MFA Student Interview Series, part I: Stella Sieber and Juju Bento

Juju Bento

When entering the upper gallery of Malmö Art Academy to see the MFA exhibition entitled “Aero-Light over Dark-Round, in Habitáculo” by Ana Maria Godinho Prates Alves Bento, the room was dimly lit, with lamps cast in concrete. They were shining a light upon several sculptures, which yet again cast their light in different ways into the exhibition space, some by the use of water.     

When reading the exhibition text, it was clear that Bento, or Juju as she goes by, had been thinking of light in relation to water in particular, as the text read:      

“In an aero drowning. Immersed in an aqueous space that invades me. This instant is about a fog propagation in an extended, clenched, and heavy twilight around me - humidity is the ratio of water vapor to the amount of air in a particular mass. Between this mist, my lung’s rhythm gets disorganized from the atmospheric spacial superficiality. Floating has this first moment: it is about lung concentration, trust in dark water, and hope in a mirror. And the lungs dilate because the air vivifies them. It is from frontal planes the air I try to inspire is made of.”     

How has the process been of creating this exhibition?
The process was long. It has traveled from reading to writing, to drawing, to testing, and to finally feeling it. It was also lonely, concentrated, and silent. It was between me and myself, me and the milieu around me.      

What has been your inspiration?
My inspiration to create this exhibition comes from a bodily experience. Between my organism and surrounding natural conditions, provoked by the natural elements that guide me to memories, experiences, or the circumstances. Experiences that happened in the months before the exhibition in many different places of my everyday routine. Besides that, what I have been reading in the meantime, also influenced my way of thinking.   

The exhibition is an answer in relation to all those different aspects.      

Your exhibition text is very poetic and tactile. Is writing an important part of your process when making art?
Yes, it is. I live with a small Moleskine notebook always in my pocket. On it writing and drawing culminate in instant moments.

When entering the exhibition, there were “signs” that a performance had taken place in the shape of a mixing board on the floor. As it stood there ready to be used, it was both loud and silent at the same time. What did the performance entail and how did it correlate with the exhibition?
The performance was ongoing. I programmed the mixing board with a light and sound system, but I could not have total control of it nor wanted to. Microphones were transmitting and being mixed in a live streaming. So, I acted as a sort of choreographer of the lighting and sound timings before the opening of the exhibition. After that, the whole exhibition was an ongoing improvisation performance living by its own will.

Juju Bento's exhibition was displayed at Malmö Art Gallery (KHM2) January 19th - February 3rd 2024. 

Interview by Karin Hald.