New Miami Art Week exhibitions

Pedro Neves Marques: A Mordida
December 4, 2018–July 28, 2019

Pérez Art Museum Miami is pleased to announce a new solo exhibition by the Portuguese artist, filmmaker, and writer Pedro Neves Marques. The exhibition, Pedro Neves Marques: A Mordida, will be on view from December 4, 2018 through July 28, 2019.

A Mordida, or “The Bite,” is Neves Marques’ first solo museum presentation in the United States. Presented as an audio-visual installation, it features the premiere of new films commissioned by PAMM, digital animations, and a sound piece by London-based musician Fraencis. This exhibition is a fitting introduction for US audiences to Neves Marques’ work, bringing together explorations that address clashes among politics of nature, technology, and gender. In his practice, science fiction and speculative storytelling are employed as key tools used to examine the history of colonization as well as the possibility of non-Western futures.

The new films, which are based on a research completed at a genetically modified mosquito factory in São Paulo, Brazil, include both fictional and documentary elements, veering between the present and an imagined future. The biological epidemic of the Zika virus, being combatted partly through the use of the mutated mosquitoes, becomes an analogue to the rise of reactionary conservatism in Brazilian politics, which reached a new zenith with the recent election of Jair Bolsonaro. We follow the protagonists—a man, a woman, and a transgender woman—of these films through these two crises, drawing lines between psychological and bodily horrors, political and medical crises, the sterile heteronormativity of the lab and the assault on reproductive autonomy in the halls of power. While all these tensions express themselves in personal relations—as a retreat or a refuge from the crisis—the films nonetheless point to intimacy and care as possible futures beyond the constraints of a binary mentality.

Pedro Neves Marques: A Mordida is organized by PAMM Assistant Curator Jennifer Inacio. The exhibition is supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Read more

José Carlos Martinat: American Echo Chamber
December 4, 2018–January 26, 2020

Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) is pleased to present American Echo Chamber, a solo exhibition specially commissioned by the museum with José Carlos Martinat, one of the most internationally exhibited Peruvian artists of his generation. The exhibition investigates how ideologies are amplified and reinforced in the current social and political landscape.

Located in PAMM’s unique double-height gallery, American Echo Chamber is comprised of 15 kinetic light sculptures, and additional LED screens, that explore the current state of our political and cultural landscape. By portraying symbols of popular culture that relate to our current state of affairs, the artist uses the language of light and the pop of neon to highlight how serious issues have been reduced to entertainment. Inspired by the popular tradition of pyrotechnic parks in Peru, the artist adopts this medium of social amusement to tell a story about the breakdown of public discourse in both his original and adopted culture. These symbols range from historical images such as the political cartoon “Join, or Die” attributed to founding father Benjamin Franklin, to popular internet memes. Martinat is continually recontextualizing symbols of violence, manipulation, racism, and migration as signs we “consume” everyday as citizens.

By creating a space that amplifies the consumption of these symbols and information, Martinat compares the contemporary political scene to an echo chamber, emphasizing a dynamic in which people seek media outlets that reinforce their beliefs as an unconscious exercise of validation and prejudice. Martinat’s practice highlights society’s complex dynamics and intersections of technology, politics, and virtual social spaces.

This year-long installation reflects PAMM’s engagement with the contemporary moment via the commissioning of new works, and further shows the museum’s ongoing commitment to presenting art from historically underrepresented communities, including the African diaspora, the Caribbean, Latin America, and US Latinx.

José Carlos Martinat: American Echo Chamber is organized by PAMM Associate Curator María Elena Ortíz with support provided by Revolver Galería. Ongoing support for PAMM’s Project Galleries from Knight Foundation is also gratefully acknowledged. Read more