Manlio Speranzini

Manlio M. Speranzini (Sao Paulo, Brazil) is a Graphic Designer, graduated in Architecture (FAU/USP, 1982), Masters in Aesthetics and Art History (PGEHA/USP, 2005) and Doctor of Letters at the Post-Graduate Program of Linguistic, Literary and Translation Studies in French (FFLCH/USP, 2011). His artistic production is of an interdisciplinary nature and has always followed his interest in research and experimentation. He participated in some Contemporary Art Exhibitions and held two solo Exhibitions in Universities: “Traces – Memories of the accident” at the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF/RJ, 1999), and “In absentia of light”, at the Universidade Cidade de São Paulo (UNICID/SP, 2001). Several of his works arise from literary stimuli and explore and question the relationship between word/image/and materiality.

Manlio M. Speranzini (São Paulo, Brasil) é Artista Gráfico, graduado em Arquitetura (FAU/USP, 1982), Mestre em Estética e História da Arte (PGEHA/USP, 2005) e Doutor em Letras pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudos Linguísticos, Literários e Tradutológicos em Francês (FFLCH/USP, 2011). Sua produção artística é de natureza interdisciplinar e sempre acompanhou seus interesses pela pesquisa e pela experimentação. Participou de Salões de Arte e realizou duas exposições individuais em instituições universitárias: “Vestígios – memórias do acaso”, na Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF/RJ, 1999); e “À revelia da luz”, na Universidade Cidade de São Paulo (UNICID/SP, 2001). Vários dos seus trabalhos surgem a partir de estímulos literários e exploram e questionam as relações entre palavra/imagem/e materialidade.

Il n’y a des blancs que s’il y a du noir,

du silence que si la parole et le bruit se produisent pour cesser. 

Maurice Blanchot , Une voix venue d’ailleurs 

to Élide Monzeglio (in memoriam)

This work is the unfolding of an investigation into certain practices of contemporary art that explore different orders of  ‘absence’. Among the works that served as reference are: the intervention “Zone de sensibilité picturale immatérielle: Zone nº 1, Série nº 5” (Salon Comparaison, Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1962), by Yves Klein; the book “La Disparition” (Denoël,1969), by Georges Perec, and the installation “Fantômes” (Actes Sud, 2000), by Sophie Calle .

Stages of work:

From the oral to the written:

– The stimulus for the first exercise of conversion from an expressive medium to another occurred during the public presentation of a personal report given by a colleague inspired by the poem “From my village” by Alberto Caeiro. In her report she described the room where she slept and what she saw through the window: a Petrochemical plant.

From the written to the visual:

– The notes taken during the oral presentation served to create a Mixed Media Artwork (drawing, painting and collage) on colored cellophane sheets, forming a bright, translucent and pliable surface bound in transparent plastic (1.40 x 1.80 m). As if in two different levels of perception – a visual and a psychic one – the artwork had two sides: on one side there was, at the center, a naked body with its back to the viewer, in front of an opened window, with a chair on its left and a cat on its right; on the other side, in the center and higher, there was an opening similar to a window that revealed inside a disfigured face with a gaping mouth. The title of the work was ‘What is not.’;

– The Mixed Media Artwork was presented to the same group that had accompanied the presentation of the oral report.

From the visual to the textual:

– Two ekphrasis were written containing the descriptions of the images, the physical nature of the work, beyond impressions and questions raised during its production.

From the visual to the graphic:

– In order to writing down the ekphrasis it was created a typography based on graphics found in the notes made during the oral presentation. It was named ‘Élide’;

– For the visual composition of the ekphrasis it was used a graphic software. The work resulted in a bicolor calligram that received the same title as the Mixed Media Artwork, but without the vowels;

– The Mixed Media Artwork was destroyed.

From the graphic to the print:

– The calligram was printed on paper (1.30 x 0.84 m) and showed to the same group that accompanied the project;

– The printed calligram on paper was also destroyed.

From the print to the light:

– The final work is a digital file, an emission of light on your computer screen.

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