Cinthia Marcelle and Tiago Mata Machado. Divine Violence

Cinthia Marcelle and Tiago Mata Machado. Divine Violence
September 8–October 29, 2017
Opening reception and artist tour: September 8, 6pm

Since 2008, artist Cinthia Marcelle and filmmaker Tiago Mata Machado have produced a suite of moving image works that reflect on notions of confrontation, order and chaos in contemporary society.

Black Hole (2008) depicts two opposing air currents scattering a mass of white powder across a black ground. In the constant push and pull between forces, this video offers subtle commentary on the shifting dynamics between individuals and contesting positions. Exploring the poetics and politics of urban life in Brazil and other global locations, The Century (2011) and One Way Street (2013) are interrelated pieces that provide different viewpoints on a shared event—a street protest. These two works function as an anatomy of the event, deconstructing its actions and impact on civic space. Yet, there is no indication of the underlying cause of the unrest, highlighting the spontaneous and often unwieldy process that leads to a complete breakdown of social order. Community (and the other process) (2016) contends with the invisible bonds and rules that keep people and by extension our social milieu together. This two-channel piece—split across two separate spaces in the Logan Center Gallery—presents two versions of an orderly line on the precipice of rupture, one depicted through a group of individuals standing in wait, and the other through an animated line drawing.

Bringing these works together for the first time in the United States, Cinthia Marcelle and Tiago Mata Machado: Divine Violence speculates on the potential for revolution in everyday life. In doing so, the exhibition attends to the artists’ reflections on violence (and by extension anarchy) as a means to undercut the forces of law, power, and capital.

Cinthia Marcelle and Tiago Mata Machado: Divine Violence is presented by Logan Center Exhibitions and curated by Yesomi Umolu, Exhibitions Curator. Support for this exhibition is provided by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.