MIRO SOARES – ALÉM-MAR / AIZJŪRAS / OVERSEAS

Solo exhibition of Brazilian artist Miro Soares at Rīgas Mākslas Telpa (Riga Art Space) in Riga, Latvia. After several trips between 2008 and 2011 to countries in Scandinavia and Baltics, the artist presents recent installations in video and photographs. These works display seascapes from the Bergen Fjord, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea as well as landscapes from other countries.

In a first and more objective level the original title in Portuguese (Além-Mar) is related to the traditional meaning of its translation in English (Overseas): an event or something situated in a region far beyond the sea, or relating to a passage crossing the sea. In this sense it corresponds to the fact that all these works have the Sea as a major figure and were produced away from the artist’s homeland.

In a second and imaginary level, the title can lead the mind back to the Age of Discovery, in early 15^th century, when the Great Navigations were up to explore the new world. This context is also an essential core in the historical and modern Portuguese poetry – from Luís de Camões to Fernando Pessoa – in which the Sea has a deep connection with the Soul. This will and this march into the unknown seems to be retaken in the artistic statement of Miro Soares: to produce audiovideo works having the travel and the stimulations found in places as the main principle for the creative process, instead of using a pre-determined script. This movement – from present to past – is also integrated in the discussions generated by the artworks that seem to connect the digital lens-based media (video and photography) with the traditional landscape painting. By accident or not, the title in Latvian (Aizjūras) also seems to relate somehow to the historical context in Latvia.

Born and raised in Brazil, Miro Soares is a multimedia artist based in Paris, but constantly moving. He is currently an artist-in-residence at Culture and Arts Project NOASS, and will be in Riga for two months, from January to February.

This exhibition is supported by the prize “Mostras de Artistas no Exterior” awarded by the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo in cooperation with the Brazilian Ministry of Culture.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Miro Soares

Born in 1981 in Mantena-MG [Brazil].

Lives and works in Paris, and elsewhere

Miro Soares holds a Master of Arts and Digital Media degree from University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, where is currently carrying his PhD research on the subject of “audiovisual works in the context of mobility”. He is also a collaborator in the Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity (CRI), at Université Paris Descartes, in order to create new devices for creation and for display audiovisual works.

Visual artist, filmmaker and traveler, Miro Soares has been working exploring the concept of art in context. Most of his works devote an important role in the creative process to the displacement, a journey or a walk. Very often these works combine simultaneously both the production process and the experience of displacing itself.

He has participated in exhibitions and film festivals in different countries, including in Centre Pompidou and Forum des Images in France, Espírito Santo Art Museum in Brazil, Fundament Foundation in The Netherlands and Art Tech Media in Spain. He has also participation in artistic residences in Lithuania, Slovenia, Norway, Germany, Finland and The Netherlands.