We are pleased to share the opening of Slow slow slow motion, a solo exhibition by Igor Jesus at VNBM – Arte contemporânea, Polo I, Viseu.
The panel São Pedro (1529), exhibited at the Museu Nacional Grão Vasco, is the subject of an academic experiment that has implemented a monitoring system to record micro-variations in environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and ultraviolet radiation. These sensors, installed on the back of the altarpiece in the form of a grid of points, have revealed that the painting accumulates subtle transformations on its surface over the centuries. The work thus constitutes itself as a sensitive organism, traversed by external forces and subject to a continuous process of change. Alongside the transformation of its material, the reading of these icons is also shaped as historical and cultural contexts evolve.
It is from these premises that the work of Igor Jesus can be understood as a contemporary reconfiguration of this “creative autonomy.” If, in the case of Grão Vasco’s altarpiece, the system collects data on the transformation of the work, the process is now reversed: the artist subverts the receptive nature of indicators from the physical world, becoming instead an emitter of the epistemological dimension of the present. — Francisca Portugal
