Galeria Fortes Vilaça has the pleasure to present the exhibition Eu desejo o seu desejo [I wish your wish], by Rivane Neuenschwander. This installation, never before seen in Brazil, was a great success in Neuenschwander’s recent solo show at the Palais de Tokyo, in Paris.
A collection of desires in motion is the raw material for this work. They appear printed on colored ribbons, like those tied around the wrist or ankle in a Brazilian folk custom, and form a giant abstract painting. Every ribbon goes into a small hole in the wall. The holes form parallel lines, like on a piece of notebook paper. Each visitor who enters can read the desires on the ribbons and take as many as he or she wishes. The work is thus generous, it disseminates, it leaves the gallery and enters the private space of everyone’s home. Complementing the installation is a blank notebook and a pen. Whoever wishes to can write his or her own desires, enlarging the collection.
Written, oral, and non-verbal communication is one of the central themes in Neuenschwander’s work. In her installation Crossword, visitors were asked to form words with letters printed on dehydrated oranges. In Edible Alphabet, a series of abstract images are made up of visually similar colored stripes. The stripes are differentiated by the color of the spices used to make each of the images, placed in alphabetical order (anis, black pepper, chile, dill, etc.) Involuntary Sculptures is a collection of objects made by different people while chatting in a bar or talking on the phone. In BH, 2002, a calandar is created by photographs, and the letters appear in the urban landscape of the city of Belo Horizonte: in a graffiti-covered wall, on a traffic or store sign.
In I desire your desire, this discourse appears fully enunciated for the first time: ”I want a dog, a little house in the woods, and Mariana,” one of the ribbons says, “I want to win the lottery,” says another. Another person’s desire is assimilated and tied around your wrist or ankle. The body becomes material for the work.
Rivane Neuenschwander will participate in the next Venice Biennial as part of the exhibition Delays and Revolutions, curated by Francesco Bonami and Daniel Birnbaum. Her work has been shown in venues such as the Portikus Museum in Frankfurt, the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, and The Americas Society in New York. In 2004 Neuenschwander will have a solo show in the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid.
