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What is more mobilizing? A room filled by the deafening sounds of the inside of the human body or a skater invoking a spirit as he skids over and over in animal fat? Maurício Ianês and Guilherme Peters are the protagonist of each scene. Both are Brazilian artists engaged in performance – this art form that is “everything that is not: it’s not theater, it’s not painting, it’s not dance, it’s not sculpture”. On one side, a performer with a 13 year career, on the other side, a beginner in the artistic world. Both have a plastic art background and develop performance work in Brazil. In the interview for idança, both talk about the work they presented at the 5^th edition of Verbo 09, a performance showcase organized by Galeria Vermelho, from July 6 to 11.

Maurício Ianês, who participated in the last São Paulo Bienal with a performance called A Bondade de Estranhos (“The Kindness of Strangers”), presented two pieces at Verbo. Carta, from 2009, which premiered in the showcase and is a continuation of his work about language, and Monólogopedra, from 2008, in which the internal sounds of the artist are mixed in amplifiers live. Guilherme Peters presented Tentativa de evocar o espírito de Joseph Beuys ao redor deste espaço (“Attempt to evoke the spirit of Joseph Beuys around this space”), a kind of protest against the nostalgia he sees as detrimental for art. The young researcher introduces to the piece a new element taken from street culture, skate, playing with the idea of going back to the past, while remaining in the present.

Both value the media transversality of performance art, but they have different views about the future of art. “I think nowadays there is a crisis in creation and this constant return to the past is a symptom of that”, says Peters. Ianês is more optimistic. “There was a revival of performance, a new interest for it in the last years, especially in Brazil”, he analyses. Anyway, we enter a new fiction zone, in which different media – body, video camera, mixers, microphone – have their role in achieving the intended symbolic purpose. Read the complete interview and watch the video, both were made during Verbo 09.

idança – When did you start working with performance?

Guilherme Peters – About two years ago, still during college. My experience with performance is still very recent, I only presented a work in FAAP’s Anual de Arte (“Art Annual”), which also had to do with skate and art history. But I’m not focused only on that. Today different art forms mingle and I think this is an advantage.

idança – How would you define performance?

It’s everything that can’t be formatted, that takes place in a short period of time and ends. The body doesn’t necessarily have to be a support for this kind of work.

idança – Why did you choose this art form?

Today there is a lot of nostalgia about the past, which I consider to be pathetic because it prevents the artist from moving forward. For instance, missing the way performance was in the 60′s, when it was against institutional spaces. I want to mock that somehow.

idança – How is irony a part of the piece you presented at Verbo?

During the performance, I fall repeatedly off the skateboard and I keep getting up. I try to create a flow of energy around the space with the skateboard and the material used by Beuys. And that’s how I’m going to evoke his spirit around this space. But what is pathetic is exactly to believe in that, that this will bring him back, and that’s not going to work. The fact that I bring myself to fall repeatedly is pathetic.

idança – Who was Joseph Beuys?

Joseph Beuys was a German artist who worked in the 60′s. He did a lot of performances, sculptures, drawings, installation, and he was a very eclectic artist. His works focused on energy and had a very spiritual tone.

idança – Would you comment on the material used in his performance?

There was all this mythology around the materials used by Beuys in his works. He believed, for instance, that fat was the fuel to generate energy, that copper captured energy and that felt removed energy. All this created a system in space and in his work.

idança – Do you have any project in mind?

Yes, but not a performance one. I am working in the creation of rooms where all the spirits that participated in the history of art will reside.

idança – The presence of mysticism in your work is intriguing…

I want to adopt a pathetic stance, like someone who keeps claiming for the past and doesn’t get anywhere.

idança – Are you a religious person?

I don’t have a specific creed. I’m very interested in Judaism and I’m even thinking about converting. But I wouldn’t say I’m very religious.

idança – What future do you see for performance in Brazil?

I think nowadays there is a crisis in creation and this constant return to the past is a symptom of that. I believe it’s a general phenomenon in all areas, in fashion and in cinema. It’s hard to create something new and constructive for the future. Any kind of construction of a single art form – like there was in the so-called Modernism – is crumbling, in decadence.

idança – Do you know the work of Maurício Ianês?

I know the work he did in Bienal de São Paulo and other works through photos or the internet. I really admire the things I’ve seen and I think the performance he is going to present today is going to be amazing.

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idança – When did you start working with performance?

Maurício Ianês – I graduated in plastic arts and my first performance was during college, in 1995. I don’t work only with performance, but also with other media.

idança – Could you talk about the sound resources used in ‘Monólogopedra’?

The idea for this piece was to use the sounds of the body as discourse without using verbal communication, that’s why it’s called Monólogopedra (something like Monologuestone). It’s about the monologue of the body in an attempt to create a new form of language, which is something I work with the most: the possibilities and impossibilities of language in communication. But what I want is exactly to highlight the bankruptcy of that attempt and that’s why the sounds of the body were transformed into something entirely non-organic, extremely heavy and matter like, worked with pedals and sound equalizers. From organic sounds I produce another sound that fills the room and is a physical experience for the spectator, because it vibrates in the body, it’s disturbing.

idança – Do you believe it’s actually a monologue?

The audience didn’t have the right to reply, at least not yet [laughs].

idança – How was the first work you presented at Verbo, ‘Carta’?

That work was very simple. I wanted an action that wouldn’t interfere in daily life, that wouldn’t create an aura and that was a letter addressed to the audience. It started with “Dear friend” and it was composed entirely by texts of philosophers, poets, fiction writers, social scientists and language scientists. All fragments tapped on either language or the impossibility of communication, the issue of correspondence, of how it’s like to write a letter and the relationship between oneself and the other.

idança – What do you think about the new generation of artists working with performance?

There was a revival of performance, a new interest for it in the last years, especially in Brazil. And I think performance is an interesting media because in general it has this quality of crossing limits. There is dance, theater, a very trivial gesture, like reading a letter, and it all configures a performance scene, action possibilities are very interesting.

idança – In your opinion, where is performance headed?

It’s going towards being simply another possibility of expression, another media for those who wish to work with plastic arts, dance or whatever. And towards more self-awareness and a richer history. In this evolution the artist must be always very aware of what he is doing, otherwise the result will be a very weak art. I don’t see performance as something special. What interests me is exactly this interaction with the audience, which doesn’t exist in other media.

idança – Are you working in any new projects?

I will premiere a project in August at MIP 2009 – Manifestação Internacional de Performance -, in Belo Horizonte.