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Pedro Neves Marques: A Mordida
December 4, 2018 – July 28, 2019
Pérez Art Museum Miami
Pedro Neves Marques (b. 1984, Lisbon) examines clashes among competing anthropologies, politics of nature, technology, and gender. He employs science fiction and speculative storytelling as key tools to produce works that range from fictional dramas to theoretical films and writings.
A Mordida (The Bite)—Neves Marques’s first solo museum presentation in the United States—encompassed an audio-visual installation which featured a set of new films commissioned by PAMM, digital animations, and an ambient sound piece produced by London-based musician Fraencis. Based on research done at a laboratory for genetically modified mosquitos in São Paulo, Neves Marques created fictional and abstract narratives that questioned the role of gender in the history of science. The installation evoked an eerie feeling of collapse between biological epidemics and political crisis, specifically seeking to reflect the current alarming spread of intolerant conservative politics in Brazil.
The control and militarization of gender portrayed in the mosquito laboratory was paralleled through the films’ three main characters—a man, a woman, and a transgender woman—as they navigated an intimate relationship. Veering between the sterile environment of the lab and scenes that depiceted nature and contact between bodies, Neves Marques poetically suggested intimacy, affection, and acceptance as sensitivities to be preserved in times of hostility.
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