Synopsis
A Super 8 film, shot in 1967 in Dar-es-Salaam, shows the rehearsal of a theatrical play; a white man guides a group of young black men. Slow temporality and tender relations can be felt between them that contrasts with the revelation of the acting scene: an inert body is forced to a rendition movement. There are palm trees in the landscape and a sign fixed to the ground shows the words, “The Mozambique Institute”.
Archive images always hold the promise to retain any historical truth, but this promise comes often coupled with a potential disloyalty, when a simple transposition of context, of wording, will, in time, in space, betray it without too much effort. As a short visual essay, Effects of Wording feels free to exhaust the notion of the archive as a driving force and sign of “reading the world” by looking – on three different continents – the story of the Institute of Mozambique.
About the Artist
Catarina Simão is a Lisbon-based artist and independent researcher. Her practice is built upon long term research-based projects that entail collaborative partnerships and different forms of presentation to the public. Simão is known for her essay-like displays, using documentation, writing, video and drawing. She also engages on radio shows and public talks, participatory workshops, curating film screenings and publishing.
The Off screen project – Mozambique Film Archive has been Simão’s latest art project. Throughout an “in flux” format Simão deals with the nature of perception and encoded memories build up through archival conceptions. Her work has been presented at Serralves Museum, Manifesta 8 Biennial, Africa.cont and other institutions across Europe and also in Mozambique. More recently it was also presented in Beirut, Zagreb and New York.
Website: http://catarinasimao.berta.me/
A LUTA CONTINUA, 40 YEARS LATER 