The Fierce Shine of the Edges
Jonathas de Andrade and works from the BLMK collection
30/08/—15/11/26
Jonathas de Andrade with Walter Ballhause, Pol Cassel, Erhard Hippold, Carl Lohse, Sepp Mahler, Oskar Nerlinger, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Alexander Rodtschenko, Hans Schulze, Fritz Tröger
Two video works by Brazilian artist Jonathas de Andrade (b. 1982; lives and works in Recife) form the culmination of the exhibition. Drawing on de Andrade’s profound interest in societal issues—such as the visibility and inscription of social hierarchies in public spaces, power structures shaped by economic systems, the formation of communities, and the historical evolution of socio-political frameworks—the exhibition links his filmic works with New Objectivity painting and photography from the BLMK collection. These historical works originated in the 1920s and 1930s, a period marked by massive political and economic crises and upheavals. They represent art explicitly understood as an aesthetic expression of socially engaged action. Through a critical examination of everyday realities and specific formal gestures, these artistic avant-gardes developed a social imagination situated between reality and fiction—one that aimed for positively connoted utopias of self-empowerment.
The exhibition spans a timeline that connects contemporary artistic reflection with the perspectives of artists from a century ago. Moreover, these diverse eras and works point to recurring global, social, and economic conditions, while simultaneously highlighting gestures of self-empowerment in how we navigate these fundamental aspects of human existence. Through clear cinematic imagery that constantly explores the interplay between proximity and distance, the featured video works by Jonathas de Andrade place social debates at the forefront.
*O caseiro* / *The Housekeeper*, 2016 (Video, 8 min, loop)
Conceived as a split-screen projection, the work fosters a dialogue between the two parallel film segments—representing two different eras and narratives that unfold within the same house. Joaquim Pedro de Andrade’s 1959 short film *Mestre de Apipucos* is presented on the left half of the screen. Condensed into eight minutes, the documentary depicts a day in the life of the Brazilian sociologist and anthropologist Gilberto Freyre. Beginning with the protagonist waking up, the camera follows him as he has breakfast with his wife, strolls through the garden, and engages in other daily activities—including interactions with the household staff. The right half of the screen focuses on the current caretaker of the residence, which has since been converted into a museum; these sequences show his daily life in the house and garden in the year 2026. Synchronized cuts between the two film segments draw parallels that highlight contrasts of class and race, while revealing the impact of time on the architecture, on Freyre’s ideas, and on the historical figure himself.
*Voyeurístico* / *Voyeuristic*, 2018 (video, 4:24 min, loop)
Presented on a small-format flat screen—sized to match the photographs from the 1920s among which it hangs—this video work (lasting approximately four minutes) offers an almost intimate glimpse into wallets, handbags, and the like. Filmed with a mobile phone camera on the streets of Recife, the film unfolds through slow, almost carefully probing movements, showing people opening their wallets and revealing their contents without crossing boundaries by exposing specific details.
An exhibition of the same name, taking place concurrently at Bad Muskau Castle, juxtaposes video installations and sculptural works by Jonathas de Andrade with 1970s photographs by Helga Paris from the BLMK collection.
Der grelle Schein der Ränder (The Fierce Shine of the Edges) is a collaboration between the Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst (BLMK), the Lausitz Festival, and the Stiftung Fürst Pückler Park Bad Muskau.