Gusmão & Pedro Paiva

Falling Tree

João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva

Falling Tree describes a practice of wild and motorized harvesting that the duo wishes to accompany with a divine fictive order:

“Be fruitful and multiply and I will give your leader a chainsaw. Cut down the trees, make piles and planks of wood, and with them you can make two-storey houses that will be eaten by insects. When this happens, another tree will have grown where you desecrated the first one with the machine. You will be able to cut down this other tree and sell the planks because you have to buy food and subsistence. And because all humans are orphans, there is no truth in the world. You have to hunt down these fantasies and transform all raw materials into useful things, because in the end, Paradise is an invention; what exists is nothing but an aggressive flimsy lack of the meaning of existence; and since I have abandoned you, first invent that which allows you to desecrate everything that can be sacred, earth and sky, nail and hammer”.  

Artist Bio

João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva, both born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1979 and 1977 respectively, are Portuguese artists whose collaborative practice spans film, installation, sculpture, and photography. They delve into themes such as perception, time, and existential inquiries. Employing analog film techniques, they create enigmatic narratives blurring reality and fiction. One notable series includes “hypnotic” films, where ordinary scenes become mesmerizing through manipulation of light, sound, and motion. Their art has been showcased internationally in museums, galleries, and biennials, with participation in events such as the Venice Biennale and documenta.

Themes: extraction, transport, infrastructure

Category: Events