Paradox of Plenty is a book edited from the homonymous exhibition by Hugo de Almeida Pinho, and published by Atlas Projectos/Kunstraum Botschaft Camões.
Considering the problematic and conflicting relations between media technology and nature, Paradox of Plenty concerns the historicities and materialities involved in the axes of our visual tech culture, and its relationship to mineral exploration, neo-colonial societies and environmental failures. With contributions by Margarida Mendes, Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh, Federica Bueti and Sara Castelo Branco.
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CONVERSATION with Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh, Federica Bueti, ATLAS Projectos and Hugo de Almeida Pinho
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FILM SCREENING
Stone Circles (1983, 11’) – Barbara Hammer
A celebration of ancient pre-patriarchal standing stones, mounds, and circles including Stonehenge and Avesbury.
The Song of Stone (1963, 24’) – Toshio Matsumoto
Comprising dozens of dynamically animating still photographs, this documentary about the quarries of Shikoku Island brings both the stones and the masons to life. While extracting and polishing their blocks of stone, stonecutters used to say “the stone is coming to life”. This paradox provided Matsumoto with the best metaphor for what making a film is all about. In his opinion, filmmakers work images in the same way that stonecutters work stones.