Texto Curatorial por Clara Figueiredo e Gabriel Kogan
AN INVITATION, A COMMON PURPOSE
Expose a retrospective of the Espaço Sem Nome collection in order to present a sample of contemporary Brazilian photography to the Japanese public. Call it a coincidence or not, our gallery’s launch rehearsal was Japan-themed. “The Praise of Shadow in Times of Neon Light” (October 2020) had 20 film photographs of our authorship taken between 2018 and 2020, during two trips to Japan. The essay visually explored the temporal overlaps of what we call a historical continuum folded into Tsuru form. In other words, the everyday clash between the modern and the traditional in contemporary times, with its tea ceremonies, pachinkos and capsule buildings. Adopting the travel diary genre, we sought, through our photographs, to share with the Brazilian public a little of our views on Japan. So, when we received the invitation from Zen Gallery to hold our first exhibition in Kyoto, we were very excited to reverse the initial counterpart. This time, sharing with the Japanese public a little of our view of contemporary Brazilian photographic production. Including more than forty-seven images by young photographers and photographers (all under 40), the selection is based on gender equality and features the work of architects and photographers Ana Dora, Camila Alba and Paola Ornaghi, Illustra tor Danilo Zamboni, visual artist Fernanda Corsini, designer and photographer Gabriel Bueno, fashion and advertising photographer Pedro Bonacina and photographer Pedro Kok and ours.
NO NAME SPACE, NO STREET, NO ADDRESS
In Brazilian architecture, we call “nameless spaces” undefined areas, with varied uses and functions. Areas that invite creative occupation. In our Espaço Sem Nome Gallery (in English, No Name Gallery) it was the address and not the function that became undefined, setting an invitation to itinerancy, for the materialization of the image, for occupations with photographs of various spaces around the world. From the LCD screens of our phones and computers to walls, horizons, new looks. From Brazil, to the walls of the Zen House Gallery, in Kyoto, Japan.
NEW LOOKS, YOUNG BRAZILIAN PHOTOGRAPHERS
Founded during the COVID-19 period of social isolation, Espaço Sem Nome was conceived as a gallery without a fixed headquarters. To this day, we operate strongly on our online platforms. Which does not mean that the material aspect of photography is any less important. On the contrary, one of the main stages of our curatorial process is precisely the print proof. Not to mention that most of our photographs came from film cameras. We periodically launch collections of new photographers and also of our own. We work with a numbered fine print and a signed and stamped certificate of authenticity. Our prints are all Fine Art, on German paper, Hahnemühle Photo, 200 g/m2 or 308 g/m2, made by Estúdio OCA - our close partner. In addition to the virtual and in-person exhibition, the photos are sold with prints on demand, until the end of the respective runs. We ship worldwide. In order to guarantee greater control and standardization of quality, the photos - film or digital - go through a careful curation process, scanning from the negative or raw file, digital treatment and print proofs. The images that make up the essay 新鋭ブラジル写真展 “Emerging Brazilian Photography were all printed in Brazil and many of them are special PA/Artist Proofs. In addition to these fine art prints, which constitute the bulk of our expographic project for this exhibition at Zen House, you will also see the full essays of each of the ten selected photographers projected on the exhibition space or in our social networks. Each of the photos presented here as a set belongs to individual essays carried out by one of the ten photographers and our curatorial team. Altogether we have already launched nine essays and we have a few more in the pipeline. Some of the images presented here are unpublished; they belong to these upcoming essays to be released soon. With great joy, on behalf of Espaço Sem Nome, the partner photographers and photographers, we thank for the generous hosting of Zen House, the support of the Brazilian Embassy in Japan, and the presence of each of you. We invite you now to know a little more about the essays and their conceptual guidelines, as well as the production of each of the ten photographers.