Illusions

Curated by Hans-Michael Herzog and Katrin Steffen for Casa Daros, “Illusions” is an exhibition that rouses spectators in multiple ways regarding the idea of illusion.

Casa Daros presents “Illusions,” an exhibition which brings together around 50 works belonging to Daros Latinamerica Collection, from Zurich, Switzerland, by artists Fernando Pareja & Leidy Chavez (Colombia), José Damasceno (Brazil), José Toirac (Cuba), Leandro Erlich (Argentina), Liliana Porter (Argentina), Los Carpinteros (Marco Antonio Castillo Valdés and Dagoberto Rodríguez Sánchez, from Cuba), Luis Camnitzer (Uruguay), Mauricio Alejo (Mexico) and Teresa Serrano (Mexico).

The works occupy Casa Daros’ entire main exhibition space on the first floor, in a circuit that rouses spectators in multiple ways regarding the idea of illusion, through installations, videos, photographs, drawings and objects that feature a playful and often good-humored approach.

From the “supposedly just optical nature of the mere sensory illusion,” as in the surprising short videos by Mauricio Alejo; to the “theoretically-perceptively ludic character well elaborated between sign, signified and signifier,” in the works of Luis Camnitzer; the “mental (dis)illusion” of Leandro Erlich and Liliana Porter; or illusion as a “social, political, cultural, religious, market or media phenomenon,” visible in works by Teresa Serrano, José Toirac and Leidy Chavez & Fernando Pareja; as well as “in all its ambiguity, in the condition of mere paradox full of absurdity with a Dadaist touch,” in José Damasceno and Los Carpinteros.

“Illusions are images of desire, fantastical images or self-deception, as well. Our lives are full of them. But we don’t always like to admit this. This is why, almost as an antithesis to make survival easier, there is the concept of reality, which we like to cling onto (at times with great effort and convulsively),” said Hans-Michael Herzog. “The show opens our eyes to multi-faceted and complex, difficult to interpret spaces that oscillate freely between supposed reality and so-called illusion – spaces that are full of innumerous examples of fiction and projections, whose more detailed definition completely escapes any categorization.”

“Perhaps art is nothing more than illusion? Or, perhaps, after all, it is real first, perhaps even more real than what is called reality? What is reality, after all? Pure illusion?,” questioned the curator, adding that “Illusions” asks questions like these “without even wanting to answer them. The exhibition is an invitation to more conscious perception, to thinking, and to a deeper understanding that can lead to far-reaching insights able to sharpen our capacity to discern what reality means, what illusion means. Observers will also be able, in their process of perception, to learn about and recognize themselves a little better,” he stated.

A special microsite was created to the exhibition. With multimedia content and interactive tools, the temathic and the works of the show are presented. Short essays and interviews give more information about the artists and their works.

The show is accompanied by a publication with photos of the works and texts by Hans-Michael Herzog, artists Luis Camnitzer and José Damasceno, art critic Orlando Britto, and Katrin Steffen, who also conducted interviews with the artists.

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José Damasceno, O presságio seguinte (experiência sobre a visibilidade de uma substância dinâmica), 1997. Photo: Dominique Uldry, Bern

Leandro Erlich, Cambiadores (Changing Rooms), 2008. Photo: Ignacio Iasparra for Galería Ruth, Benzacar, Buenos Aires

Leandro Erlich, Las puertas, 2004. Photo: Dominique Uldry, Bern

Left: Liliana Porter, Nail, 1972. Photo: Peter Schälchli, Zurich. Right: Liliana Porter, Scratch, 1974. Photo: Peter Schälchli, Zurich

Los Carpinteros, 16 m, 2010. Photo: Iñaki Domingo, Courtesy Ivorypress, Madrid

Fernando Pareja & Leidy Chavez, Untitled, 2012 Photo: the artist

Mauricio Alejo, Red 2003, Photo: Zoe Tempest, Zurich

Luis Camnitzer, This Is a Mirror. You Are a Written Sentence, 1966-1968. Photo: Peter Schälchli, Zurich

Teresa Serrano, Boca de tabla, 2007. Photo: Zoe Tempest, Zurich

Teresa Serrano, Boca de tabla, 2007. Photo: Zoe Tempest, Zurich

Teresa Serrano, 5 Rolling Stones, 1999. Photo: Peter Schälchli, Zurich

Teresa Serrano, Blown Mold, 2012. Photo: Peter Schälchli, Zurich

until February 13, 2015
Illusions
curated by Hans-Michael Herzog and Katrin Steffen
Casa Daros
Rua General Severiano, 159, Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro

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