SAO PAULO.- Throughout her work, Marilia Furman has been raising questions about the crisis ridden and imminently collapsing nature of the system of commodity production (or, late capitalism).
Whether through appeals to immediate sensibility via mechanisms that put raw materials like glass, paraffin, and ice into conflict; or through the appropriation and diversion of meanings of objects and images, the artist seeks to shape structures of violence and social domination. In recent years, Furman has mainly focused on discussing the Brazilian political context, creating works that draw on national symbols, military imagery, and visual elements from the country’s cultural industry, treating this scenario as part of a global phenomenon of violent intensification of social disintegration and material destruction.
“Void and flood” critically addresses these phenomena, taking the allegory of the flood as the guiding element of her reflections and working simultaneously with images of excess and leftovers of overproduction. The works presented articulate elements of war, violence, technical development, mass culture, and climate catastrophe.
The recognition of the world’s collapse and its incorporation into everyday normality is suggested right at the entrance of the exhibition, through an intervention in the gallery’s topography. Working with the scale and luminosity of the space, among other operations, the artist proposes an alteration of perception that seeks to directly implicate the viewer’s body.
Marilia Furman has participated in artist residencies at Pivô - São Paulo (2019); Studio Pharus - São Paulo (2018), in addition to the Independent Program of Escola São Paulo for Artists and Curators (PIESP), where she was awarded the scholarship prize (2014). Her solo exhibitions include: Heroico, a long-duration performative installation at Publica - São Paulo (2022), MONSTRUOUS, at PSM Gallery - Berlin (2022), Ver, at Auroras - São Paulo (2019), Wrong Position, at PSM Gallery - Berlin (2019), among others. Her group exhibitions include: ContraMemória, Theatro Municipal - São Paulo (2022); In the Present, Life (is) Political, Central Gallery - São Paulo (2020); Construção, Mendes Wood DM - São Paulo (2020); Deus está solto!, Jaqueline Martins Gallery - São Paulo (2017); Um Trabalho | Um Texto - São Paulo (2017); Now/Here, Franz Josefs Kai 3 - Vienna (2016); Rumos Artes Visuais, Itaú Cultural (2012-2013). In 2023, she was nominated for the PIPA Prize. The artist is also represented by PSM Gallery.
The artist’s first solo exhibition in Brazil is curated by Deyson Gilbert.
