of movement, or activity. The subjects of the presented films are drawn from found as well as staged everyday, biological, physical, or chemical phenomena such as a fish’s gasp for air on dry land, or an egg frying. They are always positioned at a pressure point between perception and reality. Proceeding from a deliberately staged moment of confusion, the individual films challenge our usual perspective on a specific situation, while the installation as a whole acts to shift our view of the world.

With PAPAGAIO, Gusmão + Paiva consciously reveal their way of working; the duo depicts its fascination with the mysticism of everyday life from an analytical distance, and protocols the genesis of knowledge. In its variety, the complex artistic installation thus makes philosophical questions of existence immediately accessible. KW Institute for Contemporary Art is therefore particularly pleased to present this show to a wide Berlin audience for the first time. The exhibition was co-produced with the Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan and the Camden Arts Centre in London