This catalogue accompanies the exhibition Radial Body, a solo exhibition by Mariana Caló and Francisco Queimadela, which was on view at Galeria da Boavista between 30 September and 1 November 2020, curated by Susana Ventura. This edition features an introduction by Tobi Maier, alongside essays by Maria João Neves and Susana Ventura, as well as photographic reproductions of the exhibited works and a series of preparatory drawings for the exhibition.
“Radial body assumed the red iron façade and — by means of additionally applied light filters — immersed visitors in radiance of soft red and orange hues. Crossing the threshold of a three-dimensional wooden structure clad in painted silk panels the viewer entered a world of realistic fiction. Here, Caló and Queimadela invited us to de-accelerate, tested our powers of retention and confronted us with memory’s reliance on technology.”
– Tobi Maier
“I notice how in both videos I experience the overwhelming presence of sound. Just like music — the most invasive art of all —, it enters through our pores, whether we like it or not. It immediately interferes with our pulse, modifying this primordial rhythmic unity and conditioning our perception. However, seeing and hearing are senses that place us in the world in a radically different way. From a phenomenological point of view, there is a great contrast between visual and auditory sensations. To see a bell is very different from hearing it ring. In sharp contrast to the constancy of vision, the ringing of the bell is experienced as a series of sounds followed by a flickering dissipation. It is a process of continuous change and renewal.”
– Maria João Neves
“Though saving the classification of crystal-image for cinematographic images (of which Leite Transbordante (Spilt milk), will be the ultimate expression), Mariana Caló and Francisco Queimadela’s different works in Radial body have this power to allow us to see how we inhabit time — a time in which present and past, real and imaginary, body and universe become indiscernible, in which perception and memory coincide.”
– Susana Ventura