As a space dedicated to the promotion and activation of artistic and cultural practices, TRAMA, ESTÚDIO DE ARTES IMPRESSAS has developed an artist residency programme entitled MONTRA. This is an exhibition space where small curatorial projects will be presented on a quarterly basis, showcasing the work developed by artists at Trama.
Each MONTRA project is overseen by Trama, and its curation may be carried out either by Trama itself or by invited individuals or organisations, who will work in collaboration with each selected artist. For each opening, an exhibition leaflet about the project and the artist will be produced, and additional events may also take place, such as talks, presentations, publication launches, among others. Each opening also marks the beginning of the development and production process for the following MONTRA. In this way, each project will have three months for development and three months for exhibition. The space dedicated to Montra within the studio comprises the entire entrance area; however, it is not limited to this space and may also extend to other areas of the studio.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra – Book 1
As part of my philosophical studies, I had been focusing on the work of Friedrich Nietzsche for some time. When I finished Thus Spoke Zarathustra, I was so impacted by the power of this literary and philosophical masterpiece that I felt I needed to transform it from a literary work of art into a visual work of art. It was then that I decided to create this series, with an edition for each of the book’s eighty-one discourses, drawing inspiration from William Blake’s Illuminated Books and Goya’s prints, along with C.G. Jung’s seminar from the 1930s on Nietzsche’s masterpiece from the perspective of analytical psychology.
Guilherme Pontes
Das Kind mit dem Spiegel
“ Why was I so startled in my dream that I awoke? Did not a child step up to me, carrying a mirror? “O Zarathustra,” the child said to me, “Took at yourself in the mirror.” But when I looked into the mirror I cried out, and my heart was shaken: for it was not myself I saw, but a devil’s grimace and scornful laughter.”
Auf den glückseligen Inseln
“To be the child who is newly born, the creator must also want to be the mother who gives birth and the pangs of the birth-giver.”
Von den Tugendhaften
“You who are virtuous still want to be paidl Do you want rewards for virtue, and heaven for earth, and the eternal for your today?”
Vom Gesindel
“What was it that happened to me? How did I redeem myself from nausea? Who rejuvenated my sight? How did I fly to the height where no more rabble sits by the well Was it my nausea itself which created wings for me and water-divining powers? Verily, I had to fly to the highest spheres that I might find the fount of pleasure again.”
Das Tanzlied
“deed, I am a forest and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness will also find rose slopes under my cypresses. And he will also find the little god whom girls like best: beside the well he lies, still, with his eyes shut. Verily, in bright daylight he fell asleep, the sluggard!”
Das Grablied
“‘There is the isle of tombs, the silent isle; there too are the tombs of my youth. There I wish to carry an evergreen wreath of life.’ Resolving this in my heart, I crossed the sea.”
Vom Lande der Bildung (Schwarz und Blau)
“If one took the veils and wraps and colors and gestures away from you, just enough would be left to scare away the crows. Verily, I myself am the scared crow who once saw you naked and without color; and I flew away when the skeleton beckoned to me lovingly.”
Von der unbefleckten Erkenntniss
“When the moon rose yesterday I fancied that she wanted to give birth to a sun: so broad and pregnant she lay on the horizon.”
Von grossen Ereignissen
“‘Look there!’ said the old helmsman. ‘There is Zarathustra descending to hell!’”
