Catalogue > At random

Captain Gervasio`s Family is a 16mm black and white silent portrait of a Spiritist community in Palmelo, a small town in the interior of Brazil. It?s a town of 2000 inhabitants, half of whom are psychic mediums. The film refers to a map drawn by a Spiritist woman in Palmelo, charting twenty astral cities hovering above the whole of the Brazilian territory. Cities ?like those on earth, but infinitely more perfect?. The Spiritists in Palmelo practice what is known as `the magnetic chain?, a legacy from the German physician Franz Mesmer, the founder of Spiritism Allan Kardec, and the French botanist François Deleuze. The film is a collaboration between the artists Tamar Guimaraes (BR) and Kasper Akhøj (DK).

Kasper Akhøj was born in Copenhagen, Denmark where he lives and works. He studied at the Czech National Film School (FAMU), Städelschule - Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Frankfurt, and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen. He is also a former participant of the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in New York. He is represented by Ellen de Bruijne Projects in Amsterdam and has exhibited widely at major museums and biennials, both solo and in collaboration with Brazilian artist Tamar Guimaraes, most recently at last years 55th Venice Biennale, The Encyclopedic Palace. Tamar Guimarães was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark. She holds a BFA from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and MFA from Malmö Art Academy, Sweden. She is also a former participant of the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in New York. She is represented by Galeria Fortes Vilaça in Sao Paolo, and has exhibited widely at major museums and biennials, both solo and in collaboration with Danish artist Kasper Akhøj, most recently at last years 55th Venice Biennale, The Encyclopedic Palace.