You are warmly invited to an exhibition workshop and talk in relation to the exhibition Art of Dispersion: León Ferrari & Hudinilson Jr (Art Exchange, 25 February – 25 March 2022) at the Art Exchange Gallery, University of Essex (Colchester campus).
Workshop: 24 March 15.00-17.00,with Dr Eve Kalyva (University of Kent)
Talk: 24 March 17.30-18.30, with Dr Eve Kalyva and Alice David (Courtauld Institute of Art)
Curated by Dr Sarah Demelo and Diego Chocano, ESCALA and Special Collections, University of Essex, the exhibition Art of Dispersion brings together León Ferrari and Hudinilson Jr, and explores their appropriation of commercial printing techniques of heliography and xerography as a means for institutional critique and political emancipation. Working in São Paulo, Brazil, in the late 1970s and early 1980s under a fierce military regime, Ferrari and Hudinilson Jr created works that were radical by the very nature of their reproducibility. Ephemeral and plural, such works circulated outside the gallery circuit and the reach of the government, and created dispersive networks of communication and critique.
During the workshop (15.00-17.00), participants will have the opportunity to meet the curators and explore the works of Ferrari and Hudinilson Jr in greater detail. We will reflect on how these works engage the context of their time, the different materials they use and meanings they evoke, and their possible impact for us today. We will also consider curatorial practices and exhibition design. This workshop brings together topics from art history, gender studies, communication and museum studies.
The workshop will be followed by a talk (17.30-18.30) that expands on the ideas and themes of the exhibition. It will contextualise the artists’ life and work, and bring to the fore an important but under-examined aspect of conceptual and counter-cultural artistic practices in 1970s – 1980s in São Paulo. The talk will be moderated by the exhibition’s curators, and followed by a drinks reception.
The event is free. To register for the workshop, please contact Dr Eve Kalyva (e.m.kalyva@kent.ac.uk). The talk can be attended independently and requires no registration.