Forced Empathy, 2011 by Joao Vasco Paiva
Single channel video 7:29 looped
Image courtesy the artist and Edouard Malingue Gallery
JOAO VASCO PAIVA (Portugal, b.1979) has been based in Hong Kong since 2006. Using installation, video, sculpture and bi-dimensional objects, his practice challenges representation and medium specificity. For LANDSEASKY, Vasco Paiva’s artwork Forced Empathy (2011) captures a buoy floating in a Hong Kong seascape. However, through computer trickery, Paiva disciplines the sea, anchoring the buoy in the centre of the frame and subsequently forcing the surrounding seascape to move in compensation. The point of view has remained intact though the behaviour of the elements that construct space has essential attributes re-assigned. The unnatural movement is unsettling though the environmental order is modified in a way that is not difficult to accept.
Vasco Paiva’s work is presented in the forms of installation, video, digital print and sound recording and his practice delves into questions relating to medium specificity. Exhibitions include ‘Living as Art Form’, Independent Curators International, New York ’13; ‘Hong Kong Eye’, Saatchi Gallery, London ’12; ‘What should I do to live your life’, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, ’12; Athens Video Art Festival, International Festival of Electronic Language at Sao Paulo.