FIVE DECADES OF JOAN JONAS – EXHIBITION AT THE PINACOTECA OF SÃO PAULO

The exhibition presents 11 works, including three large-scale installations. Volcano Saga (1985-89-94-2011), originally presented live and narrated by the artist, is based on an Icelandic story about a woman called Gudrun, who has mysterious dreams and needs someone to interpret them, predicting the future as an oracle. The story is told against the background of Iceland’s supernatural landscapes.

Stream or River: Flight or Pattern (2016-17) is a multimedia installation produced during a workshop given by Joan in Spain together with other artists. The work was first presented at Fundación Botín. During the workshop, Joan explored natural vegetation in the region of Cantabria, northern Spain, where her attention was captured by trees, including centuries-old chestnuts shown in the video. For the first time in her career, she used wallpaper to reproduce a forest full of birds, reflecting on environmental damage and showing a natural landscape that could actually still be there if the conservation of natural resources were a reality.

Lastly, Moving Off the Land II (2019-2020), first shown in Venice last year, also focuses on nature, showing the reality of marine environments. Commissioned by TBA21-Academy (an institution that actively fosters research, expeditions and artistic initiatives having to do with the ocean) and based on three years of research at aquariums around the world, the installation includes video, drawings and sound, emphasizing the ecological and spiritual significance of the oceans for different cultures.

“Joan Jonas’ art has been crucial for the development of many contemporary artistic genres, including performance, video, conceptual art and crossovers into theatre and dance. She has influenced generations of artists, and the presentation of her work to the Brazilian public is long overdue”, says Jochen Volz, Pinacoteca’s general director.

Joan Jonas: Five Decades brings a selection of videos showing some of the most important performances created by the artist during her career, such as Organic Honey’s Visual Telepathy (1972), Mirage (1976) and Double Lunar Dogs. The exhibition also presents the series I Know Why They Left (2019) – a set of small, subtle and vibrant drawings based on Jonas’ photographs of animal representations on the collection of Gardner Museum, Boston; and Kites, an installation with 15 hand-made kites using paper, paint and wood.

Joan Jonas was born in 1936 in New York, USA, where she lives and works. She is deemed one of the most distinguished artists of her generation and has been recognized since the 1970s for her work in performance, video, sculpture and drawing and for her rich cooperation with musicians and dancers. Joan’s art has been shown in museums all over the world, in countries such as Germany, Canada, New Zealand, United States, Holland, the Venice Biennale, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Australia, Japan and Switzerland.