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Antonio Manuel 19 October 2006,19.30
ARTos Cultural and Research
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The 256-page illustrated catalogue is edited by Michael Asbury and Garo Keheyan and will be available in Greek, Turkish and English. The Artist Antonio Manuel began his career as an artist in Rio de Janeiro during the late 1960s when he became acquainted with key figures of the Brazilian art scene such as the art critic Mário Pedrosa, and artists Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Pape and Ivan Serpa. Like many of his contemporaries, such as Cildo Meireles, Artur Barrio, Ana Maria Maiolino, he developed a posture that expanded the limits of art practice, increasingly focusing on the body as a vehicle for his propositions. Partly a consequence of the socio-political environment, partly a creative strategy, he worked in the interstices of cultural dissemination appropriating imagery and sometimes the actual circuits of circulation of mass communication. Often focusing on the relation between outside and inside, his work has consistently questioned consensual notions of art through interventions in museums, newspapers or in the urban environment. He has exhibited internationally in major museums, Biennials, and galleries and has had solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Jeu de Paume in Paris, Museu Serralves in Porto and the Hélio Oiticica Centre in Rio de Janeiro. Antonio Manuel works and lives in Rio de Janeiro. He is represented by Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud in São Paulo, Brazil. The Exhibition Occupations / Discoveries At the Pharos Centre for Contemporary Art, Antonio Manuel constructed an installation that would invite recontextualisation. Conceived in relation to the celebrations of five centuries since the discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese, the installation also dialogued with the legacy of Brazilian modern architecture and opened itself as a response to the topology of the divided city of Nicosia. The exhibition has also included a specially commissioned work and performance relating to events that have marked the recent political agenda of Cyprus. The exhibition was curated by Michael Asbury, Research Fellow at the Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation, University of the Arts London
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