Viewed in a dark room and submitted to the disorienting effect created by the abrupt shifts in perspective, one begins to see the landscape for its particular elements, abstracted from the familiarity such as a leaf, branch or tree. By imposing a constantly shifting orientation of the image, “Spiral Forest” evokes a vivid physical experience but at the same time its structure reminds the spectator of the separation between gaze and corporeal being. Steegmann Mangrané looks at how technological forms have transformed our understanding of nature and our place in the universe. With each change in our conception of nature, we also have to adjust our understanding of our own nature. The work allows us to be situated in a new perspective, echoing the Amerindian cosmologies that have so strongly influenced his practice. Throughout the walls one finds 5 poems by Stela do Patrocínio, transcribed by Viviane Mosé. Carla Guagliardi, a Brazilian artist based in Berlin, introduced Steegmann Mangrané to Patrocinio’s poems, which have had a strong influence on him ever since. The poems are fragmented by geometric designs resembling the ones found in the collage Kiti Ka’aeté (2011), which are also displayed in the show. Steegmann Mangrané’s geometric designs have overlaps with photography, and here they are juxtaposed with Patrocinio’s radical discourse. The work becomes a register of the contradictions and the supposed illness of her thinking processes which are echoed by the straight lines cutting letters of the texts.
Daniel Steegmann Mangrané was born in 1977 in Barcelona, Spain, and lives in Rio de Janeiro. Read more about his work on his website.
With the support of Fundació Antoni Tàpies and Esther Schipper
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Did not want to have human form, human flesh or human matter from The Green Parrot on Vimeo.
