MUNICH.- João Maria Gusmão (born 1979 in Lisbon) and Pedro Paiva (born 1977 in Lisbon) have worked together since 2001 and have participated in numerous institutional solo and group exhibitions.

The focus of their presentation in Haus der Kunst, "Peacock/Pfau", is their latest cinematic work complex, which was developed in Japan. The 16mm films are silent and shown in a loop. The only sound in the room is that of the projectors, which further emphasizes the materiality of the film. The first film, "Mating Dance", introduces the theme: the construction of a self-image. Using his striking plumage, which he can fan out into a semi-circle, the peacock tries to woo the peahen.

Three other films, unified by the element of water, run on a second projector. They combine key aspects of the artists' practice: the construction of a theory for their own work and the examination of this through visually-poetic experiments. The film "Ventriloquism" from 2009, for example, explores the origins of ventriloquism as a religious practice, in which it was used to communicate with spirits and the dead. The film contains a water clock, whose time interval equals the length of the film.

In "Wave" from 2011, a black rock is slowly swallowed by an ocean wave - an archetype for cyclical creation. The film uses the stylistic device of extremely drawn-out slow-motion recording, thus lending the movements a special importance. The artists shot the film using a high-speed camera capable of capturing as many as 500 frames per second; they then run the footage in slow-motion, displaying fewer than the usual 24 frames per second.

The four films in the third section are new productions made in Japan. The common theme is the fragmentation of the self in various spiritual forms. "Sleeping in a Bullet Train" from 2015 shows sleeping passengers on their way to work. The artist duo juxtaposes the speed of the train with the slow sphere of dreaming. Finally, the train pulls into a station, just as in the silent film "L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat" by the Lumière brothers from 1895. With such scenes, the artists repeatedly recall the early days of film.

"Peacock Noh" closes the circle. The monster Nue, a chimera of Japanese mythology, is a hybrid creature of monkey, raccoon, tiger and snake. After Nue was killed, a monk tries to help its unredeemed spirit find peace. As in Noh theater, the story follows the cycle of day and night. The stylized movements are reminiscent of Japanese dance theater. Unusually long - 26 minutes - the film also diverges from the artists' past design principles in other ways: the position of the camera is no longer static, and it follows the main character.

Gusmão & Paiva's artistic approach draws on diverse literary sources, including René Daumal ("The Defining Memory"); pataphysics, the study of what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics; and abyssology, the doctrine of the abyss. The core belief of all these philosophies is the constant mutability of all that exists. It turns away from classical reasoning, combines putative analysis with humor and focuses on the imperceptible. The world of things thus reveals itself as a wealth of wonders. Man retains his susceptibility to the supernatural and divine manifestations.

Curated by Anna Schneider