Language Unloosed
31/07/2021 — 10/03/2021
Museu da Língua Portuguesa,
São Paulo, SP
Curated by Fabiana Moraes and Moacir dos Anjos, the Língua Solta [Language Unloosed] exhibition shows us the diverse range of uses to which the Portuguese language is put in art and everyday life. The show accomplishes this by presenting a variety of artifacts whose meaning is firmly grounded in the use of words as objects of popular or contemporary art. The exhibition was originally staged to mark the re-opening of the Museum of the Portuguese Language, which had been closed since 2015, when it was damaged by fire.
In all, 180 works by contemporary artists and so-called “popular artists” are included. The miscellaneous approach adopted by the curators, which sets the tone for the whole exhibition, makes connections between art and politics, life in society, day-to-day behavior patterns, and forms of protest, religion, and survival. The guiding thread which links all of these factors is the Portuguese language.
“The tongue/language is loosened because it disrupts the consensuses that form the basis for the predominant social relations, in both private and public spheres. When incorporated into various different images and objects, this suggests other possible interpretations of the world and thus weaves together a political web all of its own”, as Moacir dos Anjos puts it. The project regards language as a social agent that not only reflects but also reorganizes forms of life. In an intuitive and playful fashion, the show includes some of the creative strategies that, by organizing a highly diverse range of images and objects, both suggest and help unleash the power that language possesses to provide emancipation. “We see language as a site of power struggles that and this reflects various issues we face in Brazil – race, class, gender and geography”, Fabiana Moraes remarks.
Credits
Automatica has been developing cultural projects since 2005, working in the creation, production, curation, management, coordination and consultancy of exhibitions, educational programs, publications and other activities related to artistic production. It works with artists, curators, art critics, art historians, cultural institutions, public and private sponsors. It participates in public notices and awards, and prepares projects for incentive laws in the three spheres of public administration.
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