Vitrine
Sete
Vitrine
Sete is a glass case vitrine situated in the Galeria das
Artes, a passageway on the ground floor of the Edificio Veneza
connecting Rua Doutor Bráulio Gomes with Rua Sete de Abril (where
the lettering Galeria das Artes can be found above the
entrance) in the center of São Paulo.
It is an intervention within
one of a series of display cases that feature mainly tools and
electrical products, sold by other tenants within the same mall.
Thus
Vitrine Sete is sited
outside the conventional boundaries of the art world although the
title of the host architecture, Galeria
das Artes, might
suggest otherwise. The space
is located in the
vicinity of a park, a public library and an eclectic mix of all sorts
of business. Passing through the Galeria
das Artes mall, lends a
somewhat tranquilizing moment to the passerby, a moment of escape
from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding downtown business.
The
ongoing intervention organized by Medeiros into the passage and mall,
does not only provide an idiosyncratic possibility for artists to
exhibit their work in São Paulo, it also engages a very
heterogeneous set of publics.
Situated
in between curatorial and artistic activity, Medeiros
uses the rented space to feature the works of other artists (vitrine-sete.blogspot.com)
or to insert a visual break from the heavily polluted visual
landscape of the megalopolis as was the case with the work There
are Others (2013).
Following
Medeiros’ engagement with a local advocacy group that is fighting
the destruction of one of the oldest city parks (Parque Augusta) and
takes on the giants of São Paulo real estate speculation, the artist
lent the vitrine to Organismo
Parque Augusta
and thus called attention to the park’s legacy and potential future
by calling out on a poster in Portuñol: Me
Gusta Parque Augusta
.
Medeiros’
Vitrine Sete exhibition series resembles an act of resistance
against the constant bombardment of consumer goods vying for our
attention. A different message is broadcast, abstract yet
untouchable. The vitrine space exercises a unique possibility to
experiment with aesthetic and conceptual ideas on an extremely
limited surface, thus represents a challenge of particular sorts for
artists, writers and thinkers who aspire to work outside of their
conventional contexts.
Tobi
Maier
São
Paulo, April 2014
