Río-Montevideo

Rosângela Rennó

Installation, iron tables with switches and timers, slide projectors, digital slides, acrylic sheets, PVC, soundtrack inspired by the anthem The Internationale; variable dimensions

Brazil 2011–2016

The project comprises 32 images, mainly taken by Aurelio González during the 1960s and the 1970s, a time of great social and political upheaval throughout Latin America. González, the chief photographer of El Popular, had hidden 48 626 negatives on the eve of the military coup in 1973. They were discovered after two decades and brought to the Centro de Fotografía de Montevideo which assisted in the recovery of the full archive.

For the presentation of Río-Montevideo, Rennó uses 20 slide projectors of varying formats, models and eras, found in the flea markets of Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro. For Rennó, “these projectors offer a mechanical analogy to the materiality and endurance of El-Popular’s negatives, a quality she feels is now lost in an age of digital disposal” (www.rosangelarenno.com.br).

“It could be argued that Rio-Montevideo takes viewing as its subject, attempting to slow it down. Its select images are presented as singular slides displayed on their own projectors. Not only do visitors see only one image at a time, they must switch the projector on by a button themselves, as if bringing each image to light. It is difficult to be passive in the face of images that are brought into being by our actions; in all but the busiest of moments, we must make the image visible. And we must also, vitally, come to terms with the root consequences of inaction: a quickly disappearing display threatens to vanish without our intervention, leaving a blank room behind.” (Woolridge 2016)

Rosângela Rennó, born in 1962 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil; lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.