THE CAMERA AS CO-PERFORMER

Saturday, May 03 2014, 4:00 to 6:00 pm

In this talk, Roberta Lima will introduce her questions on the subjects of space and performative interaction as well as her idea of the media as co-performer rather than a tool for documentation. For the past years, Lima has been aiming for an aesthetic atmosphere in her performances and installations. The negotiated positions of beauty have been created in her work by framing the modernistic old-school feel with cables, cameras, screens, projections and other tools. In her earlier works, Lima made the conditions of production visible - the same way she regularly did with the interior of her body. She also referred to the technical sphere in her reflections on body politics and used the same technology to sculpt herself. In her most recent works she started to make sculptures and to interfere directly in the space, interweaving her experiences as an architect and as a performer. In Displacement (2002, White Box, New York) Lima built a concrete cube with a hole, which represented the act of invasion – once of her own body, now of spaces. The cube contained a spy camera that once placed in her body, which was then consequently “displaced”. The cables work as a link between the bodies, the objects, and the gallery. Using movements of falling and crashing – of the cube, the camera, and the concrete – Lima created analogies between the flow of energy in the electric cables, of the blood in bodies, and of capital in societies. Furthermore, Displacement was a continuation of Lima’s questions of how performance art can be presented and perceived.

Roberta Lima was born in Manaus, Brazil. After graduating with a degree in architecture in 2001 from the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (Sao Leopoldo), she moved to Vienna where she now lives and works. In 2007 she earned a Master’s degree in Fine Arts and in 2013 her PhD in Philosophy at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Most of her work revolves around the investigation of phenomena arising from the relationship between Body and Space. Primarily applying her own physique together with various media such as video and installations, Roberta delves into physical, social-political, and existential matters embedded in the context of her performances.

Roberta Lima is also President of Tracing New Ways, Inc. – a non-profit organization promoting cultural exchange between international and Filipino artists. One of the means currently being developed is an artist-in-residence program situated in Siargao, Surigao del Norte, Philippines. Together with her partners, Roberta will be in the aforementioned province at La Luna Resort from April 15-30.


Artist Website: www.robertalima.com
Tracing New Ways, Inc.: www.tracingnewways.com
Find them at FB: Tracing New Ways