Laura Lima
Museo Universitario Arte Contemporaneo (MUAC)
Homem=carne/Mulher=carne—Puxador Paisagem (Man=Flesh/ Woman=Flesh—Landscape Puller), 1999/2013, an installation/performance by Brazilian artist Laura Lima, was recently shown at the Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporâneo. It incorporated a motif that the artist has been working with for many years, most recently at the Biennale de Lyon in 2011. There, in Homem=carne/Mulher=carne— Puxador (Pilares) (Man=Flesh/Woman=Flesh—Puller [Pillars]), 1998/2011, a naked man with two straps on his shoulders pulled against a complicated network of long black belts wrapped around the gallery’s columns. Hurling his body forward in a classic sculptural stance, each puller “posed” for two hours straight before being replaced by another, evidence of the enormous effort involved in this pointless yet somehow strangely hopeful action. Lima exposed the carnality of the struggling
Artforum print subscribers have full access to this article. If you are a subscriber, sign in below.
Not registered for artforum.com?
SUBSCRIBE NOW for only $50 a year—65% off the newsstand price—and receive the print magazine plus full online access to this issue and our archive.*
Order the PRINT EDITION of the May 2013 issue for $17 or the ONLINE EDITION for $5.99.
* This rate applies to U.S. domestic subscriptions.