From November 4 through December 6, 2014, Galeria Vermelho is presenting the show O Balanço da Árvore Exagera a Tempestade [The Swaying Tree Magnifies the Storm], by Gabriela Albergaria (48), a Portuguese-born artist who now resides in New York, as well as the installation Shangai em São Paulo in Shangai [Shangai in São Paulo in Shangai], by Carla Zaccagnini (40). On the show’s opening day, the Edições Tijuana publishing house will release the new translation of the poem “Odisseia,” by Homer, featuring illustrations by Odires Mlászho, and The Madman Sees What He Sees, a publication by Carla Zaccagnini containing articles by Teresa Ricardi and Kiki Mazzucchelli along with an interview with curator Jochen Volz.

Carla Zaccagnini. Shangai em São Paulo in Shangai

When she was invited by Adriano Pedrosa to create a work for the pavilion dedicated to the city of São Paulo, at the 9th Shanghai Biennale (China), in 2012, Carla Zaccagnini (40) did not know that in São Paulo and the adjoining cities there are four streets named after that Chinese city, though with different spellings (Xangai and Shangai).

Shangai em São Paulo in Shangai reproduces on a 1:1 scale an entire (short) street called Rua Shangai, located in São Paulo’s Penha District, measuring exactly 5 meters wide by 35 meters long. To create it, Zaccagnini used the technique of frottage, which requires a tangible referent to create a documental image, a proof of the existence of that street. The resulting drawing is, however, abstract, due to the uniform aspect of the paved surface. The installation also includes a set of thirteen photographic images made by Zaccagnini on the different streets named Xangai or Shangai in the Greater São Paulo Metropolitan Area.

As stated by Teresa Riccardi in an article for the publication Carla Zaccagnini: the Madman sees what he sees, which will be released on the show’s opening day, Zaccagnini “operates, compares, describes and locates the observer in the field of the narrative and artifice, offering an experience that allows shapes to inhabit time and memory, decolonizing our gaze from the commonplace.

Carla Zaccagnini – Selection of Solo Shows: A Voice of One’s Own: On Women’s Fight for Suffrage and Human Recognition – Malmö Kunstmuseum – Malmö – Sweeden; Impossible but Necessary - Kunstlerhaus Bethanien - Berlin – Germany (2014); Pelas Bordas – Galeria Vermelho – São Paulo – Brazil (2013); Plano de Falla – Ignacio Liprandi Arte Contemporaneo – Buenos Aires – Argentina (2011). Selection of Group Shows: Really Useful Knowledge - MNCA Reina Sofía – Madrid – Spain; Histórias Mestiças – Instituto Tomie Ohtake – São Paulo – Brazil; Under the Same Sun: Art from Latin America Today - Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum – New York – USA; 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporarty Art – Berlin – Germany (2014); Dans ma Cellule – Une Silhouette – Centre d’art Contemporaine de la Ferme du Buisson – Noisiel – France (2013); 9th Shangai Biennale – City Pavillions – Shangai – China (2012); Panoramas do Sul - 17° Festival Internacional de Arte Contemporânea Videobrasil – São Paulo – Brazil (2011); The Traveling Show - Fundación/Colección JUMEX - México City – Mexico; Para ser Construídos – Museu de Arte Contemporánea de Castilla y Léon [MUSAC] – Léon – Spain (2010).