Lenora de Barros

To See Aloud

The Badischer Kunstverein presents the work of poet and artist Lenora de Barros (*1953, São Paulo) in a first extensive solo exhibition in Germany. To See Aloud includes diverse facets of her artistic practice—from early text works, videotext poems, publications and printed matter to photographs, objects, object poems and installations, all the way to her most recent performances and artworks in public
spaces, including sound-based and collective activations.

Lenora de Barros expands our understanding and experience of language by carrying the  ‘Verbivocovisual’ approach into the 21st century. ‘Verbivocovisual’ is a neologism that was coined by James Joyce and later used in Concrete Poetry, notably by the poets of the Noigandres Group, a pioneering collective of Brazilian Concrete Poetry. Lenora de Barros adopts the term as a guiding principle of her artistic work and explores the interplay between the verbal, vocal and visual on multiple levels while subverting any hierarchy or restriction. ‘I literally chose to go out of the space of the page, to depart for space’ (de Barros, 2018).

The exhibition is therefore designed as a network of different thematic spaces (library, kaleidoscope, labyrinth or radio station), which invite to a multisensory, non-linear, and participatory experience that dissolves the boundaries between art and poetry. Lenora de Barros cultivates a special interest in the interplay between various languages, in particular of their verbal, visual and acoustic elements, which enrich one another and provoke playful yet radical and engaging reflections on the body, gender, and social issues. New forms of language emerge, generating a diverse universe of meanings.

Curated by Alex Balgiu and Anja Casser