Do you think this could ever be the ocean? (42.2°N, 81.2°W) – collaboration with Sarah FitzSimons
This collaborative project combines stills from our 2019 short film “42.2ºN, 81.2ºW” – these are the coordinates of Lake Erie’s geographical center, one of the Great Lakes between the United States and Canada. As a dialogue between José and Sarah, unfolding as text atop this inland sea, Do you think this could ever be the ocean? is a meditation on place, memory, home and belonging, and a wider reflection on our relationship with the natural world. To create the piece, we projected video of this waterscape and talked about our experiences growing up and living near large bodies of water: Atlantic Ocean and Lake Erie. We recorded and transcribed that performative encounter, then edited our words into the footage as a back-and-forth conversation above and below the horizon line. Water serves both as our essential physical reality, and as a metaphor for the unconscious – charged with emotional, intellectual and psychological significance.
José Carlos Teixeira (Porto, PT, 1977) is a visual artist and filmmaker, who lives and works in the USA. Through participatory and performative structures, in a poetic and documentary approach, his work examines ideas of cultural identity, otherness, exile and displacement, in a constant dialogue between art and anthropology. His projects have been exhibited internationally at MMoCA, MOCA Cleveland, Anthology Film Archives, SPACES, LACE, Hélio Oiticica Art Center, São Paulo Cultural Center, 104, Akademie Schloss Solitude, MAAT, FCC, Gulbenkian Foundation, MNSR, among others, as well as in various film and video festivals. Recipient of several grants and awards (Fulbright, FCG, Efroymson, Fuso, AFFEST NY Jury Prize/Best Documentary, and the nomination for EDP Award New Artists 2005), Teixeira completed his BFA in Porto, at FBAUP, and his MFA at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Sarah FitzSimons (Cleveland, USA, 1977) is a visual artist and researcher, who lives and works in the United States. She works with matter and place in projects which range from temporary interventions to more permanent installations. Her practice seeks to connect human culture and daily life with broader patterns in nature. Her recent solo projects include large scale outdoor sculptures developed for the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and the Djerassi Foundation in California. Group exhibitions from previous years include the Alps Art Academy (Switzerland); Casa das Artes, Tavira (Portugal); Chazen Museum (Wisconsin, USA), and Grand Rapids Art Museum (Michigan, USA). FitzSimons completed her BFA at the Ohio University, and her MFA at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).