Ostensive

There is a certain deviation on how a security guard should behave on duty. When this happens, brownish stains can be seen on the walls, competing with the visibility of the works of art next to them. This deviation, characterized when a security guard rests his body on a wall, disguising readiness, causes marks over time that easily testify his dubious counter-conduct – resting on duty. While the brand testify his priority workstation, it marks the body collapse, seeking a minimum of comfort. If we look closely at places (cultural centers, museums or other facilities that use security guards), the stains mark the routine of the body movement at work. A place with more stains represents a priority for safeguarding, requiring their presence for longer or even a fixed post, which the bodyguard will not be able to leave. An everyday cartography of the workplace is evident.

However, there are still memories of other corporeal stains that have inhabited the surfaces of a gallery: in Mugre, Rosemberg Sandoval carried a homeless person on his shoulder, entered an exhibition space and rubbed the person on its white surfaces. Without allowing the person to touch their feet on the ground, Sandoval’s performance intended to report this person’s inaccessibility, her condition as a homeless person, even though, by drawing with her dirt on the walls and bases of that exhibition, he made it clear that lumpen people can serve the interests of the elite. That is, by using that person, Sandoval was pointing out everything he could do too.

Tuned to the empty spaces – without guards, Amador e Jr. Segurança Patrimonial Ltda. presents their most recent work to fill the gaps left by the absence of staff. Inspired by the way Rosemberg Sandoval converted the exploitation of a homeless person into value on the contemporary art circuit, the company proposes to transform the problem of security guard stains into another unique service provided. For a set period of time and days, the security guards will walk along the walls of the exhibition space, continually touching them with their bodies in a suit. As they perform this task, a work and pictorial stain will be produced. By slowly imprinting their presence on what they have to safeguard, the security guards, even when absent, will testify their own presence in the propriety. Like this, in a Ostensive way, they will proof their temporary presence.