TO-DAY / A Noite, September 2nd
PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo
September 2 – October 29, 2023
Curated by Fernanda Brenner and Ana Roman
In her first solo exhibition within a Brazilian institution, Mexican artist Mariana Castillo Deball presents an iteration of her long-term project TO-DAY. This project encompasses an installation which extends across almost the entire first exhibition floor of Pivô and which houses a fictional character that exists only on one day, within multiple years. Accompanying this installation is a newspaper distributed by the artist. In this edition of the installation, the character is inspired by the fable of the Tower of Babel: in the story, humanity tries to build a tower to reach heaven. God, observing these attitudes, punishes them by changing their languages so that they can no longer understand each other and spreading them around the world. The Tower was never completed and different languages were created. The myth serves as a metaphor for the location of the work: Copan would be a contemporary Tower of Babel in São Paulo.
Detail view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
The exhibition includes a sound piece in four chapters, composed by Fion Pellacini through sampling, collaging and transforming sounds of Castillo Deball’s manual work (printing, paper making), recordings from folk and popular survey expeditions, such as those collected by the 1938 Folklore Research Missions undertaken by Mário de Andrade, as well as sounds from the archives of Berlin Dahlem’s ethnological museum, and nature soundscapes which are audible as part of the installation.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil, 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
The character jumps back and forth through history within a 24-hour time spectrum, with the date of their existence consistently aligning with the official opening of the exhibition – in this case, September 2nd. This specific date is marked by a multitude of events: from the surrender and conclusion of World War II to revelations about the shortage of gold for coinage within the Portuguese Empire; from the end of telegraphic censorship to struggles against "cangaço" in the Northeast of Brazil; from concerned reports on nuclear armistice to the devastating fire at one of the country's greatest cultural treasures – the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro. These events are documented in newspapers and accompanied by advertisements promising miraculous solutions for children's lack of appetite, comfortable yet elegant shoes, or notes on space-related scientific discoveries.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
The drawings and collages that constitute the installation are inspired by those events and by the artist's research, which imagines the ethnographic museum as a metaphor for the Tower of Babel, a colonial construction with the ambition of bringing together all objects and all languages. The installation also contains sound pieces composed by the artist based on the appropriation of sound recordings from the 1938 Missões de Pesquisas Folclóricas (Folklore Research Missions) collection, created by Mário de Andrade, and from a virtual collection entitled A Nova Arca de Noé (Noah's New Ark). The cacophony is evidence of Babel's confusion of languages.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Marina Lima.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Marina Lima.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
Detail view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Marina Lima.
Installation view To-Day/A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023, photo: Everton Ballardin.
I am thinking of the body and its relationship with the format of a newspaper, in proportion to the size of our open hands and our fingers flipping through the pages. Recently, I learned how to make paper from scratch and realized that the frames used to gather the paper are also related to body proportions, designed to be carried by a person with both arms. In the process of papermaking, the sound of water is always present, as well as the sound of machines pressing the pulp to remove the water, in order to obtain the skin of a sheet of paper.
This is perhaps the beginning of the grid – the body.
This text was handwritten in a blank notebook, so the grid depends on my ability to write in a straight line. The initial pages are very tight and orderly, but I realize that emotions, which disturb my hand, alter my writing.
I don’t have an eraser, so I just cross out certain parts and make notes for the future of this text, when it will be transcribed to my computer, by these very fingers.
Then, on the computer, all the words will suddenly have the potential to be replaced, rearranged, and deleted, and the result of this text will also be dictated by the suggestions of digital dictionaries, thesauri, and search engines. The text on the computer exists in a parallel grid, the grid of infinite variations and endless change.
The time when the news was first read on paper has come to an end.
Newspaper A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023.
Newspaper A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023.
Newspaper A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023.
Newspaper A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023.
Newspaper A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023.
Newspaper A Noite, September 2nd, PIVÔ Art and Research, São Paulo, Brasil 2023.
TO-DAY, February 20th
SCAD Museum of Art , Savannah
February 20 – August 5, 2018
Installation view To-Day, February 20th, SCAD Museum of Arts, Savannah Georgia, USA 2018.
Each time the piece takes place, the character is shaped by this one-day history. It is important to mention that the date is decided by the situation and not by the artist. The date always coincides with the official opening of the exhibition, in this case the 20th of February. The documentation and visual material departs from newspapers, travel logs, birthdates, obituaries, holidays, observances and any other traces related to this particular date. ‘To-Day’ is an archive of events, with an arbitrary point in common. The piece will be completed after 365 editions.
“To-Day, February 20th,” is a modular staircase structure that has been designed specifically for Gallery 109 within the SCAD Museum of Art. This structure is covered with a pattern created in relationship to the research about the history of Savannah and the date. Visitors are encouraged to interact with the structure by transiting, climbing or sitting on it. Therefore, “To-Day, February 20th” reacts both to the architecture of the museum and the history of Savannah, while it considers objects as histories and histories as objects.
A limited-edition artist-designed newspaper, which visually narrates the historical research, is distributed freely in the gallery.
Curated by Humberto Moro, SCAD curator of exhibitions, with assistance from Rebecca Chadwick, exhibitions coordinator, and Amanda York.
Detail: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Print on wooden modular staircase structure
Detail: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Print on wooden modular staircase structure
Detail: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Print on wooden modular staircase structure
Detail: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Print on wooden modular staircase structure
Detail: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Print on wooden modular staircase structure
Detail: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Print on wooden modular staircase structure
Detail: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Print on wooden modular staircase structure
Installation view To-Day, February 20th, SCAD Museum of Arts, Savannah Georgia, USA 2018.
Detail: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Print on wooden modular staircase structure
Spread newspaper publication: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Cover newspaper publication: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
SCAD Museum of Arts, Savannah Georgia, USA
Spread newspaper publication: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Spread newspaper publication: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Spread newspaper publication: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Spread newspaper publication: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Spread newspaper publication: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Spread newspaper publication: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
Back newspaper publication: To-Day, February 20th, 2018
TO-DAY July 9th, 2016.
Liverpool Biennal, Liverpool
July 9 – October 16, 2016
To-Day, July 9th, 2016, 2016.
Wood, silkscreen printed tiles and newspaper.
Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool, UK. Photo: Mark McNulty
To-day July 9th takes as a starting point the ongoing piece To-day, started in 2005. The second edition was shown in 2006. This most recent piece in 2016 was the third edition.The piece will be completed after 365 editions. The present is a mixture of different temporalities, where events, objects and people from multiple times coexist.
What is the present? When does a passage become a moment? When does an occurrence turn into an event? To-day consists of a newspaper publication and a stage; hosting a fictional character that exists only in one day, but throughout the years
The character can surf freely on this date in different years, jumping back and forth in a 24 hours spectrum around time. Each time the piece takes place; the character is shaped by this one-day history. It is important to mention that the date is decided by the situation and not by the artist.
The date always coincides with the official opening of the exhibition, in this case the 9th of July. The documentation and visual material departs from newspapers, travel logs, birthdates, obituaries, holidays, observances, and any other traces related to this particular date.To-day is an archive of events, with an arbitrary point in common.
Detail: To-Day, July 9th, 2016, 2016
Wood, silkscreen printed tiles and newspaper.
Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool, UK. Photo: Mark McNulty
Detail: To-Day, July 9th, 2016, 2016
Wood, silkscreen printed tiles
Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool, UK. Photo: Mark McNulty
To-Day, July 9th, 2016, 2016
Wood, silkscreen printed tiles and newspaper.
Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool, UK. Photo: Mark McNulty
Detail: To-Day, July 9th, 2016, 2016
Wood, silkscreen printed tiles and newspaper.
Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool, UK. Photo: Mark McNulty
Cover newspaper publication: To-Day, July 9th, 2016, 2016
Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool, UK
Publication: To-Day, July 9th, 2016, 2016
Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool, UK
TO-DAY November 20th, 2005
In the context of the exhibition:
If I can’t dance, I don’t want to
be part of your revolution.
Veenfabriek, Leiden, NL
November 20, 2005
Installation view If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution
Veenfabriek, Leiden, The Netherlands
Cover newspaper publication: Today: November 20th 2005, 2005
Published in context of the exhibition If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution
Veenfabriek, Leiden, The Netherlands
TO-DAY November 30th 2006
In the context of the
exhibition: Just in Time.
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
November 30, 2006
Performance at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2006
Cover newspaper publication: Today: November 30th 2006, 2006
part of Just in Time, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Cover newspaper publication: Today: November 30th 2006, 2006
part of Just in Time, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Newspaper publication, page 4: Today: November 30th 2006, 2006
part of Just in Time, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Newspaper publication, page 5: Today: November 30th 2006, 2006
part of Just in Time, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands