Bofa da Cara |
Bofa da Cara, created by Nástio Mosquito and Pere Ortín (working in this project with Francesca Bayre, Nsé Ramon Esono Ebalé, Paty Godoy, and Jero Rodriguez) subjects Europe to a virtual coaching in their video installation My European Mind/Re-branding Europe.
The long-defended role of Europe as an ideal for the African continent — a role in which Europe likes to see itself — is thereby refuted. Rather than distancing themselves from clichés about Europe and Europeans, Bofa da Cara appropriates and ‘re-brands’ them in an ironical way.
Provocatively, they turn the relationship around in their video, in which Mr. S. Bock (performed by Nástio Mosquito) delivers a lecture that proposes that Europe, the now crisis-stricken ‘former idol’, and Europeans take on a point of view, a possible alternative perspective. The video plays with paradoxical ideas of a contemporary Europe from the position of a new generation that assumes its right to teach the world the ins and outs, taking into account a tangible, globally changing social dynamic. In this way, it also addresses the growing irrelevance of Europe as the world's sole righteous puppet master.
“Are you ‘grey’ enough to be ‘re-branded’?” asks Mr. S Bock, because “Europe is not what you say it is... Europe must be what WE say it is.” But who is that WE? Bofa da Cara’s message to the audience is: “Consider yourself challenged!"
Parallel to the video, the exhibition also features sketches of the creative process of development of Bofa da Cara's film work with this ISOE commission.
The long-defended role of Europe as an ideal for the African continent — a role in which Europe likes to see itself — is thereby refuted. Rather than distancing themselves from clichés about Europe and Europeans, Bofa da Cara appropriates and ‘re-brands’ them in an ironical way.
Provocatively, they turn the relationship around in their video, in which Mr. S. Bock (performed by Nástio Mosquito) delivers a lecture that proposes that Europe, the now crisis-stricken ‘former idol’, and Europeans take on a point of view, a possible alternative perspective. The video plays with paradoxical ideas of a contemporary Europe from the position of a new generation that assumes its right to teach the world the ins and outs, taking into account a tangible, globally changing social dynamic. In this way, it also addresses the growing irrelevance of Europe as the world's sole righteous puppet master.
“Are you ‘grey’ enough to be ‘re-branded’?” asks Mr. S Bock, because “Europe is not what you say it is... Europe must be what WE say it is.” But who is that WE? Bofa da Cara’s message to the audience is: “Consider yourself challenged!"
Parallel to the video, the exhibition also features sketches of the creative process of development of Bofa da Cara's film work with this ISOE commission.
MY EUROPEAN MIND TEASER by Bofa da Cara.
Bofa da Cara invited on their own initiative (they were not from the beginning part of the ISOE project and had therefor no research partner) the anthropologist Francesca Bayre into the coming into being of their ISOE commission. Bayre, who was not part of the ISOE research team, is represented by an article in the ISOE publication.
1 / 12
My European Mind/ Re-branding Europe, full HD Video (25'), 2013, Installationview Photo by (c) Mike Terry
My European Mind/ Re-branding Europe, full HD Video (25'), 2013, Installationview Photo by (c) Mike Terry
BIO
BOFA DA CARA = “Artisan” + “Artist” // Pere Ortín + Nástio Mosquito // Barcelona + Luanda // Filmmaking + Performing + www // Francesca + Paty + Chicho + Nsé + Jero + Mama... Exchange!BOFA DA CARA = Ideas + Art x Global // Audiovisual + Products x Concerns + Inspiration?? We sweat a lot! Ideologically, our motto is: Quality + Quality & Content + Format = 100%. Format is content, quality is content. We believe in everything we produce. We are NOT what we produce.
BOFA DA CARA = “My African Mind,” “Mutilado,” “HMRDYN?,” “Not about Love,” “4D Live Experience,” “Damas,” “Mis Negritas,” “Kisses,” “My European Mind,” etc. Sao Paolo, Paris, Barcelona, Mexico City, Luanda, Berlin, Pretoria, Madrid, Bordeaux, Malabo, Bilbao, Jo'Burg, Lisbon.
