EXPLORING MOTION AT KUNSTHALLE MAINZ
The exhibition Bodies in Motion – Form in the Making places the performance-based video works of internationally renowned artist Cinthia Marcelle (1974, Brazil)—one of them produced in collaboration with Tiago Mata Machado (1973, Brazil)—in a context that includes post-minimalist dance and performance works from the 1960s and 1970s.
These include figures such as Yvonne Rainer (1934, USA), Bruce Nauman (1941, USA), and Suzanne Harris (1940–1979, USA), as well as the unique minimalist sculptures by Charlotte Posenenske (1930–1985, Frankfurt am Main), whose form is continuously renegotiated and redefined through participatory exercises.
Cinthia Marcelle’s oeuvre is a logical evolvement of the socio-political art produced in twentieth-century Brazil, where material experimentation was combined with conceptional and formal rigour and implemented in a manner that was uniquely participatory. An interest in the relationship between material, form, time and space lies at the heart of Marcelle’s practice, expressed in multi-media works that link a decidedly processual and performative methodology with a sculptural approach.
Cinthia Marcelle has been working on performance-based video works since the early 2000s. They all take the same basic formal structure: a staged sequence of actions is presented from a fixed camera position, performed by a group of amateur actors who work in the same profession. The participants follow simple instructions from the artist that are based on their everyday work routines, but clearly differ significantly in terms of their customary functional logic.
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Ausstellungsansicht Kunsthalle Mainz: Bodies in Motion – Form in the Making: Cinthia Marcelle, Automóvel, 2012. Courtesy of Kunsthalle Mainz
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Aussenansicht Kunsthalle Mainz: Bodies in Motion – Form in the Making: Cinthia Marcelle, 2024. Courtesy of Kunsthalle Mainz
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Ausstellungsansicht Kunsthalle Mainz: Bodies in Motion – Form in the Making: Cinthia Marcelle, Confronto (Serie Unus Mundus), 2005. Courtesy of Kunsthalle Mainz
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Ausstellungsansicht Kunsthalle Mainz: Bodies in Motion – Form in the Making. Courtesy of Kunsthalle Mainz
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Ausstellungsansicht Kunsthalle Mainz: Bodies in Motion – Form in the Making: Cinthia Marcelle, Leitmotiv, 2011. Courtesy of Kunsthalle Mainz
In the 1960s, US choreographers moved away from traditional modern dance, embracing everyday movements and industrial work routines to create accessible and socially reflective art. Similarly, Cinthia Marcelle’s video works, often in collaboration with Tiago Mata Machado, reinterpret routine actions through a performative lens. Like the avant-garde of post-modern dance, Marcelle employs improvisation and collaboration to challenge entrenched social routines and recontextualize everyday interactions within a modern performative framework.
At Kunsthalle Mainz, the video works are presented adjacent to each other and sequentially in a timed, rhythmic choreography, thereby emphasizing the chronological aspects of processes and the performative nature of each show. Bodies in Motion – Form in the Making is curated by Anna Roberta Goetz.
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