MABE BETHÔNICO

MABE BETHÔNICO
This booklet brings brief descriptions
on each project presented on the attached CD ROM. The CD presents those
projects in a greater extent in terms of
their visual aspects.
Find also: CV, Statement and Project
Description.
LUCIANA
Luciana was developed from researching at CEMIG, the electricity company
of Belo Horizonte. it comprised of a
Magazine, a series of lectures and an
installation, in which light was speculated as a theme.
Light was approached from different
meanings, looking at many possibilities
of the word, but electrical light.
Illuminism, Lumière Brothers, Saint
Luzia, comics heroes, which had light
as their power, inner light and shadow,
fireflies, etc. The keywords arrived from
photographing books in the arid library
at the company. Within technical vol-
aspects of light. In a small edition of
five, the magazine is in reality an artist’s
book, made by a compilation of works
(by real and fictional contributors) and
an editorial.
We wanted to make a piece for the
library, whch took the form of book
covers for a 24-volume collection. The
Boletim Pluviométrico now reveals in
its outside, the content from within
another volume from the library. Vagalume (firefly) vaguely reminds of a
world outside the library, which, in fact,
has no windows facing outside.
Luciana promoted three lectures, which
umes, with no room for fictional literature and leisure, the dictionaries revealed us a world of poetic meanings
to the element of light. A visual essay in
the middle of the magazine brings a
were recorded and played in video.
“Quando o Sol Sobe à Cabeça”, by a
hairdresser, discussed the chemistry of
blondness. In “A Aurora da Vida”, a
pediatrician sees birth as an arrival to
series of photographs of those readings.
light. And in “A Luz da Empresa no
Interior do Indivíduo”, a businessman
discusses the light of a Company being
the inner light of its workers...
The magazine Luciana is a collection of
texts by invited specialists, who collaborated by writing on a diversity of
TELLING HISTORIES
The project was to conceive an exhibition
about the history of the Kunstverein
Muenchen, seen through three major events
from its past. The design of the show was a
collaboration with Liam Gillick. Curators:
Ana Paula Cohen, Maria Lind and Soren
Grammel.
The first impulse was to deal with the
past of the Institution through its archives, which were somewhat neglected and forgotten in a basement.
For six months I set up to create a
tives about past and present, with
many unfilled gaps: the inconsistency
and mistakes existent within the keeping of memory by people, shown in
truncated dates, missing data and
structure for mapping the history in a
comprehensive manner from the material found. The material was firstly assembled into different collections. An
image archive with photographic mate-
documents, etc. The work comprised
of:
rial, which was properly stored and
labeled for easy access, was separated
from catalogues, folders and posters
and the bulk of documents. Document
folders were chronologically organized,
• Organizing archive and building
separate collections of documents;
• Tailoring database and recording
data;
• Developing wall drawings and other
interpretations from data collected;
relabeled, and its content mapped in a
database.
• Establishing interface for public consultation of the archive through database, to be operational during the
show;
The complex database gave detailed
account on all existing material, and it
is nowadays used in the routine of the
• Editing document files on the three
shows discussed, to be made available for public consultation.
KVM. It was built as a tool to develop a
series of graphic readings from the
organized and recorded content.
As carefully as the research may have
been carried, it was meant to be a
source for constructing fictions, narra-
O COLECIONADOR
"The collection builds a story of the
house, contaminated by destruction, subtraction; it catalogues
threats, noting its exposure and
fragility."
The collector
The project "Mabe Bethônico e O
Colecionador" began in 1996. It is the
building of a character, who daily gathers newspaper images of houses. He
ismapped by a structure of themes,
which serves as a guide for the reader.
The collection demands other than
contemplation, it requires an inquisition
especially observes threats to buildings, but gives just as much attention
to their constructions, and flowers. The
archive is organized into thematic folders, derived from four main themes:
from the viewer, the desire and effort to
remove the work from the shelf, to then
have it laid on a reading desk.
Destruction, Corrosion, Construction
and Flowers.
Subdivisions are named as new grouping are formed, by combining categories, or by dividing them. The cuttings
are held in twelve boxes, which are
made available for public consultation
in library environments. The content
The character has being played by
different people, other than just the
artist herself. The invention of an other,
has allowed the experimentation of
roles, author being curator, reader,
critic, editor, etc.
www.museumuseu.art.br/colecionador
II
box
III
box
IV
box
V
box
VI
box
VII
box
VIII
box
IX
box
X
box
XI
box
XII
CORROSION
CONSTRUCTION
FLOWERS
http://www.ufmg.br/museumuseu/colecionador/
box
Mapping the colection in june 2002
I
I
II
Surviving Buildings Remaining fragments
Inclinações
Abyss
Aerial views
Generics
Houses under destruction
Inside Interior destruction
Exposed façade
The inside outside I
II (kitchen)
Ruins (abandonment)
Children and destruction
Women and destruction
Men and destruction
Fire
Smoke
Fire
Lightning
Burnt buildings
Houses and inundation: inside
Flooding: rescues
Children and inundation
Water
Snow
Scenes: flooding
Inundation: aerial views
Destroyed roofs
Houses in
Corrosion in dust and ashes
transformation Exposed structures
Supporting: scaffolding
Layers
Walls
Bricks
Tunnels, passages
Rails, walls: Generic
Cercas
Frontiers
Fences and Anxiety I (Groups)
II (Empty scenes)
Clothes in fences
I (Generic)
Holes on the floor II (in pavement)
Children and holes
Erosion
Holes in walls
Holes
Holes in fabrics
Holes in glasses
Houses and holes
Holes
Archaeology Excavations
Graves
Building sites
Temporary constructions
Gestures: Constructions and others
Construction by children
Safety at home
Others
Miniatures of houses
Yellow
Green
Orange and red
Orange
White
In black and white
Gardens
I (Light)
Pink
II (Medium)
III (Dark)
I (Light)
Violet
II (Medium)
III (Dark)
Articles and illustrations
People with flowers
Metal, steel cables
© All rights reserved.
DESTRUCTION
box
Detritus
mabe bethônico and the collector
Dissolution
COLEÇÕES DENTRO DA COLEÇÃO
Two installations, commissioned by Museu
de Arte da Pampulha, 2004, for the exhibition Obra Colecionada. Curated by Rodrigo
Moura.
Collections of Titles Within the
Collection is an organisation of all
titles from the museum collection organised by themes. Groupings were made with titles related to landscape, or
referring to the female, or numerical
namings, otherwise religious, geometrical, and so on. (It was not forgotten
that “342 works within the collection
were untitled or had untitled as a title”).
Largest and Smallest Formats (left
picture) were taken from each media
represented in the collection: photography, drawing, painting, sculpture,
tapestry and print. The smallest and
largest of each category had their shadow painted on wall, where it was
applied their image description, taken
from the museum inventories. Extremely detailed account of the oldest
artwork, contrasted from dry and direct
language of more recent acquisitions.
The collection was seen through physical descriptions of its contents, both
dimensionally and formally.
GLOSSÁRIO, ENTORNO
These works were part of the exhibition
Subversiones Diarias, at MALBA, Buenos Aires, 2005. [Contemporáneo 15,
curated by Ana Paula Cohen]
Glossário is a set of stamps with
words coming from museological procedures, such as collecting, classify-
Entorno is a short story of a character
who relates to things through fragments, and to people through jigsaw
ing, cataloguing, organizing, keeping,
identifying, selecting, etc. Definitions
for these terms were gathered from
interviewing a number of people, registering how they most spontaneously
puzzles. The reader may find half way
through the text, that what is printed is
reflected in the object, as it proposes
an attitude discussed in the content of
the work.
understood the meaning of the words.
The entries were then edited from the
collective answers. In Malba, the keywords were detached from the definitions, in a way that the Glossary could
be reconstructed and reinvented. -This
is an ongoing project.
At the exhibition “Panorama da Arte
Brasileira”, MAM SP, 2005, the work
was printed on paper, edition of
10,000, and it involved gluing pieces
together in order to have it readable.
The pictures show a wooden version
with vinyl applied.
WWW.MUSEUMUSEU.ART.BR
Since 2001 I have been experimenting,
administrating and curating this fictional institution, which is in reality an
institutional signature.
museumuseu exhibits, publishes, produces multimedia works and recently, it
has been a website: the only place
where it comes together as one project.
Its structure experiments with museological issues, subverting and questioning traditional procedures and formats. From key themes, as it were,
such as History, Time, the City and the
Word (context) derive actions, projects,
websites, etc. museumuseu appropriates of terminology and systems, to
conceptually tie together a range of
research and production.
History is approached through fiction,
and by dealing with documents in a
decontextualised way. Our involvement
with the city beyond the museum is
reflected by projects in which we bring
the outside inside the museu and when
we reach out, exhibiting and being in
transit, for instance. The word comes
as we often use text for formatting
work, for producing context, publishing, discussing the museu and related
subjects. Time: where, for example,
temporary shows are to be produced.
The project counts with a number of
collaborators [Friends of the museumuseu] and an administrative body. Many
individual projects I am involved end
up being edited in a way that authorship is diluted, absorbed within the
narrative of the museu.
MÓDULO ITINERANTE DO MUSEU DO SABÃO
The “Módulo Itinerante” is a museumuseu project. It is a collection of bar
soaps for domestic use, not cosmeti-
porary exhibitions’, with ‘contemporary
show’ and ‘highlights of the collection’,
‘recent acquisitions’ and ‘Saponário’,
cal. It is a group of displays which fit
into a pile, on wheels. Laid on the floor,
or on a table, the archive is wellpreserved and ambulant.
possibly an area destined to research.
The archive is organized into hand
made soaps and industrialized bars:
white, brown, blue, green, etc. The
temporary exhibition brings works by
The title suggests that somewhere,
there is a Soap Museum and what is
being presented is selected from a
larger collection. Otherwise, the module
contemplates the growth of the collection, meant to be acquired while the
work is in transit, where it calls for public participation. Perhaps it will become
less able to transit, accumulating items,
growing too much in its functioning as a
module.
Soap is a pretext to explore a traditional
museological structure, to deal with a
not very valuable article, with sensitive
problems of conservation. It is organized under the sectors: ‘archive’, ‘tem-
young artist Emiliana Passos, who
builds vases of soap. As recent acquisitions we show two audiodocumentaries by sound artist Jalver
Bethônico. With ‘Geralda’ and ‘Bolhas’
he experiments listening a woman
washing and singing the laundry, and
the poetic sounds of bursting and
blowing bubbles.
The signaling of the museum is applied
on formica boards, fitted between the
boxes for transport. The applied vinyl is
easily replaced, keeping up with the
changes of the museum.
www.museumuseu.art.br/museudosabao
CASA MINERARIA
This is a historical museum ran by museumuseu, which discusses aspects of
mining, searching to reveal tensions
within the activity; showing human feelings hidden underneath the extraction
grouped and bound, by verbs: tying,
turning, walking, eating, heating, carrying, etc.This book collection constitutes a mapping of mining gestures, it
is our initial collection, from where ex-
itself.
hibitions are to be constructed.
The estate of Minas Gerais is built
around profit (and traumas) from its
mining history. We learn about our
economic past (and present) basically
The exhibitions take the form of editions, where we may use crossing of
gestures to build narratives, to reveal
through numbers and the geographic
positioning of ore concentration. The
works of Casa Mineraria searches to
look at the people, - the worker and
those who are close to the mine, tracing a history of how man may be affected by activities such as digging,
washing and smelting earth.
Our main archive is an appropriation of
a book from 16th century, De Re Metallica, a fully illustrated manual bringing
step by step the works of mining. We
digitalized the images, looking as
though as with a magnifier, separating
each person pictured within the complex scenes. The figures where then
feeling behind the practice. The formats tend to be graphic presentations,
such as wall drawings, with vinyl applied.
The first extensive edition is being
worked at for the 27th São Paulo Biennial.
Installation project at Museu de História Natural e Jardim Botánico da UFMG, BH. Casa Mineraria, 2002. Vinyl applied on wall.
Technical Descriptions of works
shown in previous pages
Museu do Sabão, 2004: nine wooden
boxes, articulated; industrialized and
handmade household soap bars; soap
residues; five Formica on wood boards
with vinyl applied; lamp; two discman;
two headphones; two soundtracks; five
sculptures on soap. 37x 47x 90 cm
O Colecionador, 1996- : twelve cardboard boxes, newspaper cuttings on
polyestirene pockets and paper folders. Collection structure printed on
paper and/or wall, quotations applied
in vinyl. size 47x 34x 6,5 cm for each
box.
Luciana, 2005: magazine, various
authors, fifty six pages, edition of five,
high quality laser print on paper. Installation: four issues of Luciana; 20’
video- recording of lectures; printed
poster - announcement of lectures; 24
book jackets - color printed laserfilm.
Glossário, 2005- : fifty four stamps,
dimensions variable, eight inking pads,
paper.
Entorno, 2005: thirty two-piece jigsaw
puzzle on varnished MDF with vinyl
lettering applied. 1,60x 80 cm.
Casa Mineraria, 2005- : wooden box
with forty four books, black bindings
with printed titles in relief, MDF divisions with vinyl lettering. 38x 27x 52
cm
Statement
Some of the works I have been developing derive from given contexts, mainly
art institutions. Archives, collections and libraries are material I choose to dissect, reinvent and interpret. In parallel, I create other institutions.
The work comprises of building structures, or otherwise breaking given systems; reinventing those or interpreting them. Maps, schemes, databases, lists,
are ways of organizing and understanding content. They are also tools for reconfiguring, forming a terrain to explore narratives, to create fiction. Tables,
graphs, websites, are often the resulting works. These can take the form of wall
drawings and it may be combined with text and object.
Another form of working implies the edition of short stories. These are treated
as object in themselves, or else they may be printed, in association with other
forms, in a way that the story becomes a dialogue between word, -often fragmentary text, and other visual references. O Colecionador is an example of this
form, it is a short story told through a range of procedures.
I am interested in experimenting the limits of reading and seeing within exhibition contexts. Also, the works deal with issues of authorship. When I deal with
the institutional façades of museumuseu, for instance, I play various functions
and it is often uncertain if the work is a collective, a real museum, an invention,
an occasional work title. In reality it is all those things; and the works do count
with many collaborators: real, fictional, some credited for, others not.
Mabe Bethônico
Belo Horizonte, 1966.
2005 Identificador – Mabe Bethônico, Nydia Negromonte, Roberto Bethônico, Cemig, BH
Subversiones Diarias – Erick Beltrán, Mabe Bethônico, Nicolás Robbio – MALBA e Biblioteca Nacional, Buenos Aires
Panorama da Arte Brasileira – Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo
Istmo Arquivos Flexíveis – Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo
2004 Coleções dentro da Coleção (Mabe Bethônico) Exposição Obra Colecionada, Museu de Arte da
Pampulha, BH
5 + 7 – (Módulo Itinerante do Museu do Sabão, início de itinerância) Pace Galeria, BH
2003 Telling Histories – (constituição e organização de arquivo e banco de dados e exposição em colaboração com Liam Gillick) Kunstverein Muenchen, Munique, Alemanha
Mabe Bethônico e o Colecionador, Mariantonia – USP e Biblioteca Monteiro Lobato, São Paulo.
Ptyx: Centenário de Carlos Drummond de Andrade - USICULTURA, Ipatinga (concepção e curadoria
em co-autoria com Marconi Drummond)
2002 Ptyx: Centenário de Carlos Drummond de Andrade - Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizonte (concepção
e curadoria)
Paisagem, (edição para o Clube de Colecionadores) MAM-SP, São Paulo.
Apropriações e Coleções (O Colecionador) Santander Cultural, Porto Alegre.
Mabe Bethônico e o Colecionador, exposições I a IV, mezanino e biblioteca, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte.
III Prêmio Sérgio Motta - Instituto Cultural Sérgio Motta - São Paulo.
2001 Nicholas Owen, Sobrado Ramalho - Tiradentes
2000 The Show 2000, Gulbenkian Gallery, Royal College of Art, Londres.
The Spirit of Image - Jaingsu Art Gallery, Nanjing, China
"O", Henry Peacock Gallery, Londres
1999 There is no Sexual Relation, Centre for Freudian Analysis Research, Londres
Matrix 4, Central Saint Martin Art and Design School, Londres
1998 II International Triennial of Graphic Art, Praga, República Tcheca
A Gravura da Linguagem - Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro
- Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo
Renascence, Aylesford, Oxo Tower, Londres
1997 Sculpture and Printmaking - Gulbenkian Gallery, Londres
Prospecções: Arte nos anos 80 e 90, Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizonte
VII Biennial Exhibition of Small Forms and Ex Libris, Ostrow Wielkopolski, Polônia
Mabe Bethônico, Rochelle Costi, Rosângela Rennó, Instituto Itaú-Cultural, Belo Horizonte
Salão Abra, Paço das Artes, São Paulo
V Salão Vitor Meirelles, Museu de Arte de Santa Catarina
Roller, Hammersmith Studios, Londres
1996 The Spirit of the Staircase, Victoria and Albert Museum, Londres
III Salão de Arte da Bahia, Salvador
Cercanias - Galeria Gesto Gráfico, Belo Horizonte
O Sumo da Pedra - Centro Cultural Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Itabira
1995 VI Biennial Exhibition of Small Forms and Ex-Libris, Ostrów Wielkopolski, Polônia
Guaicurus - Centro Cultural, Belo Horizonte
Imagem Derivada - Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizonte (curadoria)
XI Mostra de Gravura de Curitiba - Curitiba
1994 Abjeto - Centro Cultural UFMG, Belo Horizonte
- Centro Cultural Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Itabira
Fernando Pedro Escritório de Arte, Belo Horizonte
A Arte do Objeto, Museu da Inconfidência, Ouro Preto
XIV Salão Nacional Funarte, IBAC, Rio de Janeiro
Retrospectiva 5 anos do Fernando Pedro Escritório de Arte, Museu Mineiro, Belo Horizonte
A Identidade Virtual - Museu da Inconfidência, Ouro Preto
II Salão Victor Meirelles - Museu de Arte de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis
1993 1992 1991 1990
1989 Degree Show - Henry Moore Gallery, Londres
Printmaking Portfolio Show - Flowers Graphics Gallery, Londres
First Year Printmaking Exhibition - Gulbenkian Gallery, Londres
A Poética do Acaso - MAC, Museu de Arte Contemporânea, São Paulo
- MAM, Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro
Projeto Memória Viva - Murilo Rubião, Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizonte
Galpão Embra, Belo Horizonte
Gravura em Metal - Sala Arlinda Corrêa, Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizonte
A Poética do Acaso, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte
Itaúgaleria, Belo Horizonte
Mostra de Gravura de Curitiba, Curitiba
IX Salão Nello Nuno de Artes Visuais, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa
V Salão Nacional Universitário de Artes Plásticas, Faculdade Santa Marcelina, São Paulo
VII Salão Nacional de Arte Universitária, Centro Cultural UFMG, Belo Horizonte
Distinctions
1996-2000 - Scholarship for Doctorate Studies Abroad
1991-1993 - Scholarship for Master’s Degree Abroad
CNPq: Brazilian Council for Scientific Development and Research.
1998
1996
1994
1993
Aylesford Art Award - Aylesford - Londres, Grã-Bretanha.
RTZ Travel Award - RTZ International Corp. - Londres, Grã-Bretanha.
14º Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas da Funarte - FUNARTE - IBAC - Rio de Janeiro.
The Matthews Wrightson Trust Award - Prêmio Artista Estrangeiro - Royal College of Art. - Londres,
Grã-Bretanha.
The Daler-Rowney Prize - Prêmio de Desenho - Daler-Rowney - Londres, Grã-Bretanha.
The Fatima and Faiza Alkazzi Award - Grande Prêmio de Gravura - Alkazzi Foundation - Londres,
Grã-Bretanha.
The IBM Art in Technology Award - IBM United Kingdom Ltd - Londres, Grã-Bretanha.
1989 Prêmio Dia do Aviador - V Salão Nacional da Aeronaútica - Ministério da Aeronáutica - Belo Horizonte.
Prêmio Gravura - IX Salão Nello Nuno de Artes Visuais - Universidade Federal de Viçosa - Viçosa.
Prêmio Topal de Gravura em Metal - Salão Nacional Universitário - Universidade Santa Marcelina São Paulo.
1985 Prêmio Building Bridges - ONU: Unesco/ Unicef - Nova Iorque, EUA.
Academic Titles
2000 Doutorado (PhD), Royal College of Art, Londres, Grã-Bretanha
1993 Mestrado (MA), Royal College of Art, Londres, Grã-Bretanha
1990 Graduação, Escola de Belas Artes, UFMG, Belo Horizonte