Felicidade Clandestina*
A bookshop is one of the latest of many different shapes and functions that the Dominican church has taken on during its history. From church to fair space, in which different amusements, animals and all sorts of items were displayed, to bicycle parking lot: the bookshop that nowadays uses its space comes as no surprise for the ones who have seen its transformations.
For this occasion the bookshop will be the setting of a different group of images: prints and drawings coming from the archives and collections of Jacqueline Machado de Souza and Martín La Roche Contreras. The artists have worked with images from their daily practice of producing photographs, drawings, prints, books and videos, resulting in an associative set-up. Displayed on four different constructions specifically conceived for this exhibition, they incorporate these visual collections in different areas of Bookshop Dominicanen, inserting external materials into the shop’s interior as if they were writing footnotes or marginalia in a book.
For both artists, the process of talking about and associating their groups of images has become a continuous conversation that allows them to explore a common ground. This time their collaboration takes the form of a major arrangement thought specially for this building.
* Short story by Clarice Lispector, which can be translated as Clandestine Happiness, first published in Brazil in 1971, in the collection of the same name Felicidade Clandestina.
Opening Sunday 28th January, 17:30-19:30.