Foredrag og workshop med jao barbosa og silvana leal

About the workshop “Art and Silence”

“Works of art are always born from those who faced danger, from those who went to the extreme of an experience, to the point that no human being can overcome. The further we take it, the more ours, the more personal, the more unique a life becomes”.

Gaston Bachelard

Brazilian artists João Paulo Barbosa and Silvana Leal are holding the artistic residency 

Between Two Desires: Freedom in Norway between November and December, which begins on November 20th. 

Among the residency actions, the artists will hold, on November 25th, at Lifjell Artcenter de Bø, in Telemark, 

an audiovisual exhibition and talk with the public about their creative processes. 

Afterwards, they will teach the workshop “Art and Silence”.

The “Art and silence” workshop is an immersion in nature that aims to reflect on the pressing need to return to primitive virtues, to better orient ourselves when developing intuition, our greatest intelligence. 

Using the body to connect with sensitivity through walking, our greatest aesthetic expression. 

Aesthetics, within the scope of sensitivity, is the basic path to human spirituality. 

Our wild nature is what leads us to the great truth: freedom achieved through silence, as it is from this practice of silence that listening to oneself is born. 

The proposal is to create artistic works through this experience.

The theme of silence, in the works of both artists, appears in different ways: 

João Paulo works with walking as a way of expanding intuitive listening to the landscape and the language he chooses is photography; 

while Silvana usually uses performance and photography as a device that records and draws the present moment, based on listening to oneself. 

The common point between the artists is the philosophical and literary path, both believe in the transformative power of art. 

For this workshop, the artists use the book “Silence in the age of noise”, by the Norwegian Erling Kagge, as a creative device.

Another aspect of João and Silvana’s research in this residency involves the concept of freedom. 

Awareness of the intimate and close relationship between nature and walking and the extreme relevance they have in our lives. 

Artists believe that praise for freedom is an inexhaustible source and raw material for art itself. 

Of pure art. Direct communication with those who do not have access to vital elements, increasingly necessary in society. Walk in natural landscapes, with time to contemplate them and interact with them in a conscious and integrated way.

The artists intend to have Norway as an example of a country that preserves this human principle, of coming and going, guaranteed by its Constitution. 

It is a collective manifestation of the freedom of a people who prioritize a close relationship with Nature by traveling long trails, which allow everyone the opportunity to experience moments of contemplation and silence. 

One of the aspects they bring to their artistic research is the importance of aesthetic education as a transformative principle in the New Era and the social function of art. 

Aesthetic education is a practical way of transforming this reality and raising awareness about the importance that nature has in our lives. 

This work wants to show the crucial relevance of exercising our freedom in a conscious and responsible way towards ourselves and the community.

The artistic residency project “Between two desires: freedom”, was approved by Itamaraty, through the Guimarães Rosa Institute, through the Brazilian Embassy in Norway, and is produced by Ateliê Casa das Ideias.

About the artists

JAO PAULO BARBOSA

Historian from the University of Brasília and professional photographer for 29 years. He travels the world focusing his artistic expression on documenting the memory of the natural and cultural landscape. He produced books, reports and 73 exhibitions in 15 countries, some of them through Itamaraty (Dili, Jakarta, Luanda, New Delhi, Seoul) and Embassies in Brasília (Canada, Ecuador, USA, Greece). Following a lineage of speakers such as Darcy Ribeiro and the Dalai Lama, he gave a Magna Lecture at the University of Brasília. He received awards on 4 continents and represented Brazil at the G20 Cultural Communication Forum and the Antarctic Treaty Meeting. He was curator of the exhibitions Brazilian National Parks and Endangered Species, and the Antarctic exhibition at the Virtual Museum of Science and Technology at the University of Brasília. He was the creator and coordinator of the Brasília National Park 50 years project, which resulted in a book/exhibition at the Brasília National Museum. His work on the Amazon is permanently exhibited by the Smithsonian Institution at the National Museum of the American Indian. His work is part of private collections, galleries and museums, such as the Fortaleza Photography Museum, and is published by publishers in Germany and France. As a defender of Wild Nature, he has completed more than 100 mountain treks around the world.

Discover the artist’s work, visit https://www.instagram.com/joaopaulobarbosaphotography/?hl=pt-br

MAIN AWARDS 2020 Aldir Blanc Cultural Merit Award (DF Culture Secretariat), Brazil. 2017 3rd Place Cultural Communication Forum Photo Contest (Ministry of Culture), Korea. 2017 1st Place Patagonia Photo Contest, Environment Category, Chile. 2017 Special Mention in the Maria Luisa Memorial Award, Cold Zones Category, Spain. 2016 ITB Book Award, photography in the book Atem Der Berge, Germany.

SILVANA LEAL

Silvana is a trained psychologist and multimedia artist with 30 years of experience in the national visual arts scene. She is currently director of Ateliê Casa das Ideias, an artistic and cultural space created by the artist. He works in partnership with the studio team, coordinates cultural projects and guides Residency and Creative Awareness Programs aimed at artists and other people who want to develop their creative and bodily awareness through art. She is also an art collector and curator of the works displayed in the space’s Gallery. During his years as an artist, he held several solo exhibitions, as well as participating in many important state and national collective exhibitions and international events. In 2022, his work was recognized for its high artistic quality by the Museum during his participation in the International selection of the Luxembourg Art Prize and in the same year he received the Elisabete Anderle Prize, in the visual arts category for the Transitions Exhibition Project. In 2021, his book The Legend of the Artist received an award. In 2020, he received the Aldir Blanc/SC Cultural Trajectory Recognition Award, from the Fundação Catarinense de Cultura, among others. Silvana has published several books, check out her CV on the artist’s website www.silvanalealart.com

PRIZES AND HALLS: 2022 Receives the Certificate of Artistic Merit from the Pinacothèque in recognition of its high artistic quality, recognized by the Museum during its participation in the International selection of the Luxembourg Art Prize 2022. Receives the Elisabete Anderle Public Notice 2022 Edition Award, for the Transitions Exhibition, at visual arts category. 2021 Receives the Aldir Blanc 2021 Public Notice Award, in the experimentation in Visual Arts category from the Fundação Catarinense de Cultura. 2020 Receives the Aldir Blanc Cultural Trajectory Recognition Award, by the Catarinense Culture Foundation in the area of visual arts. 2012 13th Itajaí National Visual Arts Exhibition, curated by Josué Mattos. Selected with the urban intervention work Fios de Afeto. 2011 Winner of the Honorable Mention Award, with the triptych work from the Mapas series, 9th Chapecoense Visual Arts Salon in Santa Catarina, SC. 2005 7th MAB Elke Hering Salon – Blumenau Art Museum, SC. 2002 MAB Visual Arts Salon – Brasília Museum of Art. Participates in the triptych work O Andrógino, in Brasília – DF.