Let go

Dan Lie occupies the Octagon of the Pinacoteca Luz with an “entity-installation”, developed in dialogue with the monumental scale of the central space of the museum. The work uses organic materials, in an exercise of alterity with visible and non-visible species – such as decomposing matter, plants, bacteria, fungi and organisms.

Let go is a sensory experience that encourages people to return, when possible, given that with each visit the smells and materials are transformed, and it is possible to observe cycles of life and death.

The installation is characterized by a work that happens procedurally: while the flora and fungi will sprout and develop, other elements will die and decompose, inviting the public to practice coexistence with these beings and their cycles.

Once there, the public is confronted with large structures filled with plant matter, the membras, which serve as an incubator for the proliferation of the organic world. The installation is intertwined with a large arrangement of fresh flowers, chrysanthemums, which will dry throughout the exhibition. The spiral arrangement goes from floor to ceiling, and is surrounded by clay urns filled with rice, which in the fermentation process encourages the growth of fungi.

The work is an invitation to contemplation, so that the public creates an intimate relationship with the installation.

Dan Lie (they/them, 1988) creates works and installations made in collaboration with “beyond-human” forces, such as bacteria, fungi, plants and animals. Lie’s work has been exhibited at venues such as Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin, Germany), Art Sonje (Seoul, South Korea), New Mutheirm (New York, USA), Centro Cultural São Paulo, Casa do Povo (São Paulo, Brazil), Institute for Art and Society (Yogyakarta, Indonesia), Espacios Revelados (Bucaramanga, Colombia), and the 35th São Paulo Biennial. Lie is currently a fellow of the Berlin Artistic Research Programme 2024-25.