This first stage of conceptual/material realization is the focus of the small but beautiful exhibition “Modus Operandi” (Mode of Operation), recently opened at the Instituto de Arte Contemporânea (IAC) in São Paulo, impeccably curated by Agnaldo Farias. Through models, sketches, diagrams and preparatory studies, the artist seeks to reveal the backstage of her installations and site-specific works to the public, acknowledging that behind calculation and constructive operations, there is always a visual thought at work. According to Farias, “generally, exhibitions present finished, flawless products, having purged them of the complex steps, detours, and deformations that brought them into existence. Regina Silveira comes to the IAC to reveal her working process, laying it out on the table, in plain sight.”
The exhibition is divided into eight sections, featuring projects from various periods and realized in different places around the world. At the entrance of one gallery, for example, is the model for “Landscape,” an installation created for the thirty-fourth São Paulo Biennial, consisting of glass panels perforated to mimic bullet holes, with digital prints around each perforation representing shattering cracks. Nearby is the work “Silver Bullet,” featuring a similar digital print on glass, with its shadow in acrylic adhesive cast on the wall. On the ground floor of the IAC, in the coffee area, there is a re-installation of “Intro” (2005), presented in Brussels, and its expanded version, “Irruption” (2005), shown at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In these, adhesive footprints traverse the floor and climb the walls, giving the impression of contamination in a sterile space. In times of migrant persecution under the Trump administration in the United States, these installations suggest that “others”—foreigners, strangers—are seen as vermin, as something dirty or poisonous to be eliminated. The model of this installation, along with studies and projections, can be found on the second floor of the IAC.
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