Eder Santos: Cinema
Eder Santos is known for having been one of the forerunners of video art in Brazil, exploring this media since the 1980s. Having won national and international awards for his videographic work, and, later, for his video installations, he has participated in countless solo and group shows in Brazil and abroad. His works are featured in renowned collections worldwide including those of the Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as those of various important institutions in Brazil.
Through the use of technical devices, Eder Santos introduces sounds and interferences similar to those of old-time filmmaking, or alters the balance of the captured image, thereby conferring an intensely poetic and vibrant character to his works. According to Solange Farkas, the artist’s works “blend personal, cultural and technological elements, which reinterpret themes related to the Brazilian cultural heritage while evoking the rhythms and textures of memory and history.”
The selection of works presented at Luciana Brito Galeriafeature three notable works in the artist’s cinematographic production:
- In Cinema (2009) the artist presents trivial scenes of a small city through his poetic gaze on the world. Subtle interferences, images that go out of focus, and different speeds of transition between the images are indications of the passage of time. The sky slowly changes color, the flickering light of a street lamp creates a tense atmosphere – something is about to happen. This short film in HD format participated at the 2010 International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, in Germany, and at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, in Holland.
- A Delicadeza do Amor (The Tenderness of Love, 2004),a 35mm short film, which was awarded the Prêmio Petrobrás, is based on a story by Sandra Duarte Penna and has Milhem Cortaz and Maria Luisa Mendonça among its cast. In this work,Eder Santos explores the different affective dimensions of an amorous relationship.
- Enredando as Pessoas (Intriguing People, 1995), his first feature-length work in 35mm film format, traces the mystical path of a prophet of images with the power of projecting his visions on surfaces as he pilgrimages through the world. This film had its premiere at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and was awarded at the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, in Havana, Cuba, and at the Festival et Forum International des Nouvelles Images, in Locarno, Switzerland. Critic Arlindo Machado comments that, in Enredando as Pessoas, “there is even a metaphoric reference to ‘civilizations controlled by images’ which allow themselves to be invaded, contaminated and driven by them, as the religions managed to do up to a short time ago.”
In the video installation Distorções ContidasII (Contained Distortions II, 2010), being shown in the Galeria 2 exhibition space at Luciana Brito Galeria, the artist presents his own unique interpretation of emblematic works by Marcel Duchamp such as Nude Descending a Staircase and The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass), by way of a fragmented image of a woman descending a staircase, reflected in the glass-lined interior of wooden boxes.
The soundtracks of three of the four works presented in the exhibition were authored by audio artist Stephen Vitiello, which is a further demonstration of the great concern evinced by Eder Santos’sworks in regard to the linking of image with sound.
An artistic partner for many years, Stephen Vitiello is interested in the physical aspect of sound and its potential to define the form and atmosphere of a given space, creating installations and performances that explore the audiovisual experience of the visitors in these environments. Besides having participated in exhibitions at institutions such as Tate Modern and PS1 Contemporary Art Center, the artist composes soundtracks for independent films, experimental videos and installations, having collaborated with eminent artists such as Nam June Paik and Dara Birnbaum.
Especially produced for the occasion, the exhibition catalog compiles Eder Santos’s cinematographic production as well as his most notable video installations. The publication also contains an interview with the artist conducted by curator Jacopo Crivelli Visconti.
About the artist
Recently, Eder Santosallowed the public to gain an idea of the dimension of his work’s originality by way of the retrospective show Roteiro Amarrado [Tied-Up Screenplay], held at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil. He also participated in the solo showSuspensión y Fluidez, in Madrid in 2008, held in the Sala de Exposiciones Canal de Isabel II, an old elevated water tower, which served as a support for his video projections, and, in 2003, in the traveling show Enciclopédia da Ignorância / The Encyclopedia of Ignorance, held at Galeria Brito Cimino in São Paulo, at the World Wide Vídeo Festival, in Holland, and at the University of Virginia Art Museum in the USA.
The group shows he has participated in most notably includeBraaaasiiiil, at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid, Spain, 2008); the XVII Bienal Internacional del Deporte en el Arte (Gijón, Spain, 2007); 80/90 Modernos, Pós-modernos, etc.at Instituto Tomie Ohtake (São Paulo, 2007); the IX Bienal de La Habana, (Havana, Cuba, 2006); the VIII Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon (France, 2005); and Rede de Tensão: Bienal 50 Anos, at the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo (2001).
In 1985, Eder Santos founded the video production company Emvideo, which became a reference among video artists. Since 1983, he has been invited to all the editions of the renowned festival VIDEOBRASIL, and was a member of the group that held ForumBHZVideo, an event that introduced video art to the public of the state of Minas Gerais. The various awards he has received include those conferred by the VI International Competition of Media and Architecture, in Austria (2004) and the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, in Holland (2003). He has been conferred scholarships and cultural support from entities such as Vrije Academie (Holland), Fundação Vitae de Apoio às Artes, the Danish Film Institute Workshop Festival (Denmark) and the Rockefeller, MacArthur and Lampadia foundations (USA).
His work is featured in important international collections such as Caixa Geral de Depósitos (Lisbon), Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (Miami), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris) and Museum of Modern Art (New York), as well as Brazilian collections such as those of Coleção Itaú (São Paulo), Museu de Arte da Pampulha (Belo Horizonte), Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo and Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro.
At the moment, Eder Santos is preparing a solo show at Museu Vale, shedding light on the consistent and pioneering character of his artistic career, while also working on the filming of his second feature-length science-fiction film, O Deserto Azul, currently under production in Brasília.
