VITÓRIA MONTEIRO
PROJECTS
OPENING PANDORA'S BOX
2023
"Opening Pandora's Box" was a performance conceptualized for the opening of the exhibition "Über das Neue" at the Belvedere21.
The performance deals with research material from Austria and Brazil's colonial history and the invitation to perform was made by Christine Bruckbauer from philomena+.
ACOUSTIC MIRRORS
2021
“Acoustic Mirrors” was a conceptual immersive site-specific co-produced for the group exhibition "Thicket of Ideas – Thicket of Times" on the occasion of the reopening of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
Inspired by Jacques Derridas’ metaphysics of presence and Avery Gordon’s perspective around sociological hauntology, a postmodern metafiction about the images that cannot be seen in the painting gallery was produced in the context of its reopening in October 2021. Through this, themes such as hegemonic representation and the tension between the visible and the invisible are discussed. In Gordon’s words, "Haunting is the moment when the people who are meant to be invisible show up without any sign of leaving".
A HISTÓRIA COMEÇA
A PARTIR DE NÓS
The history begins starting from us
2020
Mixing images of trips in Europe during the 1970s, “The history begins starting from us” visually reconstructs the experience of the exiled Brazilian women during the military dictatorship. The short film attempts to retrace the steps of the Brazilian diasporic communities created in Europe and invites the spectator into the world of an anonymous “we”. This is my story, your story, their story, but above all: our history. This short film was made in partnership with the Österreichisches Filmmuseum.
Screenings:
2022: EMAF (European Media Art Festival) – Osnabrück (DE)
2022: Young Curators Club/Never at Home – Vienna (AT)
2021: Fotogalerie Wien PROPELLER II – Vienna (AT)
2021: Austrian Film Museum's Summer School Migrationsgesellschaft und Archivmaterial – Vienna (AT)
2021: Austrian Film Museum's Amateurinnen* – Vienna (AT)
SOBRE MARIAS E TEREZAS
About Marias and Terezas
2018-2016
"About Marias and Terezas" is a docufiction short film from Das Flor Collective that frames a poetic interpretation of the lives of women that are an integral part of the Lomba do Pinheiro slum in Porto Alegre (Brazil).
The film is a by-product of the on-going partnership with the community that started in 2014 with the project "Antropofagic Dialogs" and the resulting perfomance "Lombay".
VIA PÚBLICA
Cycling Permitted
2016
"Cycling Permitted" is a multi-platform project about cyclists in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and was created by Gabriel Motta and Vitória Monteiro. It started with a series of photo-stories shared on Facebook and Instagram in 2016. A fictional four-episode television series is currently in production.
In the chaotic city of Porto Alegre, individuals from all walks of life ride their bikes for pleasure, leisure or out of necessity. Despite living through distinctly different dramas, they share the contrasting sensations of freedom and insecurity that only Brazilian cyclists know. The streets should be for everyone. But life isn't always easy and it's up us to keep the wheels spinning.
DIÁLOGOS ANTROPOFÁGICOS
Antropofagic Dialogs
2014
The word "Antropofagic Dialogs" comes from the custom of certain indigenous tribes in Brazil of eating the bravest warrior of a clan they defeated in order to absorb their strength. The concept was also used by the Brazilian Modernist movement, to describe the idea of incorporating European art, instead of copying it, thereby forging a more authentic national identity. The project from Das Flor Collective is a call to incorporate cultures into a country where the slums and inner city are severely segregated.
Once a week, the collective offered a free workshop for the community, with whom the developed the script for a three-hour-performance consisting of improvisations involving theater, dance, circus, music, film, photography and visual arts. With a fragmented narrative, mixing a religious procession and a carnival parade, the story about the community was presented to the community, with the community after four months of work.
JEDE FRAU*
HAT EINEN NAMEN:
koloniale Verbindungen zwischen Brasilien und Österreich
Every woman* has a name: colonial connections between Brazil and Austria
2023
"Every Woman* has a Name" is a transmedial research-based project that functions like a puzzle with multiple solutions. Its central element is an avatar representing feminized bodies that reclaim their place in history through spectral presence.
Feminization hereby should not be interpreted on the basis of a biological essentialism, but rather as Rita Segato describes it in "Contrapedagogias de la crueldad" ("Counter-Pedagogies of Cruelty"):
The sense in which we understand feminization today [...is...] a reduced, defective gender, a person with a lacking nature. (Contrapedagogias de la crueldad, p.43,45)
With this project Vitória has concluded her diploma studies in 2023 with the Honors Award from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
MIS AMIGOS
SÓN LOS PÁJAROS...
My friends are the birds...
2022
The project "My friends are the birds..." is an experimental short film about female empowerment and friendship between generations. The short film deals with the contrast and similarity of experiences between different generations of women through my friendship with my grandmother: Ethel Indarte. The short film recontextualizes Ethel's experiences on a contemporary and universal level.
with Ethel Indarte, Vanessa A. Opoku, Christian Schmidts, Julia Ziener, Christine Greimel (Blumenfee)
Archive material: "Amor, mujeres y flores" from Marta Rodriguez
Animation and 3D modelling: Vanessa A. Opoku
Sound design: Luiz Lepchak
Colorist: Susi Dollnig
Since October 2022, the short film is represented by sixpackfilm film distribution. The film premiered at the Diagonale Film Festival 2023.
MIGRANT*INNEN WOLLEN ETWAS LERNEN
Migrants* want to learn something
2022
"Migrant*innen wollen etwas lernen (Migrants* want to learn something)" is an installation that criticizes the commodification of the migration experience from an institutional perspective. This project was inspired by the self-portraits of Marianne Brandt and her institutional critique of the Bauhaus. The image is a self-portrait of Brazilian migrants currently studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Visitors can take postcards in exchange for donations, which were forwarded to the association PROSA - School for all.
Appropriating the media of photography and postcards, the installation takes a decolonial look at the migration experiences of Brazilian students in Vienna, while criticizing the profiting of Austrian art institutions through migrant output. Again and again, the migration experience is commodified on an institutional level, while the precarious situation of migrants* barely changes structurally.
The installation was developed for the exhibition "Conditions and Frameworks: Infrastructure as Form and Medium" at the Exhibit Gallery from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
LAÇOS
2017